To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors NP Nenadich, J Stone, GA Vaughan-Powell and DB Wilcox.  Apologies were also received from Councillor H Bramer (Cabinet Member Contracts and Assets).

To receive details of any Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee.

Councillor Hyde for Councillor Wilcox.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

Councillor BD Durkin as a Trustee of the Herefordshire Citizens Advice Bureaux.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the Meeting held on the 1 October 2014 as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on the 1 October 2014 were approved and signed as a correct record.

To consider suggestions from members of the public on issues the Committee could scrutinise in the future.

(There will be no discussion of the issue at the time when the matter is raised.  Consideration will be given to whether it should form part of the Committee’s work programme when compared with other competing priorities.)

None.

To note questions received from the public and the items to which they relate.

(Questions are welcomed for consideration at a Scrutiny Committee meeting so long as the question is directly related to an item listed on the agenda.  If you have a question you would like to ask then please submit it no later than two working days before the meeting to the Committee Officer.  This will help to ensure that an answer can be provided at the meeting). 

(Councillor BD Durkin declared an interest)

A question was received from Mrs C Keetch, Chief Executive of the Herefordshire Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) and was published as a supplement to the Agenda. 

To seek the views of the overview and scrutiny committees on the budget proposals  to be presented to Cabinet on 15 January 2015.

The Committee received a presentation from the Chief Finance Officer on the Budget for 2015/16 and the Medium Term Financial Strategy as published as a supplement to the Agenda for the meeting.

The Director of Adults Wellbeing highlighted the following areas:

·         That the emphasis for the Directorate was to change the expectations of the population and to help encourage people to take better care of themselves and to encourage support not just from funded services but also from the community.  Services would be run on a more efficient basis, with a greater reliance on information technology and the efficient use of data.

·         The Care Act 2014 would bring additional service users into the system, as all of the population would have contact with social services in one form or another, and there would need to be alternative ways of commissioning services in the future.

·         That the statutory changes that the Council would be obliged to implement on the 1 April 2015 would mean that the commissioning of advice and guidance would have to change, and a single point of access would be provided that would be designed to connect all aspects of the Third Sector.  This would also change the way social workers undertook their roles.

·         There were certain areas where the Council had not delivered savings, including residential and nursing care, but there was a correlation between the ability to deliver savings and the hospital system.  It was intended that further progress toward savings would be made in reablement and telecare in the coming year.  There had been delays in Day Care commissioning until the Council was confident of the commissioning system.

·         That there had been a great deal of negotiation over how to spend the Better Care Fund monies in the coming year in order to protect Adult Social Care.  To achieve system wide thinking, all partners were financially incentivised to work closely together. 

·         That Public Health had been aligned in the system, and had delivered innovative schemes for demand management within both Adult and Children’s Social Care.

·         The main risk was the implementation of the Care Act, and the ability of the Wye Valley NHS Trust to deal with the issues that would arise from this.

The Director of Children’s Wellbeing highlighted the following areas:

·         That the strategy as agreed by Council forthe current year would continue, with a focus on reducing costs whilst managing demand.

·         That in terms of education and young people, aspects of the Children’s budget were protected. Although the birth rate had increased, older young people were moving out of the County and it was important to protect the education budget as part of the growth agenda.

·         That there was an increase in costs within the County for children with disabilities and special needs.  The demand management slide that had been published as a supplement to the Agenda illustrated the changing models that were needed to meet the needs of the child.  Improved outcomes for children were required at a time when the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.