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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Remotely via Skype

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No. Item

203.

Election of Chairperson

Minutes:

RESOLVED:                          That Councillor C Green be elected as Chairperson of the Combined Meeting of all Scrutiny Committees in relation to Item 4, in respect of Social Services and Wellbeing and the Chief Executives Directorate.

 

204.

Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008 (including whipping declarations)

Minutes:

None.

205.

Medium Term Financial Strategy 2021-22 to 2024-25 pdf icon PDF 304 KB

Social Services & Wellbeing

 

Invitees:

Councillor Huw David, Leader

Councillor Hywel Williams, Deputy Leader

Councillor Nicole Burnett, Cabinet Member for Social Services & Early Help

Councillor Dhanisha Patel, Cabinet Member for Future Generations and Wellbeing

 

Gill Lewis, Interim Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change

Claire Marchant, Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing

Mark Shephard, Chief Executive

Kelly Watson, Chief Officer Legal, HR and Regulatory Services

 

Jackie Davies, Head of Adult Social Care

Deborah Exton, Interim Deputy Head of Finance

Laura Kinsey, Head of Children's Social Care

Christopher Morris - Finance Manager – Social Services & Wellbeing / Chief Executive’s Directorate

 

 

Chief Executives Directorate

 

Invitees:

Councillor Huw David, Leader

Councillor Hywel Williams, Deputy Leader

Councillor Dhanisha Patel, Cabinet Member for Future Generations and Wellbeing

 

Gill Lewis, Interim Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change

Mark Shephard, Chief Executive

Kelly Watson, Chief Officer Legal, HR and Regulatory Services

 

Deborah Exton, Interim Deputy Head of Finance

Martin Morgans, Head of Partnership Services

Christopher Morris, Finance Manager – Social Services & Wellbeing / Chief Executive’s Directorate

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Interim Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change presented an overview of the report, the purpose of which was to present the Committee with the draft Medium Term Financial Strategy 2021-22 to 2024-25, which set out the spending priorities of the Council, key investment objectives and budget areas targeted for necessary savings. The strategy included a financial forecast for 2021-2025 and a detailed draft revenue budget for 2021-22.

 

The Chair thanked the Interim Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change for her concise overview of the report. Members asked the following questions:

 

Social Services and Wellbeing Directorate

 

A Member noted that the report had two Appendices, one containing Budget Pressures and one with Budget Reduction Proposals.  For Social Services and Wellbeing (SSWB) there were pressures proposed of £5m, yet on the budget savings, the total was about a tenth. It was well known that Social Services and Wellbeing was a reactive department and could see overspends by some £2m. He asked Officers to comment on the disparity between the two figures.

 

The Interim Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change acknowledged that SS&W was a demand lead service and there was constant pressure on the budget. There were lots of pieces of work in progress to control that demand, but this was one of the services severely affected by Covid-19. There were opportunities that should enable more efficiencies to be delivered, but that would take time. The savings and the pressures were not necessarily linked, they were for different reasons, so there would continue to be pressures, but that didn’t stop opportunities to deliver savings.

 

The Corporate Director - Social Services and Wellbeing advised that this had been a year like no other.  Social Services and Wellbeing was a demand lead service and was statutorily responsive to the needs of individuals and the communities served.  Practice had been transformed over a number of years, working in a strength-based way, focussing on what people could do. People with very high level of needs of care and support were connected into communities and had their outcomes met in ways which didn’t mean they were as reliant on traditional care and support services. There were reductions in the number of people who had come into care homes, because of investment in reablement services and this was one of the areas of savings.  Opportunities to provide daytime occupation and opportunities for people, were seen very differently. It didn’t mean that the pressures went away but they related both to quantum of service provided, which linked to the demographics. There was an ageing population which brought with it an increased requirement for some, for care and support and that was reflected in the budget pressures. In addition, this related to the cost of service provision. The social care workforce had been at the fore of the response and the value of the workforce, had been recognised in the budget pressures in terms of the uplift.  There had been increasing creativity during the pandemic. Direct payments  ...  view the full minutes text for item 205.

206.

Urgent Items

To consider any item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

None

 

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