To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Jones, Luxton and Pryer. Cllrs Hollingsworth and Story were attending as substitutes.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 21^st November 2017.

The Part I minutes of the meeting held on November 21^st 2017 were approved as a true and correct record.

To note the minutes of the Joint Scrutiny Panel held on the 19^th November 2017 in relation to East Berkshire Community Learning and Skills Service.

The Chairman informed Members that officers had agreed to hold a joint scrutiny panel between Slough and the Royal Borough as both authorities shared the same provider for community learning and skills services. Meeting attendees considered a report that outlined the changes and improvements that had been made to the service, and a series of recommendations that had been made. Members were informed that it was agreed the joint panel would meet twice a year and an annual report that would be considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Panels at Slough and the Royal Borough would be produced. It had been agreed that officers would decide on the timescales for producing the reports and arranging the meetings themselves.

The Vice Chairman stated she had attended the meeting and found it very worthwhile. The Chairman agreed and stated that it had been helpful to meet officers who were in charge of delivering services. Members were informed that attendance at training sessions and courses was now being monitored more effectively.

The contents of the minutes were noted by Members.

To comment and agree recommendations as set out in the Cabinet report.

The Director of Children’s Services introduced the item and highlighted to Members the key aspects of the budget, and in particular those relevant to Children’s Services. He stated:

• A 1.95 per cent increase in Council Tax – equivalent to £28.85 for a Band D property - had been proposed. This would mean the Royal Borough would have the lowest rate of Council Tax outside of London
• A 3 per cent Adult Social Care Precept was proposed
• Savings of £5.4million had been identified
• Resident parking would remain free and the Advantage card would be retained
• A range of services would continue to be provided by the ten Children’s Centres
• The 14 libraries in the Royal Borough would remain open, some with amended opening times
• Road, bridge and lighting improvements would continue to be made, as would an expansion to CCTV provision
• The £300,000 grant funding would continue to be available to community organisations, and there would be increased support to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau
• Increases to fees and charges would be capped at the 3.9 per cent Retail Price Index, unless market benchmarks could justify a higher increase. It was noted that parking charges in the Royal Borough were cheaper than those in neighbouring authority areas
• There would be a consultation on changing the Council Tax Benefit threshold from 10 per cent to 8.5 per cent
• There was a proposed expenditure of £350million up to 2025 on education, transport and infrastructure to help support the Borough Local Plan and the regeneration of Maidenhead town centre. Much of this figure would come through borrowing; however it was anticipated that the projected borrowing would be below £5million by 2025.

The Director of Children’s Services said a large number of capital investments worth £54million would be undertaken between 2017-2020. However the Council would be able to recoup most of this from returns on housing across the Borough. Members were advised that the Council’s debt was projected to be £200million at 2020. The Director of Children’s Services advised Members that it was important to take into consideration the short term investments and savings being made against the long term picture of improvements to the Royal Borough.

Responding to a question from the Chairman regarding the apprenticeship levy, the Director of Children’s Services informed Members that the figure of £280,000 quoted in the report related to the Council as an employer of apprentices.

Cllr Story asked the Director of Children’s Services which improvements in the service that had been made over the past year was he most proud of. The Director of Children’s Services said the most significant improvement was a better understanding of how to support families through earlier interventions and engagements. Earlier engagements led to fewer crisis cases being reported. As a result of this the number of children subject to protection plans had fallen from 153 to below 100. The Director of Children’s Services identified the function of Children’s Centres as being key to this, and confirmed that there was sufficient money in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.