To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor L Jones, Councillor G Jones and Councillor Walters. Councillor Knowles, Councillor Targowski and Councillor Muir were attending the meeting as substitutes.

Councillor Davies and Councillor Werner were attending the meeting virtually, they were therefore unable to vote on any potential recommendations that the Panel would put forward.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 17^th November 2022.

Councillor Price requested a minor amendment, that it had been stated in the minutes that the residents would have to pay for services provided at the library. This was incorrect and should say that the library had been charging volunteers, who were providing their services to residents at the library.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 17^th November 2022 were approved as a true and accurate record.

·         Introduction by the Chairman including outline of the procedures

·         Officer Introduction from the Executive Director of Resources and Head of Finance

·         Public speaking, if there are any registered speakers

·         Panel Member questions to officers

·         Discussion of potential recommendations

·         Vote on recommendations to Cabinet and any referrals to another Overview & Scrutiny Panel

·         Chairman to close the meeting

Please note that non-Panel Members will not have an opportunity to speak at the Panel meeting, it is therefore advised that any non-members of the Panel filter their questions through their valid Panel representative.

Non-Panel Members can also submit questions in advance to which a written response will be published. The deadline for submission of such questions is 12pm Friday 9^th December. The Chairman has agreed this approach using his discretion as set out in the constitution.

The Chairman introduced the budget paper and explained that all Members had been given the opportunity to submit questions to officers which would be answered. These questions had been answered and circulated to Panel Members ahead of the meeting, with the Panel meeting an opportunity for Panel Members to raise further and additional questions. The Chairman underlined that only Panel Members would be able to ask questions at the meeting.

Adele Taylor, Executive Director of Resources, gave a presentation which showed the approach for managing the council’s resources. It was a challenging financial situation, with high inflation, interest rates and demographic growth impacting both the council and its residents. This had an impact on both revenue and capital costs. In year, there had been budget pressures identified from month 2 onwards, with a peak of £2.5 million overspend but this had been reduced by month 6. Assumptions at the start of the budget setting process had been for a 2% council tax increase, no adult social care precept, a 1% increase in pension contributions, reductions in some government grants and a 2% salary increase. However, since the Medium Term Financial Plan had been agreed, there had been some changes to assumptions. Council tax had increased by 3% and adults social care by 2%, which was worth around £830,000 for every 1% increase. Interest rate and inflation assumptions had been updated, while the pensions primary rate was increased by 1.5% but the deficit was reduced to keep to an overall of a 1% increase. There had been some reductions in government grants but the council was waiting for policy documents and the finance settlement to come through from the government which would provide further information.

Considering the approach to the budget, Adele Taylor explained that services had been asked to model growth, savings and invest to save initially. Services were also asked to model cash limited budgets except for two corporate issues, new obligations under the national transfer scheme and the cost of elections. Capital spending was limited, the cost of borrowing had increased significantly despite action taken by officers to protect against rising interest rates. There was a prioritisation of resources to align with priorities in the corporate plan.

Kevin McDaniel, Executive Director of People, said that adult social care was around £40 million of the council’s expenditure. There was a focus on independent living for all residents, ensuring that long term care worked, self-service assessment could be run and to ensure that there were fair contributions from all who should pay. Short term controls were needed while the budget was embedded in the Medium Term Financial Plan. Support would be reduced for some non-statutory service elements while there would be limited staff capacity in statutory, community and provider services. As a result of the pandemic, there were more people in residential and nursing homes now then there had been before and there was a £3.5 million budget shortfall at the start of 2022-23. Other opportunities were being explored, for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

To consider the Panel’s work programme for the remainder of the municipal year.

To include consideration of items scheduled on the Cabinet Forward Plan.

The Panel noted the work programme.