Agenda and minutes

Scrutiny Management Board - Tuesday 10 September 2024 2.00 pm

Venue: Conference Room 1 - Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane Offices, Hereford, HR4 0LE. View directions

Contact: Danial Webb, Statutory Scrutiny Officer 

Link: Watch this meeting on the Herefordshire Council YouTube Channel

Items
No. Item

74.

Apologies for absence

To receive apologies for absence.

 

Minutes:

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Bruce Baker.

75.

Named substitutes

To receive details of members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the board.

Minutes:

There had been no named substitutes.

76.

Declarations of interest

To receive declarations of interests from members of the board in respect of items on the agenda.

Minutes:

Councillor Ben Proctor drew attention to his statement of interests, in which he was nominated by the City Council to the Stronger Towns Board. It was accepted that this did not represent a conflict of interest.

 

No declarations of interest were made.

77.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 429 KB

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 14 May 2024.

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous meeting were received.

 

Resolved:

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 14 May 2024 be confirmed as a correct record and be signed by the Chairperson.

78.

Questions from members of the public pdf icon PDF 447 KB

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

Minutes:

A document containing a question received from a member of the public and the response given, plus a supplementary question and the response given, is attached at Appendix 1 to the minutes.

79.

Questions from councillors

To receive any written questions from councillors.

Minutes:

No questions were received from councillors.

80.

2023/24 Quarter 4 Budget Outturn Report pdf icon PDF 215 KB

To present the financial outturn position for 2023/24 for revenue and capital budgets, subject to external audit, as reported to Cabinet at the meeting in May 2024.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member Finance and Corporate Services introduced and gave an overview of the 2023/24 Quarter 4 Budget Outturn Report.

 

A breakdown of how the £8.7 million overspend from the previous year had been funded was provided as detailed below:

 

  • Application of the public health reserve £0.6 million
  • Utilisation of the waste reserve £1.5 million.
  • Release of corporate provision of £0.2 million
  • Direct reserve balances of 5.6 million - a review had identified reserve balances with no future commitments or planned use and these were used.
  • Utilisation of the climate change reserve of £0.8 million.

 

The Cabinet Member Finance and Corporate Services explained that portfolio holders and corporate directors had met on monthly basis to review budget spending plans for the period and to ensure that they brought expenditure into line with the savings expected of them.

 

The Chair invited comments from the board members in relation to the report. The principal points of discussion are summarised below:

 

RESERVES

 

  1. The board enquired as to whether the UK Shared Prosperity Fund had been used to help fund the overspend.

 

  • The Director of Finance assured the committee that no money from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund had been used in covering the overspend.

 

  1. The board noted that the Economy and Environment directorate appeared to be receiving less and less in terms of allocation of the of the overall revenue budget, with 13.9% of £193.3 million total.

 

  1. The board raised concerns that unused grants funds were being taken from the Economy and Environment directorate - which funded service areas used by many residents on a daily basis - to pay for statutory children’s services.

 

  • The Director of Finance gave an assurance that there had been a detailed review across all directorates of unused grant balances and that there had been consideration and fairness in terms of recognizing that the significant driver for the overspend was in the Children and Young People directorate and therefore it was appropriate that the directorate maximised its contribution to the overspend.

 

  1. The board acknowledged the balances put in place, but reiterated concerns about falling funding for Economy and Environment and the risk of losing sight of where money needed to be spent in terms of service delivery.

 

  • The Cabinet Member Finance and Corporate Services pointed out that the budget that had been balanced in May of last year was the previous administration’s budget and suggested that the budget being implemented imminently would ensure that the Economy and Environment directorate was not adversely impacted. The council stood for growth in Herefordshire and the growth would predominantly come from the economy. This was something that the administration wanted to build on.
  • The Director of Finance pointed out that Economy and Environment was one of the few directorates across the council where there had been significant input in terms of capital expenditure, including the significant investment in economic growth and highways. It was stated that the spend in the revenue budget for Economy and Environment needed to be considered in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80.

81.

Preparations for the 2025/26 budget

For the board to prepare and plan for how it intends to approach the 2025/26 budget.

Minutes:

The committee agreed to discuss this item informally outside of the meeting.

82.

Work programme pdf icon PDF 215 KB

To consider the board’s work programme.

 

[Papers attached as a supplement to the agenda]

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee received a copy of the draft work programme, which had been published in early September 2024 and circulated to members, corporate directors and portfolio holders for consultation.

 

It was noted that the committee would be looking at the Quarter 1 Outturn alongside the Quarter 2 Outturn in the  December 2024 meeting.

 

Resolved:

 

That the committee agree the work programme.

83.

Date of the next meeting

Monday 28 October 2024 2pm

Minutes:

Monday 28 October 2024, 2pm

84.

Appendix 1 - Questions and responses from members of the public

Minutes:

           

Questions from members of the public – Scrutiny Management Board, 10 September 2024

 

Question

Number

Questioner

Question

Question to

PQ 1

Ms. Maggie Steel

 

Hereford

388 children were in the care of Herefordshire Council as of December 2022 according to Eleanor Brazil’s initial report to the Children’s Minister.

This figure was 84% higher than our statistical neighbours. Eleanor Brazil blamed this astonishing anomaly on 

 

•       “poor decision making”

•       “drift and delay

18 months later, in a report to the Children’s Scrutiny Committee, we find out that there are still 386 children in care in Herefordshire.

Only 2 fewer children in care after 18 months and millions invested. Our rate for children in care is still 83% higher than statistical neighbours.

Either parents in Herefordshire are persistently failing their children, or poor decision making and drift and delay continue to fail children and the taxpayer.

Who is responsible for the failure to make any significant progress in reducing the number of children in care in Herefordshire?

 

Scrutiny Management Board

Response by Cabinet Member Children and Young People

To answer the question “why haven’t our looked after children numbers significantly reduced”, we have to understand not only the number of looked after children but also the overall rate per 10,000 of children in care and the number of children entering and leaving care, both in our authority, and compared to the West Midlands region and nationally.

 

During 23/24, we received 96 new children into care and 121 left care throughout that year. This gave us a rate of 112 per 10,000 children in care at the end of 23/24. During 24/25 at quarter one, we have seen 26 new children enter care, and 24 leave care. As at July 2024, the rate has reduced to 106 children per 10,000. 

 

Whilst we remain above the national statistical neighbour (SN) rate of 64 (23/24 data), we have to appreciate our own journey and that of our region. For those children that are in our care currently, we need to carefully plan for their exit, so that when they do leave care to permanency, they achieve a long-term stable family life. During the full year 23/24, we saw 19 children leave care for permanency. During quarter one of 24/25, we have already seen 11 children leave care for permanency, so an improving trend. This is reflective of success in the complex work required to identify those children who were experiencing drift and delay. Some of this work requires discharging care orders, which needs to go through court process, and some is about working alongside families to ensure a safe plan of rehabilitation is in place. Both need updated assessments and good engagement with children, young people, families and the court.

 

For those children and young people we work with to prevent entering care, we have to do this whilst managing risks within the family home and community. This requires good partnership working and importantly a partnership approach to managing risk. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84.