To receive a presentation on the future budget position.

The Assistant County Treasurer and the Head of Business Services gave a presentation on the Adult Social Care and Strategic Housing Budget 2006/07.

The presentation covered the following principal points:

·          The 2006/07 budget set by Council had written off significant overspends from 2004/05 and 2005/06, adjusted ongoing base budget pressures, funded the most essential items of growth and created a contingency for social care.

·          The Adult Social Care budget for 2006/07 contained base budget additions of £1.288 million.  A contingency of £1.3 million for social care had also been established.  However, it was acknowledged that the identified pressures on the adult social care budget were significant.

·          Other budget issues included the negotiations with the Primary Care Trust over Section 31 pooled budgets, the requirement to find £600,000 of efficiency savings within the adult social care budget and the requirement to meet above inflation cost increases, for example in contracts with providers, from within existing budgets.

·          There had been a net addition to the Strategic Housing budget of £686,000.

·          In summary £1.974 million had been added to base budgets against pressures identified in presentations to the Budget Panel of £6.6 million on Social Care and £1.1 million on housing.

·          That the conclusion which had to be drawn was that the current pattern of spending could not continue and had to change.

Proposals for balancing the budget included:

·          Maximising efficiencies in procurement, commissioning of services and the operation of the service in terms of such things as performance management, absence management and concentrating resources on the front line.  However, the requirement to make efficiency savings of £600,000 year on year was a challenging target.

·          A fundamental review of service levels (including eligibility criteria), a focus on prevention, modernisation of provision, and a review of the long term demand for services for older people and learning disability services. 

·          That overall the budget settlement was positive but there was a need to remain vigilant in managing budgets and to develop options for consideration.

In the ensuing discussion concern was expressed that the contingency sum would not prove adequate in the face of the pressures which had been identified.  The base budget may not be sufficient and the Council faced a very serious situation to which Members needed to be alert.

In reply the Cabinet Member (Social Care, Adults and Health) acknowledged that the position was difficult.  However, the Council had made what provision it could for social care given the constraints and pressures on the Council’s budget as a whole.  The emphasis therefore had to be on finding new ways of delivering services within the available resources at the same time carefully weighing the potential effect of the Council’s actions on those in need of Services.  She added that the funding of social care was a national issue with the level of resources allocated to rural Counties being of particular concern.

RESOLVED:

That    (a) the report on Adult Social Care and Strategic Housing Performance and Budget be noted;

(b)           areas of concern continue to be monitored;

(c)           the next budget monitoring report should include a more detailed analysis of the overspends highlighted in paragraph 3 of the budget monitoring report for 2005/06;

and

(d)           a seminar be arranged to discuss the budget and future service delivery in more detail.