Agenda item

A report outlining the forecast financial position of the organisation at the end of 2023/24, based on information known at the end of the third quarter.

Cabinet Portfolio Holder – Councillor Peter Butlin

Councillor Peter Butlin introduced the report which outlined the forecast financial position of the organisation at the end of 2023/24, based on the information known at the end of the third quarter.  He reminded the meeting that this was the final quarter before budget setting in February 2024 and referred to the projected headline forecast overspend as detailed at 2.1 of the report.

Councillor Butlin highlighted the areas where finances were vulnerable and unsustainable across children’s and adults social care services, education and home to school transport.  The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) forecast overspend was also referred to with further details outlined in Section 4 of the report.

In addition, Councillor Butler noted the increased underspend in the Resources Directorate of £1.26m, Economy & Place of £0.6m and Peoples Directorate of £0.9m and praised those areas for working hard to help balance out some of the figures.  He concluded by reiterating that the same pressures existed as were reported in December and urged everyone not to underestimate the pressures in those vulnerable areas.

Councillor Roodhouse referred to the recurring themes in adult social care, DSG, home to school transport and SEND which were an ever-increasing problem but noted that the Council was not alone in these challenges.  He recognised that the County Council network had been lobbying with an aim to bring pressure on the government to address the difficulties but felt that he had never seen the situation as bad as this.

Councillor Judy Falp outlined her experiences as a school governor and described the increase in SEND pupils, the difficulties in finding suitable placements and felt that schools were doing everything they could to assist, However, the impact of covid was still impacting on primary age school children.

Councillor John Holland queried the recommendations made last year by the Director of Public Health in relation to Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and a potential reduction in resources.  The Leader asked for clarification as this had not been her recollection of the Cabinet report in December.  Councillor Seccombe advised that the recommendations from the annual Director of Public Health report went to all partners and she reiterated the cost implications of providing free school meals.  She concurred with Councillor Roodhouse’s comments about the financial difficulties, noting that any spending had to fit within the envelope of financial availability and encouraged all groups to put forward their proposals for budget setting next month.

In response to Councillor Holland, Councillor Andy Crump highlighted the Serious Violence Strategy was to be considered at Agenda Item 9 and included three key recommendations in relation to VAWG.

Councillor Butlin responded to the individual comments made and thanked Members for their input.  He proposed the recommendations as written.

Resolved

That Cabinet

1)    notes the forecast net service overspend of £7.281m (1.9%) that would need to be funded from the Directorate and General Risk Reserves at the end of 2023/24;

2)    notes the forecast delivery of savings for 2023/24 of £6.857m, and the consequent shortfall against the target;

3)    notes the forecast capital spend for 2023/24 of £151.389m; and

notes and approves the movement in the forecast spend on the capital programme of £51.256m from 2023/24 into future years and notes the carry forward of Corporate schemes of £31.950m and S278 contributions of £0.184m.