Agenda and minutes

Cllr Karen Hanks welcomed everyone to the meeting, which she would be chairing.  Apologies were received from the Panel Chairman Matt Dormer and Panel members Tony Muir, Ian Hardiman and Jack Satterthwaite.

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Democratic Governance and Scrutiny Manager 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 19 January 2023).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed in this agenda and on the website.

None.

Previously circulated

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 30 November 2022 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

(Indicative timing: 10.05 – 10.50am)

The Deputy Chief Financial Officer (DCFO), explained that the Council was in the process of reviewing and consulting on the proposed Budget for 2023/24. Comments from the Overview and Scrutiny Panels would be reported to the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board on 30 January.  The draft budget and comments received would be discussed by Cabinet on 2 February and the budget would be agreed at Council on 16 February.

The DCFO summarised the key headlines from the draft Budget 2023/24, which included the overall budget setting process, changes from 2022/23 to 2023/24, pressures for 2023/24 and plans to fund them, and the main points for areas within the remit of the Economy Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

Referring to the information about areas within the Panel’s remit, there was not much difference in budgets from the previous budget year, apart from the previously referred to pay inflation and contract inflation. There was a £253,000 revenue increase due to the reduction in income generation abilities within traded areas.

Regarding vacancy management, and the 6.5% Council-wide savings target for the overall salary budget, to formalise the gap which usually occurred between a member of staff leaving and being replaced – there were projected savings of £419,000 for staffing areas within the remit of this Panel. However, this would be managed on a case by case basis and may not be appropriate for all staff functions, for example highways or health and safety.

There had been a transfer of services from Highways and Public Rights of Way to areas within the Economy Panel, equating to £120,000, however this made no difference to the overall Economy and Environment budget.

The proposed overall budget applicable to the Panel’s remit for 2023/24 was £15,397m, up from £13,971 for 2022/23.

The Chairman invited questions and the following main points were made:

·         It was clarified that the total budget for adult and children’s social care, included additional funding from the Local Government Settlement of £19.5m for pressures in adults and children’s social care (as detailed in the report to 5 January Cabinet (appendix 1). The net budget for People Services (which included adult social care) was £153.6m in 2022/23 and had increased to £160m for 2023/24 and for Worcestershire Children First it was £109m for 2022/23, due to increase to £111m for 2023/24.

• A Panel member asked whether some of the additional funds for adult social care were being directed to address known pressures on health and social care for example delays in patients being able to leave acute hospitals, and was very pleased to hear that one of the grants was specifically for that purpose – and would be directed to areas such as social workers in hospitals, capacity within the market, reablement, homecare and assistive technology. 
• In terms of validating how the Council benchmarked against other areas on its proposed total increase in council tax, the Panel was reassured that the latest data was used, produced annually by the Government and that local authorities of a similar  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

(Indicative timing: 10.50 – 11.00am)

The following suggestions were made for the next meeting on 27 March:

·         How the Council encourages start-up businesses

·         The Council’s expenditure per district area

The Scrutiny Officers would follow up these suggestions.