Agenda item

Councillor Mark Elliott, Cabinet Member for Resources, introduced the item. He explained that, since the last meeting of the Panel he had been working on the overspend. He explained that the vast majority came from Children’s Services and home to school transport. He stated that there are systematic problems with Children’s Services and the issue was had been raised in Parliament. He stated that he hoped to work with NHS colleagues but realises that their budgets are also stretched. He explained that there would be a significant rebasing. He added that there had been strong parking income and acknowledged that we are in a more robust position than many other Councils.

Panel members made the following points and asked the following questions:

Councillor Hodge stated that home to school transport costs are a national problem. She asked if there had been any benchmarking with other authorities and stated that, as the trajectory of the overspend has increased, how confident are we that it will not get worse. The Cabinet Member stated that he shared concerns regarding home to school transport and agreed that it needs a serious focus. The Executive Director explained that EHCPs (Education Health and Welfare Plans) had increased in other authorities aswell and more children eligible for free school meals. Out of area journeys have doubled and we are an outlier in that there are more 1 to 1 cars or taxi’s transporting children outside the area. She added that £60 routes can now cost £240 per day. She explained that a new home to school policy has been consulted on and we now try to offer people personal budgets. We try to use minibuses/coaches. She concluded that the focus is on single car journeys and processing in the Special Education Needs department (SEN) to avoid delays. She added that we will shortly receive data from an independent assessment regarding benchmarking which will give some key lines of enquiry.

Councillor Treby asked if the budget papers brought to the Panel in January could show amber/red financial risks in the budget lines to help with effective scrutiny.

Councillor Blackburn asked about property, he stated that we are continuing to not let buildings because they have not been maintained properly. He asked when the Panel would get an update on the Corporate Estate. The officer stated that it is a priority to have buildings available for tenants. The Cabinet Member explained that the problems essentially stem from outsourcing to private provision for the last 20/30 years which has left the Council open to market failures. We have to rebuild capacity in house.

Councillor Moss agreed that, while to headline is Children’s Services, Corporate Estate issues must not pass under the radar. He explained that overspends in Children’s Services is a national problem and was raised at the LGA. He asked why EHCP numbers are proportionally higher in the UK then other European countries. He also asked why the prediction was so far out and asked what confidence there is that predictions going forward are trustworthy as there are other areas that have met targets but will be affected. The Cabinet Member stated that these are the concerns that he has articulated to officers. He stated that he is being robust on this and that the Cabinet is extremely keen to see the position resolved.

In response to a query from Councillor Treby about the context of the rise in EHCPs, the Cabinet Member explained that parents no longer need to backing of schools to apply for an EHCP but, despite the rise, we are not seeing better outcomes for children. The current system is broken and early intervention is the way forward. The Executive Director added that there is a new SEN early intervention scheme now working closely with schools.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member and officers.