Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Room 4, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, HA9 9HD
Contact: Peter Goss - Democratic Services Manager 020 8937 1353 Email: peter.goss@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 (if any) Minutes: None. |
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Minutes of the previous meeting - 20 July 2011 PDF 91 KB Minutes: RESOLVED:-
that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 20 July 2011 be approved as an accurate record of the meeting. |
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Matters arising (if any) Minutes: None. |
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Children and Families budget issues PDF 523 KB 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: Mustafa Salih (Assistant Director - Strategic Finance, Children and Families) gave a financial overview of the Children and Families department by means of a Powerpoint presentation. He began by outlining the size and make-up of the funding sources and the issues facing the schools budget. He pointed out that the budget had been under pressure for the last two years because of expenditure on special education needs (SEN), resulting in a cumulative overspend of £5.7M being brought forward into the 2011/12 schools budget, which is funded by the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). He turned attention to the element of the budget met by the General Fund covering 'achievement and inclusion' and the larger area of 'social care'. Mustafa Salih then explained where the pressures remained on the budget and outlined the savings made in 2011/12. He stated that achievement of the savings was monitored monthly and remained largely on track with the biggest threat coming from the planned closure of a respite centre that was now on hold pending the outcome of a judicial review brought against the decision. The present estimate was for an overspend on the SEN budget in 2011/12 of £1.5M which would have to be added to the £5.7M already mentioned. However, work was being done to achieve additional savings in order to reach a balanced position for the Schools Budget over the next 2-3 years. Mustafa Salih provided more detail on the pressure on the SEN budget and the measures being taken to reduce SEN expenditure. He then went on to detail the pressure on the budget for children's social care and the measures being taken to reduce these. Finally, he outlined the pressure on school places which he explained had an effect on the revenue budget but a much bigger impact on the capital budget because of the need to provide additional accommodation.
Krutika Pau (Director of Children and Families) added to the presentation by explaining that the management structure and decision making concerning SEN had been changed to make it more efficient. The pressure on social care continued but good progress had been made towards containing the budget. The pressure on school places was a London wide issue and the council was working with other councils to present a lobbying position through London Councils for funding to address this. A number of direct grants had ceased or had been rolled into the DSG. A new relationship had been established with schools with over £2M being brought back into the Council but this would rely on the Council being able to deliver cost effective services which were valued by schools.
Councillor Arnold (Lead Member for Children and Families) added that the service had to make a 17% cut in the budget quickly and in doing so had tried to protect the front line services. The approach had to be towards being more efficient and streamlined in the face of increasing need and demand. There was now better information available on where the demand was ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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The Director of Finance and Corporate Services will attend the meeting to provide a presentation on the current budget position. Minutes: Mick Bowden (Deputy Director of Finance and Corporate Services) tabled a paper showing the Council's latest budget position for 2011/12. He stated that there were two other areas facing similar challenges to those facing Children and Families which had been discussed under the earlier item. One was Adult Social Care having to deal with the costs of transitions when the care of 19 year olds was passed on from Children and Families, and the other was from the changes in Housing Benefit which was having an impact on the temporary accommodation budget. In answer to a question regarding investment, Mick Bowden explained that the Council invested surplus funds with banks and building societies but the amount invested was kept low at the moment because of the small returns and high risks involved. In being asked about the forecast overspend of £1.2M, he stated that this was a current forecast and so service areas were being asked to bring their budgets into line to mitigate against overspending at the year end.
The budget update was noted. |
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Update on the proposals in the Local Government Resources Review PDF 246 KB Members will receive a presentation at the meeting. Minutes: Mick Bowden (Deputy Director of Finance and Corporate Services) explained the proposals contained in the Local Government resource review by reference to Powerpoint slides. The scheme provided for local authorities to retain their share of business rate growth as a replacement for the current formula grant system. However, Mick Bowden added that as the detail had emerged it had become an increasingly complex model and therefore difficult to predict the impact on individual authorities. Following the initial consultation paper being issued on 18 July a number of technical papers had followed and Mick Bowden outlined these to the meeting. In answer to questions around the pooling arrangements and cracking down on evasion, Mick Bowden explained that London Councils had carried out work on pooling arrangements within London and that work was being done with Revenue and Benefits service on developing strategies for business rate collection.
The latest position arising from the Local Government resources review was noted. |
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A copy of the Committee’s work programme is attached for comment and update. Minutes: Members considered the committee's work programme. It was agreed that an update on the Local Government resources review with particular reference to the strategies being worked on for the future collection of business rates should be added to the meeting on 11 October.
Members also asked that the implications of the changes to the Housing Revenue Account and an update on the capital programme be added to the meeting on 6 December.
The work programme, as amended, was agreed. |
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Any Other Urgent Business Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Democratic Services Manager or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 64. Minutes: None. |
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Date of Next Meeting The next scheduled meeting of the Committee is on 11 October 2011. Minutes: It was noted that the next meeting of the committee would take place on 11 October 2011. |