Agenda item

 (1)      The Committee considered the Draft Budget proposals relating to the Communities Directorate as set out in the Draft Budget 2011-12 and the Draft Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2011-2013 and also the report which was circulated specifically relating to the key areas of these documents for Communities Directorate. 

(2)       Mr Hill and Mr Tilson introduced the draft Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan for the Communities Directorate.  Mr Hill and Officers answered questions from Members about the following issues:-

(3)       Mr Tilson confirmed that the “new library and community centre, Cheeseman’s Green, Ashford” (page 151 of the draft MTFP) was the only project which was reliant on specific grants and/or external funding and would only go ahead if the funding was achieved.

(4)       Mr Tilson explained that in relation to Youth Centres that benefit from an 80% reduction in rates because a charity is accommodated onsite, there was legislation pending which may withdraw this exemption and a pressure has been provided for accordingly.

(5)       In response to a question Mr Tilson confirmed that in the Registration and Community Learning and Skills services, the user did pay for the elements that were not paid for by grants or Government contribution but that a small KCC budget was prevalent for Registration.  In relation to Adult Education, if enrolment figures fall this can cause a funding pressure, as it is difficult to react quickly to reduce costs.  It was important to get the right mix of fixed and variable costs in order to react for a change in the enrolment figures and to balance the books.  He stated that it was also a mid to long term aspiration for the Registration service to be cost neutral, or as close as. 

(6)       Regarding funding for Supporting People, Mr Tilson explained that the partner agencies in receipt of cascaded funding e.g. Borough/District Councils, were aware of funding cuts driving the need to do things differently, for example providing floating support, and we were working closely with all partners. In relation to Community Safety, Borough/District Councils had been consulted and there were partnership arrangements in place or negotiations ongoing.

(7)       In relation to budgets which had been un-ring fenced, Mr Hill stated that the responsibility rested with the County Council to decide how to allocate these funds.

(8)       Mr Tilson explained how the County Council’s capital programme was funded and explained the term of prudential borrowing.

(9)       In response to a further question on Supporting People, regarding floating support, Mr Tilson stated that services and the way in which they were delivered were under review.  The intention is to provide one countywide approach to create an efficient and cost effective service that continued to protect the most vulnerable people in Kent.  The resulting plan would be shared with the Committee when it was available. 

(10)     In response to a question on the reduced figure for the contribution towards the running costs for The Bridge (page 93 – Draft Budget) from £32,000 to £2,000, Mr Tilson explained that £32,000 had been added to the base budget, not reduced, and that the £2,000 was the inflation element in future years e.g. they were not yearly increases but the movement in the base budget.   He also gave an explanation of the £838,000 in 2012/13 (page 93 – Draft  Budget) for Review of service provision – creation of commissioning budget and how this needed to be viewed in tandem with the gross savings that are identified on the following page to get back to the £0.9m Youth Service saving that is identified in the Budget MTP paper.

(11)     There were a number of questions relating to the Youth Service and in response Mr Hill stated consideration was being given to re-modelling the Youth Service including commissioning more work in the voluntary and private sectors, where capacity existed already or had the potential to increase in the future.  He undertook to ensure that when a plan had been developed it would be shared with the Committee.

(12)     RESOLVED that the revenue and capital budget proposals included within the Medium Term Financial Plan 2011/13 be noted and the comments made by Members on the revenue and capital budget proposals be fed into the Cabinet Budget meetings and County Council in February.