Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies.

There were no apologies.

Councillors to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests, other registerable interests, or non-registerable interests (including other pecuniary interests) they may have in the business to be transacted, and officers to declare any interests they may have in any contract to be considered.

There were no disclosures of interest.

To consider the contents of the draft budget 2025/26 initially noted and endorsed at Cabinet on 3 December 2024.

The Committee have chosen at this meeting to focus on scrutiny of the pressures and proposed budget reductions and income proposals in Childrens and Adults Services.

The Committee may need to consider excluding the public and press in accordance with Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, should it wish to discuss specific exempt proposals.

Any recommendations the Committee may formulate from this item will be included in the Committee’s report on draft budget proposals which will be presented to Cabinet and Council in February.

The Committee recommenced its scrutiny of the 2025/26 Draft Budget, with this meeting dedicated to pressures, budget reductions and income proposals in Childrens and Adults Services. In order that the Committee were able to discuss exempt annexes, the Chair proposed that the public and press be excluded in accordance with Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 with a commitment that the recording of the meeting would be reviewed and any non-exempt sections released to the public.

The motion was seconded by Councillor Cannon and agreed unanimously by the Committee.

The following minutes reflect the items discussed which were subsequently identified as being non-exempt and therefore able to be released to the public.

Discussions were held on the following proposals:

S25-5N Provider Services (800k in 2025/26 and 700k in 2026/27)

The Committee noted that there was limited information available in the papers as to the breakdown of this saving which amounted to £1.5 million over two financial years and their need to understand what impact, if any, this would have on services provided to the public and the achievability of these reductions. The Director of Adult Services responded that at the time of drafting there were still works ongoing to identify the detailed breakdown. She outlined the three component parts contributing towards the saving and advised the Committee of the range of options proposed for sheltered housing staffing which were the subject of a two-part consultation of residents to identify the preferred option.

The Committee heard that three options had been proposed to residents which were maintaining the current level of staffing and increasing the charge to approximately £24 a week, a shared model with a cost of roughly £11 a week or stopping the service entirely. The Director of Adult Services advised that all three of these options would achieve the saving of £400k over the two financial years which was attributed to this section of the saving. Following questions from the Committee she advised that the result of the consultation was expected to be communicated to the approximately 850 tenants in February and then a staff consultation would commence on the preferred option.

Members of the Committee requested that in future years consideration was given to breaking down savings that spanned multiple service areas into distinct lines in the draft budget to increase transparency and facilitate the scrutiny of such proposals.

Following questions from the Committee the Director of Adult Services confirmed that the charge of roughly £11 a week was comparable with the current charge to tenants but that charges to residents varied based on the amount of subsidy they were entitled to. The Committee requested that they receive a copy of the consultation material shared with tenants of sheltered housing schemes.

S25-8N Young People’s Substance Misuse Service (50k)

Members of the Committee were informed that this funding from the Public Health Grant was being used to offset the corresponding pressure in Childrens Services as a result of demand for places in the Family Drug and  ...  view the full minutes text for item BR44