Agenda item

(To receive a report from Mark Popplewell, Head of Finance – Children's Services, which invites the Committee to consider and comment on the 2021/22 budget implications for the Council's Children's Services activities, prior to a decision being taken by the Executive at its meeting on 2 February 2021)

The Chairman advised that this item provided the Committee with an overview of the 2021/22 budget implications for the Council's Children's Services activities.  The Committee was advised further that comments raised would be passed onto the Executive for consideration at its meeting on 2 February 2021.

The Chairman invited Heather Sandy, Executive Director – Children's Services, to present the report.  The Committee noted that Mark Popplewell, Head of Finance – Children's Services was also in attendance for this item.

The Committee was advised that the Executive was currently consulting on a single year financial plan for revenue and capital budgets; and that this was reflective of the one year only Spending Review announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

The Committee noted that the coronavirus pandemic had impacted significantly on the 2020/21 financial year.  The Committee noted further that Central Government had provided grant funding to cover the Council's costs and losses arising directly from the pandemic.

It was reported that the activities for Children's Services were presented in the report under the headings of Children's Education and Children's Social Care.  Table A on page 17 of the report provided the revenue 2021/22 financial budget proposals for Children's Education.

It was highlighted to the Committee that there was a proposed cost pressure of £5.189m relating to the delivery of Home to School/College Transport in 2021/22.  The Committee was advised that the Home to School/College budget was a volatile budget due to a range of outside pressures, and as such the budget remained a financial risk to the Council.  It was highlighted that the service was continuing to look for efficiencies to help manage the pressures.

Paragraph 1.14 and Table B on page 19 of the report set out the revenue 2021/22 financial year budget proposals for Children's Social Care.  The Committee noted that there was a £2.000m cost pressure relating to children in care, as a result of various factors, including the increasing complex nature of family life, and a shift in placement compositions from internal foster carer arrangements to more external placements, some of which were specialist placements, which were incurring increased costs.

The Committee was advised that a ten year capital programme had been compiled and that the gross programme was set at £204.302m for 2021/22, plus a further £322.097m for future years.  After grants and contributions were taken into consideration the Net programme was £111.283m for 2021/22 plus a further £282.808m for future years.  Details of capital projects were shown in paragraphs 1.26 to 1.36 of the report.  Detailed at Appendix A to the report was further information on the Building Communities of Specialist Provision Capital Programme.

Paragraphs 1.37 to 1.45 of the report provided the Committee with details of the Schools Budget, which is funded via the Dedicated Schools Grant.  It was highlighted that there were a number of budgets within the High Needs block, which were large, demand-led budgets; therefore it was difficult to estimate, as there continued to be a growing trend nationally, and in Lincolnshire of more young people requiring more specialist support.

During discussion, the following points were highlighted in relation to the Revenue and Capital Budget Proposals for 2021/22:

·      The Committee thanked officers for their excellent work on the proposals and recognised the significant cost pressures facing Children's Services.  Officers had responded to the challenges and identified savings as well;

·      The Committee congratulated officers on the CIPFA Looked After Children benchmarking for Local Authority participants which showed Lincolnshire's average looked after child placement costs for 2019 to be £41,555 per annum, compared to the average of other Local Authorities of £53,287. This highlighted great value for money while still providing excellent services;

·      The Committee was pleased to see that the Council had secured additional Government grant funding for the Building Communities of Specialist Provision Strategy, and Council funding solutions to meet the revised overall programme costs of £86.794m, to cover the increasing costs of the programme and to invest in Lincolnshire's children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities; and

·      Concerns were raised about the increasing Home to School Transport costs and the impact that the Government's aspirations for green transport would have on this budget. The budget was still continuing to increase despite a lot of effort put in to manage the costs. Where possible, Home to School Transport utilises public transport services; however there were a large number of routes where this was not possible due to the rurality and size of Lincolnshire, and the lack of large bus operators with only Stagecoach operating in Lincolnshire. An in depth review by external consultants from Edge Consultancy was being undertaken to identify whether any further possible efficiencies could be made.  This review would consider all different options, including the Council delivering some of the Home to School Transport or paying parents mileage costs, as possible options. The Committee supported the in depth review and it was suggested that the report from the review be considered at an informal briefing session for the Committee to discuss the outcomes in detail.

RESOLVED

1.    That the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee agreed to unanimously support the budget proposals for Children's Services for 2021/22 as detailed in the report on pages 15 to 27.

2.    That the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee agreed that the comments listed above be forwarded on to the Executive in relation to this item.