Agenda item

Ms Zena Cooke (Corporate Director Finance), Mr Peter Oakford (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services) and Ms Jane Blenkinskop (Capital Projects Manager & Acting Business Partner for Public Health) were in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr Peter Oakford, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services, introduced the Draft Ten Year Capital Programme, Revenue Budget 2023-24 and medium-term financial plan 2023-26. Mr Oakford highlighted the financial and operating pressures facing the council including inflation and the increased demand for Adult Social Care services. It was said that gross additional proposed spending growth was £216.8m.

Despite additional income generation, there was an anticipated drawdown on reserves. This arose from the need to divert insecure income, such as dividends received from a holding company, to the base budget rather than into reserves. Additionally, in order to achieve a balanced one-year budget, £39.1m of savings would need to be delivered.  Given the scale of the savings, enhanced monitoring arrangements would be put in place. There was, however, a small risk reserve to offset any savings that were not achieved.

2.    Mrs Bell said that Public Health was funded from a ringfenced grant from the Government. This grant for 2023-24 had not been announced at the time of the Cabinet Committee meeting. Consequently, there was a high level of uncertainty in the Public Health Draft Budget for 2023-24. Therefore, assumptions had been made, including a conservative estimation of a £2m (2.8%) increase in the grant. A settlement of more than 2.8% would enable Public Health to revisit the savings that have been identified.

It was said that the pressures for the Public Health budget included: NHS pay increases; increased cost of service providers; increased demand in certain services; the ending of COVID-19 grant funding; uncertainty around some external funding; additional staffing costs; and additional requirements as a result of updated national guidance.

Public Health reserves remained relatively high and had increased as a result of underspends returned to the council by the Kent Community Health Foundation Trust (KCHFT). The underspend had been primarily due to staffing vacancies, reduced service levels and/or demand post COVID-19. It was anticipated that the ringfencing of the KCHFT reserve would be relaxed, enabling the reserve to be used more widely to achieve public health outcomes.

3.    In response to questions from Members it was said that:

a)    Recruitment into permanent senior positions had not had a high success rate and, therefore, interim positions had been introduced. The intention was to replace the interim positions with permanent staff. 

b)    The Business Partner would provide further information regarding the sources of minor growth for public health outside of the meeting.

c)    It was highlighted that the proposed Council Tax increase was in line with the government’s expectation of a 3% referendum limit and 2% adult social care precept.

4.    RESOLVED to:

a.    Comment on the draft capital and revenue budgets relevant to this committee including responses to consultation

b.    Propose any changes to the draft capital and revenue budgets relevant to this committee for consideration by Cabinet on 26th January 2023 before the draft is presented for approval at County Council on 9th February 2023