Agenda item

To receive a report by the Deputy Leaderand Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement; and the relevant Cabinet Members for Education and Young People’s Services portfolio and Corporate Directors for Finance and Procurementand Education and Young People’s Services thatsets out the proposed draft budget 2015/16 and Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2015/18 as it affects Education and Young People’s Service. The report includes an extract from the proposed final draft budget book and MTFP relating to the remit of this Cabinet Committee although these are exempt until the Budget and MTFP are published on 12 January.  This report also includes information from the KCC budget consultation, Autumn Budget Statement and provisional Local Government Finance Settlement as they affect KCC as a whole as well as any specific issues of relevance to this committee

(Report by Mr J Simmonds, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement, Mr R Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform, Mr M Hill Cabinet Member for Community Services and  Mr A Wood, Corporate Director for Finance and Procurement)

(Mr D Shipton, Head of Financial Strategy and Mr K Abbott, Director of School Resources were also present for this item)

1.            The Head of Financial Strategy, Mr Shipton, introduced the report that sets out the proposed draft budget 2015/16 and the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTP) 2015/18 as it affects the Education and Young People’s Services.  He advised that the provisional settlement had been received on 18 December and the settlement on 23 December and the final draft budget was published on 12 January 2015.

2.            The draft Budget was based on the provisional settlement from government received on 18 December 2014, and the provisional Council Tax figures, which had been received just before Christmas.  The provisional settlement had been largely as expected but the Council Tax base showed a 1.7% increase on the current year, which was higher than expected.  The budget consultation had been based on an increase of 0.5% providing an extra £6.2m available in the budget.  This additional tax base had been allocated in the draft budget to cover additional spending of £2.8m; including pressures on school transport.  There were no savings proposals that directly affected this portfolio.

3.            The Cabinet Member, Mr Gough, advised that the Education and Young People’s Services Directorate budget would contribute to the overall budget savings of the County Council. 

4.            Mr Gough highlighted that there were particular pressures with SEN transport of £1.8m.  There were steps being taken to deliver savings through a range of initiatives including travel training for vulnerable young adults, personal budgets for families and the devolution of some budgets to schools.  He referred to SEND Strategy, which was building up capacity in Kent for more local SEN provision, which would also help deliver savings.

5.            Mr Gough stated the successes of the trading activity eg Education psychology and School Improvement. There was restructuring being carried out and the reduction in staffing was being carried out where possible through natural wastage.  Many of the posts proposed to be deleted are already vacant.  Wherever possible frontline serves would be protected.

6.            Mr Gough explained that we were in the fifth year of flat cash for the DSG in 2015/16 and within this pressure on schools continued to mount. A change in the funding formula tied closely to pupil numbers and the demography of number in the secondary schools being at a relatively low level at present were adding to the pressure on schools.

7.            Mr Gough, Mr Shipton and Mr Abbott noted comments and responded to questions by Members  follows:

·         Members thanked officers for arranging the budget to be available for consideration at the meeting.  [The draft budget appendices 1, 2, 3 and 4 were restricted from publication until 12 January when they were made available to the public].  Members agreed to this method being used for future budget reports.

·         Members were advised that the virements that had occurred throughout the year and base budget adjustments would be detailed in the final budget book for submission at the next County Council meeting in February.

·         Members were advised that the Travel pass was negotiated through the Integrated Transport Unit and any reports are submitted to the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee.

8.            RESOLVED that:-

a)     the responses to questions by Members be noted; and

b)     the draft budget 2015/16 and MTFP 2015/2018 (including responses to consultation and Government announcements) and make recommendations to the Cabinet Committee Member for Finance and Procurement and the relevant Cabinet Members for Education and Young People’s Services on any other issue which should be reflected in the budget and MTFP prior to Cabinet on 28 January 2015 and County Council on 12 February 2015.