To inform cabinet of the revenue and capital outturn for 2015/16, including the treasury management outturn report, debts written off and invite cabinet members to consider performance in the  year.

Cabinet received the end of year corporate budget and performance report 2015/16.

The cabinet member, health and wellbeing, reported that there was evidence of significant improvement against targets in the area of adult social care. Whilst the client budget was still overspent and work was still required to deliver improvement in the directorate, there was a need to address the culture across the whole health system. As an example of this, she drew members’ attention to the work being undertaken in the development of community connections, bringing the voluntary, professional and statutory services together, as had been achieved in the Golden Valley Supportive Communities Project and the Leominster Community Connections.

The cabinet member, children’s wellbeing, said that there had been an overspend in children’s wellbeing, but that some of the reasons for this were obvious as, for example, the number of looked after children stood at an all-time high for the county of over 300.  Work was underway to ameliorate the situation.  

He went on to say that staff retention was of central importance to the directorate, and the use of agency social workers had been reduced so that 74% of social work staff were now full time.  This allowed both for cost savings and for a greater robustness in the service that was delivered.

The cabinet member, economy & corporate services said that there had been a reduction in residual household waste sent to landfill and that kerbside recycling continued to improve. 

Other successes included the closure of two legal cases in 2015/16 in favour of the council.  Absence in the directorate had been reduced to 8.45%

In the ensuing discussion, the following areas were highlighted:

·         That in the area of social care, good care was often the cheaper option that helped to ensure that service users remained at home for as long as possible.

·         That there were plans to improve the positioning of Wellbeing Information and Signposting for Herefordshire (WISH) in order to ensure that greater use was made of the service, and that this may mean that it would be moved in to the library, once the building had been refurbished.

·         That care should be taken not to overburden the relatively small number of volunteers that the council was increasingly relying on to deliver services.

·         That the council was on track to meet its target regarding work with troubled families.  It was obliged to identify 600 families, and there were currently 426 known to the service.  This was a priority for the council, and work was being undertaken with adult’s wellbeing in order to ensure that alternative accommodation was available for older children who were not in a position to stay at home.

·         That, in comparison with its neighbours, the council was one of the highest spending authorities in the area of mental health care for working age adults and those over 65.

In reply to a question from a member regarding the medium term financial strategy report, the head of corporate finance said that the capital receipts had been reserved and that the investment in the enterprise zone would generate capital rents of £60m over the term.  A return of £7m was expected in 2016-17.  She added that she would provide a note to all members in order to address concerns expressed over the discrepancy in Appendix B between the report in February and the capital outturn for 2015-16.  A note would be added to the report I the future in order to make it easier to interpret.

The cabinet member, economy & corporate services thanked the Chairman of general overview and scrutiny committee for his question, and said that he would give the mineral and waste policy consideration as soon as possible and that he would get back to him in writing.

In reply to a question regarding sickness levels in the adults wellbeing directorate, it was noted that whilst it was almost twice as high as in the economy, communities & corporate directorate that this was a result of the nature of the work in adult social care.  Infections was higher amongst service users, and staff were encouraged to take additional sick leave in order to help ensure that infections were not spread to the elderly service users.

Resolved:

That

(a)         the final outturn for 2015/16 be noted;

(b)         the movements in reserves set out at paragraphs 66-68 be approved;

(c)         debts written off in the period be noted;

(d)         the treasury management outturn report be recommended to Council for approval; and

(e)         performance for 2015/16 be considered.