Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Mike Rouse.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case Wednesday 4 January 2023).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed on the website and in the agenda.

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The Minutes of the meeting of 8 December 2022 have been previously circulated.

The minutes of the previous meeting on 8 December 2022 were agreed to be an accurate record and were signed by the Chairman.

The Leader, also the Cabinet Member with responsibility for finance, introduced the report. He highlighted that the draft budget report was being launched for consultation. The draft budget was based on the latest demand and inflation data and the provisional government settlement which had been received just before Christmas.

The Council faced similar pressures to most other local authorities with staffing and inflation pressures and demand led pressures in children’s and adults’ services. The combined pressure in this budget was £70million.

The Leader welcomed the additional money from the Government in the provisional settlement, which recognised the pressures that were being faced by County Councils.  At the same time the County Council were looking at delivering value for money for taxpayers. There was recognition that it would be a tough year, but council tax in Worcestershire was one of the lowest in the country and even though it would be necessary to increase the amount of council tax by 2.94% for general services, and 2% for social care, it would remain one of the lowest. This increase would close the financial gap, give a balanced budget, fund essential services, and protect the ambitious capital programme so the council can deliver what it said it would in the Corporate Plan.

The Deputy Leader confirmed that the consultation would allow communities, parish councils and wider stakeholders to give their views. He agreed that it had been good news that the government had listened with regard to demand led pressures and had provided an additional overall funding package of £26.3 million. However, this had to be contrasted with the £68 million of investment which was needed for inflationary costs, social care costs and the costs of the capital programme. Investment in infrastructure was important as well as protecting the most vulnerable. Continuing support for initiatives like the divisional fund allowed Councillors to help with highways issues in their areas.

The Cabinet Member with responsibility for Children and Families explained that Worcestershire Children First worked to the objectives and aims within their business plan. He believed that people were less resistant to an increase in council tax if they knew that it was being spent on the most vulnerable. Demand had increased with more children in care and an increase in unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. Specialist residential placements were very expensive and numbers in such care could be very volatile, so there was a contingency in the budget to be used if necessary. Even though there was an increase in demand, achievements had been made, for example the fact that Worcestershire were the only County Council who were managing to hold their Children’s Court procedures within 26 weeks. He acknowledged the hard work of staff behind the scenes.

The Cabinet Member with responsibility for Education confirmed that in the Autumn the Government had given the highest ever real terms investment to schools in history. She thanked staff and Councillors for the work they had done on raising awareness and ensuring funding for schools was on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2137.