Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Room 4, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, HA9 9HD
Contact: Maureen O'Sullivan, Democratic Services Officer 020 8937 1357 Email: maureen.o'sullivan@brent.gov.uk
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Declarations of personal and prejudicial interests Members are invited to declare, at this stage of the meeting, any relevant financial or other interest in the items on this agenda. Minutes: None declared. |
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Deputations Minutes: None received. |
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Minutes of the previous meeting PDF 78 KB Minutes: RESOLVED:
that, subject to recording the closing time of the meeting as 9.20 pm (amended from 8.20 pm), the minutes of the previous meeting held on Tuesday 13 October be approved as an accurate record of the meeting. |
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Matters arising Minutes: None raised. |
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First reading debate on the 2010/11 to 2013/14 budget PDF 54 KB Full Council will be holding its first reading debate on the 2010/11 budget at its meeting on Monday 23 November. This report sets out the financial issues that will form the background of that debate.
(a) Priorities of the administration – this report will follow (b) The 2010/11 budget.
The Leader of the Council will attend the meeting to answer questions from the Panel on the reports. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Chair welcomed Councillor Lorber, Leader of the Council, who introduced the Executive’s draft report Priorities of the Executive. Councillor Lorber informed the Panel that the budget was always a challenge, with work starting as soon as the previous one was approved. The Council faced internal and external challenges, but the underlying principle was to achieve continuous improvement, provide better value and ensure that services to local residents were the best they could be. The Council’s improvement and efficiency agenda, including the planned move to a new Civic Centre, was an opportunity for positive work on efficiency and the creation of one Council. The administration had set itself the objective of helping local residents by freezing council tax, and efficiency was also focussed on this. Duncan McLeod (Director, Finance and Corporate Resources) introduced the draft budget report setting out the financial forecasts for the next four years. The budget gap for 2010/11 had decreased since the July 2009 meeting of the Executive, mainly because the assumptions around inflation had changed. The reduced level of inflation also affected the Council’s projected pay award and the medium-term financial strategy. It was hoped to achieve a surplus from the 2009/10 budget, although this would be difficult. Services were already identifying savings as part of the managing the current budget, and where these were permanent changes, ongoing benefits for future years would be provided. The greatest scope for closing the remainder of the budget gap lay in the implementation of the improvement and efficiency strategy. This was the type of approach being followed by every public and private sector company in the country, given the economic conditions. There were particular budget pressures on Children and Families as a consequence of the continuation of the recession, and there had been an increase in demand for housing benefit. Officers would be looking to verify figures and take a view on any additional resources that needed to be put into the budget. This would take place in the next two to three months. Duncan McLeod added that an additional pressure would be caused by the government’s proposed change in funding of concessionary fares, and the report would need to be amended to reflect this. While there was a relatively large increase in the amount schools in Brent would receive, this did not appear as part of the Council’s overall budget requirement, and was treated separately from spending on other services. An announcement was expected in relation to the Housing Revenue Account, and the report would be updated when this was known. The proposed level of capital spending was at a level similar to that in the current budget, but it was a question of how it would be allocated. The Council was awaiting a decision on Building Schools for the Future (BSF), which would be key to the formation of a long-term programme to address school capital needs. Duncan McLeod drew members’ attention to the timetable for finalising the budget, pointing out that there would ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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Children and Families budget issues and service transformation The Director of Children and Families will attend the meeting to provide a presentation for members on current budget issues facing this service area. Minutes: John Christie (Director, Children and Families) gave a verbal presentation on current budget issues and service transformation in the Department of Children and Families. Touching on the issue of staff morale, discussed under the previous agenda item on the 2010/11 budget first reading debate, John Christie reported a mixed picture. While staff were affected by change and external pressures at an already difficult time for social care and social workers nationally, there was also an element of positive thinking, and the results of the Council’s staff survey showed that the level of satisfaction at working in Brent had increased slightly. John Christie was positive about the invest to save programmes and the focus on child protection and the prevention of abuse, and was encouraged by the results of the staff survey. He was confident that the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) bid would be successful, and had been encouraged by the feedback so far. Responding to members’ comments on the situation at Copland Community School, John Christie informed the Panel that the first priority had been to stabilise the school. An Interim Executive Board (IEB) had been appointed and disciplinary action had been taken against the relevant staff, who had either resigned or been dismissed, with further action to come. The Council now needed to review what had happened and learn lessons. The situation had arisen as a result of a combination of things, for example, the permitted independent auditing arrangements and the submission of returns that did not declare certain payments. As soon as the Council had the information that something was amiss, it had taken action. A report would be written on what had happened, and this would cover the issue of governance and interests. Turning to the budget, John Christie reported that, while Council revenue had been squeezed on the whole, the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) had grown, and the schools had agreed to use £750,000 of the DSG to fund the employment of Common Assessment Framework (CAF) officers for the next year. John Christie reported a general increase in social care activity, with a rise – as follows – in child protection referrals under section 47 of the Children Act 1989: 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2763 3100 3434 5456 (projected). The number of section 47 enquiries over the same period was: 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 528 720 830 900 (projected). The number of children subject to child protection plans was projected to rise to 230 in 2009/10. While the number of looked after children showed a downward trend, other regulatory aspects had increased, and this had combined with increasing demand in the wake of the Haringey inquiry. The cost of social care placements over the same four-year period, was as follows: 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 budget £14.4m £16.2m £16.3m £16.3m actual £18.4m £18.2m £17.6m £18.5m The effect of the invest to save strategy was demonstrated by calculations, which showed that, without it, the actual figures would have been as follows: 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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Date of next meeting The next meeting of the Budget Panel is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 2 December 2009. Minutes: The Panel noted that the next meeting would take place on Wednesday 2 December 2009 at 7.30 pm. |