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

The Director of Children’s Services explained to Members that expenditure on statutory children’s services had increased, in common with other local authorities, and there had been an overspend in the current financial year. However there had been an increase in the base budget for 2019/20, which reflected the Council’s high priority to providing child safeguarding services. There was a proposed gross investment of £4.3million for children’s services for the forthcoming financial year, although areas where savings could be made had been also been identified. These included reductions in spending on agency staff, and a proportionate saving related to costs of placements for children outside of the Royal Borough.

The Chairman asked the Director of Children’s Services if he was satisfied that the mitigations in place in the current year were sufficient to deliver the children’s services budget. The Director of Children’s Services stated that significant additional costs to help support the budget were still to be recouped, including a provider backdating the cost of some out of Borough care placements. He added that other savings had been made and identified, and that he was confident the forecast outturn position was achievable.

The Chairman noted there was a significant cost difference between placement of a child with a foster family against an out of Borough placement. The Director of Children’s Services said it was difficult to draw a direct comparison as local placements may incur additional costs, such as for therapeutic support which are often included in the out of borough placement costs. These were reviewed on a regular basis to ensure the therapy was appropriate.

Cllr Wilson noted that the budget for Achieving for Children had increased from £15million in 2017/18 to £24million in 2019/20. The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services stated that the figure for 2017/18 was for a seven month contract rather than a full year, which accounted for the large difference. The Director of Children’s Services added that the increased budget from 2018/19 took account of the high number of children who were now in receipt of support, for whom no financial provision had previously been made. Members were informed that the budget had also been reviewed to take out unachievable income targets.

Members were informed that the Dedicated Schools Grant would be £2.2million higher in 2019/20 than the previous year, which was primarily due to the growth in pupil numbers. Of this figure, £386,000 was specifically allocated to the high needs block by central Government. Members were told that a per pupil formula had been agreed by the schools forum and all schools would receive the same amount of per pupil funding from the Dedicated Schools Grant, or higher, compared to the previous year. The exception to this would be schools where the national Minimum Funding Guarantee cuts in at -1.5%.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services said there had been an overspend of £1.3million on the Dedicated Schools Grant, and this was being monitored. She added that this was reflective of the national picture, and that neighbouring local authorities had overspends of closer to £10million. It was confirmed to Members that the Dedicated Schools Grant was already included on the Council’s balance sheet, along with the balance status of all maintained schools within the Royal Borough. The Director of Children’s Services informed Members that the Government was consulting on whether there should be a formal recovery plan relating to the Dedicated Schools Grant if the balance was more than 1% overspent, and whether local authorities should be liable for topping it up in the event of any overspending. There were some Judicial Reviews of this aspect currently taking place.

Regarding the Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers over the age of 16 referenced in Appendix Q, the Director of Children’s Services stated that staff were confident they were the age they claim to be. If there were doubts then dental aging checks could be taken with the person’s consent, although there had been no reason to do this.. Additional funding for this had been provided by the Government. Members were told that older asylum seekers generally did not incur much by way of additional funding resources, whereas younger asylum seekers would be more inclined to require funding, for example for health/trauma reasons.

The Director of Children’s Services stated that the Budget had been set with a greater regard for national forecast trends, and commended the Budget to Members. He publicly thanked the officers who had helped produce the Budget, particularly as a number of difficult decisions had had to be made to reduce the amount of funding for other service areas in order to support the increased budget for children’s services. Members thanked officers for producing the report. The Chairman stated it was a pity that nobody was present from the Opposition to raise any concerns about the Budget.

The Chairman informed Members that Queensmead School (an independent school) had announced the previous day, at short notice, that it would be closing. Members were informed that Holyport College had agreed to take on some of Queensmead’s A Level pupils, but parents had been contacting the Council about alternative school places. Members were informed that they should refer any parents to School Admissions at the Council. The Director of Children’s Services said 59 children would need to find alternative school places.  A few of the pupils have Education, Health and Care plans and there might be an increase in high needs block cost as a result. Additional funding would be needed for state funded nursery places as 85% these had been paid in advance to the setting. The Director of Children’s Services told Members that the arrangements to recover this was currently unclear.

It was

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Panel noted the report and approved the:

i) Detailed recommendations contained in Appendix A which included a base council tax at Band D of £961.33, including a 2.99% increase of £27.91.

ii) Adult social care precept to remain unchanged at £74.74.

iii) Fees and charges contained in Appendix D.

iv) Capital strategy in Appendix G.

v) Capital programme, shown in Appendices H & I, for the financial year 2019/20.

vi) Prudential borrowing limits set out in Appendix L.

vii) Business rate tax base calculation, detailed in Appendix P, and its use in the council tax requirement in Appendix A.

viii) Deputy Director and Head of Finance in consultation with the Lead Members for Finance and Children’s Services to amend the total schools budget to reflect actual Dedicated Schools Grant levels once received.

ix) Delegation to the Deputy Director and Head of Finance and Lead Member for Finance to include the precept from the Berkshire Fire and Rescue Authority once the precept is announced.