Agenda item

RESOLVED (as amended):

1.         The 2016/17 service strategies that will deliver the Corporate Strategy 2016?21, as set out in Annex 1 to the submitted report, be approved.

2.         The detailed service revenue and capital budgets for the year 2016/17 and indicative budgets for the years 2017?21, including amendments resulting from the final Local Government Financial Settlement and other Government funding changes announced since 9 February 2016, as set out in Annex 1 to the submitted report, be approved.

3.         The use of a further £7.5m of earmarked reserves to support the 2016/17 revenue budget, as detailed in paragraph 25 of the submitted report, be approved.

4.         The proactive and systematic engagement of the County Council in responding to proposed changes in local government funding to ensure these changes do not further disadvantage Surrey, and the recognition of the costs of delivering services in Surrey be approved.

5.         The highway maintenance capital budget for 2016/17 be increased by £5m, offset by a £5m reduction to the 2017/18 highway maintenance budget, as set out in paragraphs 55 to 56 of the submitted report.

6.         The publication of the service revenue and capital budgets as the Medium Term Financial Plan 2016?21 be approved.

7.         A £400 charge for arranging a funeral for an individual who has received Adult social Care services commissioned by the Council, where there is no one else to make these arrangements be noted.

8.         The Director of Finance’s letter to the Department for Communities and Local Government confirming that the adult social care precept will be spent entirely on adult social care functions, as detailed in paragraph 11 of the submitted report be noted.

9.         That a programme has been established in line with previous recommendations to deliver on Public Value Transformation that will identify base budget reductions to deliver up to £50m through additional continuing savings or funding, beyond those already in MTFP (2016?21), over the next two years to make the Council’s finances sustainable, as set out in paragraphs 29 to 38 of the submitted report.

10.      The fees & charges approved under delegated powers, as set out in Annex 2 to the submitted report, be noted.

11.     The Equality Impact Assessment of the savings proposals within the Directorate and Service Budgets, as set out in Annex 3 to the submitted report, be noted.

Reasons for Decisions:

The Corporate Strategy 2016?21 sets out the Council’s key strategic goals of wellbeing, economic prosperity and residents’ experience. The underpinning service strategies provide detail on the objectives and actions to achieve these corporate goals.

The Medium Term Financial Plan 2016?21 is a five year budget aligned to the corporate strategy. It reflects assumptions about the current local and national financial, economic and political environment. Setting a five year budget is a key element of the council’s multi-year approach to financial management. Regular reporting through the year will enable effective tracking and management of progress with the strategy and the budget.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Council Overview Board]

The Leader of the Council introduced the report and said that last month, the Council’s refreshed five year corporate strategy Confident in Surrey’s Future and overall budget and council tax precept for 2016/17 and indicative budgets for the following four financial years were approved by the County Council.

He said that the Council strategy focused on Surrey’s long-term interests and making sure:

·      everyone in Surrey had a great start to life and could live and age well;

·      Surrey’s economy remained strong and sustainable; and

·      Residents experience services that are easy to use, responsive and value for money.

He reported the following details for Cabinet approval.

·      Service strategies to deliver the overall corporate strategy for 2016-21

·      Revenue and capital budgets for 2016/17 and indicative budgets for 2017/18 to 2020/21, which included:

o  grant changes in the Final Local Government Financial Settlement;

o  fees and charges; and

o  Equality Impact Assessments for our savings proposals.

He said that the Financial Settlement had partly mitigated Surrey’s shock grant reductions in the Provisional Settlement. However, the Counci still needed to draw £7.5m more from its reserves in 2016/17 than had been anticipated last month and over £30m reserves in total to balance 2016/17 and 2017/18.

He informed Cabinet that savings of over £330m had been made in the past five years, including £64m in 2015/16. However, falling Government funding and rising demand for Council services, especially social care, meant that the Council needed to achieve over £360m of new base budget savings or additional income over the next five years to continue to maintain a lawful, balanced and sustainable budget.

To help achieve this unprecedented level of base budget reductions, the Public Value Transformation Programme had been set up, to identify and deliver an extra £50m lasting savings over the next two years.

He said that, inevitably, delivering over £360m savings on top of what had already achieved will involve difficult and uncomfortable choices. However, a robust Medium Term Financial Plan was critical to delivering the ambitions and goals and ensuring value for money for Surrey’s residents. The clear aim from this MTFP was to maintain a robust and sustainable financial base from which to transform and deliver the services that matter most to the people of Surrey.

Finally, he drew attention to additional information plus an extra recommendation 7 (subsequent recommendations were re-numbered), which was tabled at the meeting.

This was, the inclusion of the following paragraph after paragraph 74 in the main report:

‘Adult Social Care seeks approval of a £400 charge for arranging the funeral for an individual who has received Adult Social Care Services commissioned by the Council, where there is no one else to make these arrangements. The Council is already involved in arranging funerals, but the process is currently finished by the relevant District or Borough Council who then applies the charge. This change will streamline the process and allow the Council to make the charge. The potential volume of these charges is unknown, so the budgeted income yield is nil.’

With recommendation 7 now stating:

‘That £400 charge for arranging a funeral for an individual who has received Adult Social Care Services commissioned by the council, where there is no one else to make these arrangements be noted.’

Other Members of the Cabinet Team were invited to comment on their respective portfolios and made the following key points:

·         The most significant pressures for the Council’s revenue budget were within Adult Social Care. £24m of these pressures were due to an increase in demographic demand for services. The EIA for 2016/17 Budget savings, annexed to this report, set out proposals for how next year’s savings target of £55m could be achieved. It included a range of mitigating actions that had been developed to help minimise any negative impact of the proposals. The Adult Social Care Service Strategy set out the key actions for the service in 2016/17 which included ‘Whole Systems Demand Management’.

·         That the success of the Public Value Transformation Programme was crucial to deliver required savings.

·         Provision of school places continued to be a budget strain because the schools basic needs programme needed to provide 11,500 additional places in the next five years and there was a significant shortfall in Government funding for this provision.

·         The Children, Schools and Families Strategy set out the challenges and opportunities, which included addressing the findings of the Ofsted report of June 2015 for Children’s Services. Additional investment would also be required to meet the legislative changes surrounding SEND provision.

·         Other demand led pressures included having sufficient qualified staff for safeguarding children, Looked After Children, Fostering, Asylum Seekers, CAMHS and Hope.

·         Highways – Surrey’s roads were the busiest in the country. The county had a planned highway maintenance programme – Project Horizon. However, it was dependent on Government funding which was not sufficient to meet its needs. 

·         Concern about the methodology for distributing the £1.5billion improved Better Care Funding and the need for the Leader to continue to lobby Government to obtain a fairer deal for Surrey.

·         That the county was facing massive gap in funding for the provision of Adult Social Care Services.

·         The Local Transport Bus Review would be reporting to Cabinet on 24 May 2016 – the Cabinet Member gave assurance that the EIAs would be updated and any mitigating action would be explored.

·         That the kerbside waste improvement programme could have a negative impact for disability, age and race due to differing communication needs. However, these would be mitigated using accessible communication needs for residents.

·         One of Surrey’s strengths was its vibrant economy and the importance of working with the business community was stressed so that the economy could grow and apprenticeships, tourism, exports and small businesses were promoted and supported.

A summary of Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) for all services was annexed to the report. (Full details of each EIA is available on the SCC website) These EIAs set out the impact of any budget savings on Surrey residents. It was acknowledged that mitigating actions would have to take place.

Before putting the recommendations to Cabinet, the Leader of the Council summed up, stating that the Medium Term Financial Plan was a large document that included financial information, narrative for each service and their key actions plus the roles and responsibilities of the Cabinet team.

Finally, he said that the four big issues facing the Council were:

·         Adult Social Sevices

·         Children’s Services, including SEND, early prevention, school places

·         Better Care Fund

·         Overall Budget savings

RESOLVED( as amended):

1.         The 2016/17 service strategies that will deliver the Corporate Strategy 2016?21, as set out in Annex 1 to the submitted report, be approved.

2.         The detailed service revenue and capital budgets for the year 2016/17 and indicative budgets for the years 2017?21, including amendments resulting from the final Local Government Financial Settlement and other Government funding changes announced since 9 February 2016, as set out in Annex 1 to the submitted report, be approved.

3.         The use of a further £7.5m of earmarked reserves to support the 2016/17 revenue budget, as detailed in paragraph 25 of the submitted report, be approved.

4.         The proactive and systematic engagement of the County Council in responding to proposed changes in local government funding to ensure these changes do not further disadvantage Surrey, and the recognition of the costs of delivering services in Surrey be approved.

5.         The highway maintenance capital budget for 2016/17 be increased by £5m, offset by a £5m reduction to the 2017/18 highway maintenance budget, as set out in paragraphs 55 to 56 of the submitted report.

6.         The publication of the service revenue and capital budgets as the Medium Term Financial Plan 2016?21 be approved.

7.         A £400 charge for arranging a funeral for an individual who has received Adult social Care services commissioned by the Council, where there is no one else to make these arrangements be noted.

8.         The Director of Finance’s letter to the Department for Communities and Local Government confirming that the adult social care precept will be spent entirely on adult social care functions, as detailed in paragraph 11 of the submitted report be noted.

9.         That a programme has been established in line with previous recommendations to deliver on Public Value Transformation that will identify base budget reductions to deliver up to £50m through additional continuing savings or funding, beyond those already in MTFP (2016?21), over the next two years to make the Council’s finances sustainable, as set out in paragraphs 29 to 28 of the submitted report.

10.      The fees & charges approved under delegated powers, as set out in Annex 2 to the submitted report, be noted.

10.     The Equality Impact Assessment of the savings proposals within the Directorate and Service Budgets, as set out in Annex 3 to the submitted report, be noted.

Reasons for Decisions:

The Corporate Strategy 2016?21 sets out the Council’s key strategic goals of wellbeing, economic prosperity and residents’ experience. The underpinning service strategies provide detail on the objectives and actions to achieve these corporate goals.

The Medium Term Financial Plan 2016?21 is a five year budget aligned to the corporate strategy. It reflects assumptions about the current local and national financial, economic and political environment. Setting a five year budget is a key element of the council’s multi-year approach to financial management. Regular reporting through the year will enable effective tracking and management of progress with the strategy and the budget.