Issue - meetings

Purpose of the item: To scrutinise the Draft Budget and Medium-Term Financial Strategy.

Witnesses:

•      Sinead Mooney, Cabinet Member for Adults and Health

•      Simon White, Executive Director for Adult Social Care

•      Ruth Hutchinson, Director of Public Health

•      Wil House, Strategic Finance Business Partner (Adult Social

Care and Public Health)

•      Anna D’Alessandro, Director of Finance (Corporate and

Commercial)

•      Rachel Wigley, Director of Finance (Insight and Performance)

•      Adam Whittaker, Senior Strategy and Policy Lead

•      ImmyMarkwick, Mental Health Lead (Independent Mental Health Network)

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    The Director of Public Health provided an update to the Select Committee regarding the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Surrey had some of the highest rates of positive COVID-19 cases in the country, which was different to the trends seen in 2020 where higher rates were found in the north of England. The Director shared a slide (Annex 1) which showed a ranking of seven day case rates for lower-tier local authorities in England from 5 December 2021 to 11 December 2021. Three out of the top 20 of the lower-tier local authorities with the highest seven day rates were found in Surrey, with Reigate and Banstead recording the highest rates in the whole country. The Director highlighted that the number of confirmed Omicron cases within the county were only the tip of the iceberg, as they were likely to be a significantly higher in reality. The Director noted that this was a rapidly changing situation. 

2.    The Cabinet Member for Adults and Health introduced the report and the context which underpinned it. The Cabinet Member welcomed the government’s decision to reform Adult Social Care (ASC) and its focus on the front-line social care workforce and prevention agenda. Both demand and cost in ASC exceeded the funding provided by central government which had led to higher thresholds to access services. The proposed increases in national insurance would drive up cost for providers and would add to challenges with recruitment and retention. The Cabinet Member noted that arrangements were being made for her to shadow a care home and a care provider in the community once it was safe to do so, and the findings of these visits would be shared with the Select Committee in due course. The invitation was extended to Members of the Select Committee.

3.    The Director of Finance (Corporate and Commercial) noted that the Council was expecting the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement from central government today (16 December 2021). Following a briefing with Cabinet Members, information on the settlement would be shared with all Members. It would take longer to understand how the settlement could change the budgetary gap. The draft budget was established in line with the Community Vision 2030 and the Council’s priority objectives. The 2022/23 draft budget presented a net gap of £19.5 million. It had been assumed that the Council would receive circa £16 million from the settlement and this had been factored into the draft budget. The Council presented a circa £50 million efficiency programme, which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36