Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Nadia Williams 07749 709 961
Media
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Declarations of Interest All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary or other Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in Section 9 and Appendix B of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed. Minutes: Councillor Basra declared that she worked with a number of organisations in the education sector. Councillor Brooker declared that he was a Governor at Ryvers Primary School. Councillor Kelly declared that he worked for the Slough and East Berkshire CofE Multi Academy Trust (SEBMAT). Councillor Mohammad declared that she was a Practice Manager at a GP Surgery in Slough.
They all remained and participated in the meeting. |
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Minutes of the Meeting held on 13th September 2021 PDF 170 KB Minutes: Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 13th September 2021 be approved as a correct record. |
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(An opportunity for panel members to ask questions of the relevant Director/Associate Director, relating to pertinent, topical issues affecting their Directorate – maximum 10 minutes allocated.) Additional documents:
Minutes: Councillor Brooker had submitted a member question requesting details relating to the planned admission number and actual admission number for each school in Slough for September 2021. The Panel noted details of the reply which had been published in the supplementary agenda.
Resolved – That details of the Member question and reply be noted. |
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Draft Budget Proposals 2022/23 - People Directorates and Slough Children First PDF 985 KB · People (Children) Directorate · Slough Children First · People (Adults) Directorate Additional documents:
Minutes: The Panel received detailed presentations on the draft budget proposals 2022/23 in relation to the People Directorate (Children and Adults) and Slough Children First. Members also had the opportunity to review the detailed business cases and equality impact assessments for each of the proposed budget proposals and a number of Members had taken the opportunity to review the information provided.
Prior to receiving the presentations, Councillor Hulme, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Lifelong Learning and Skills, provided a brief overview of the context within which savings for the 2022/23 financial year were being sought. The S114 Notice, impact of Covid and an increase in demands on services had resulted in a need to make services more efficient.
The Interim Director Children’s Services reminded the Panel of the current arrangements for the service, noting that the social care aspect of the service was placed in a Trust in 2015 but earlier this year was established as Slough Children First (SCF); a company which was now wholly owned by the Council. Although SCF continued to receive funds from the central government it was noted that nationally, there was an over spend in 96% of Children’s departments. Recruitment and retention of staff continued to be a major pressure and this was attributed partly to legacy issues and the reputation of the service. Work continued to take place regarding the public perception of the service and the Panel were reminded that Fostering Services had recently been rated as good.
The financial situation was extremely challenging with some services being delivered at the minimum statutory provision. Areas that had been identified to deliver savings included Home to School Transport and Children’s Centres.
Children’s Services
The Assistant Director, Education and Inclusion outlined the 21/22 budgetary position by service area, noting that there was a £190k adverse position to budget, which was mainly due to £123k business rates savings target and £67k salary inflation pressure. A savings target of £1.044m for 21/22 was proposed and service areas that had been identified to achieve this were highlighted, including £125k Home to School Transport savings and £344k Early Years Education reduction in staffing (vacancies)
The Panel were informed of the key issues for 21/22 which included the recent SEND inspection. It was anticipated that the findings – due to be published imminently – would highlight major systemic and sustained weaknesses across the system since 2014. The service was impacted significantly from the downgrading of SEND case officers (resulting in 75% turnover) leaving a significant backlog of overdue statutory ECHP applications.
Referring to Children’s Centres (CC’S), three options were being proposed with a view to re-purpose the centres. Any reduction in the number of CC’s was likely to have a detrimental effect on the levels of need across communities and lead to additional, more costly pressure on the “Front Door” – which was already exceeding capacity with the potential of placing children at risk.
The savings proposals for 2022/23 and departmental emerging pressures likely to be faced were highlighted.
Slough Children First
The Director of Finance for Slough Children First (SCF) reported on the 21/22 budget progress. SCF was reporting a £532k adverse position to budget and work continued to identify further opportunities in year and for future years to bridge the gaps in budget. Additional savings would be delivered through service reductions (£266k), service efficiencies (£399k), income generation (£322k) and staffing savings (£116k)
The interim Director of Operations provided detailed context relating to the key issues and pressures. There had been an increase of 277 more children in need in 21/22 driven by Covid and legacy issues; together with more children presenting with complex needs; which if not managed at the right time would impact on the number requiring statutory intervention. Recruitment challenges had resulted in a high reliance on agency staff which in turn created an instability of workforce impacting on children and their families.
For the financial year 2022/23 savings targets of £3.420m, which included £746k of growth, were required. Savings of £2.832k had been identified, leaving a shortfall of £588k against target. Members were informed of the measures to achieve the savings which included a new model of in house fostering recruitment which was expected to result in a net increase of 8 new carers in year.
Likely departmental emerging pressures for 2022/23 were brought to Members attention. Staffing pressures were impacting on the improvement journey to offer consistently good services to promote the welfare and safeguard children. A reduction in business support would have a direct impact on front line staff resulting in less time spent with children and families.
People (Adults)
The Executive Director of People (Adults) provided a summary on the delivery of savings for 2021/22. Savings were split into two areas - Adult Social Care Transformation Programme Savings - £2.088m of which £1.058m had been delivered and Adult Social Care savings - £1.749m of which £1.607m had been delivered. The remainder of the savings were on target to be delivered by the end of the financial year. The ongoing impact of the pandemic and demand for social care above the planned levels, especially over the winter period, were noted as key issues for the current financial year.
A savings target of £7.721m was expected during the 2022/23 financial year and a breakdown of the savings proposals was explained together with an overview of the emerging pressures for this service area.
Following the conclusion of the presentations, Panel Members asked a number of questions which included:
The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Public Health addressed the Panel, stating that the budgetary position was being robustly monitored and that approval recently given to recruit to vacant posts to ensure the delivery of the transformation programme savings.
· A Member asked for details relating to the £120k savings projected for Home to School Transport (HTST) in 2021/22, given that there had been an overspend of circa £1m during 2019/20. The Associate Director, Education and Inclusion informed Members that consultants had been engaged to carry out a procurement process looking at delivery of the service and it was anticipated the savings would be met. Details of the cost of appointment of the consultants would be circulated to the Panel following the meeting. · Clarification was sought as to whether the HTST proposed savings of £77k in 2022/23 were an efficiency saving by reducing transport costs or a service reduction by tightening the policy, resulting in fewer children being eligible for assistance. It was noted that children eligible for HTST would continue to receive the service and savings would be delivered by improvements being made to delivery of the service i.e identifying alternative routes.
The Chair thanked officers and members for a thorough preliminary discussion on the budget proposals and noted that further detailed proposals would be considered at the January meeting.
Resolved – That details of the draft budget proposals 2022/23, People Directorates and Slough Children First be noted. |
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Forward Work Programme PDF 91 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The Panel discussed details of the work programme and agreed that the following items be considered at the 2nd December Panel meeting -
Resolved – That details of the work programme, as amended, be agreed. |
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Members' Attendance Record PDF 46 KB Minutes: Resolved – That details of the Members Attendance Record be noted. |
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Date of Next Meeting - 2nd December 2021 Minutes: The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 2nd December 2021. |