Meeting documents

There were none.

Ms A Cranmer, Deputy Cabinet Member for Education and Skills was also in attendance.

There were none.

Of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 25 March 2019.

RESOLVED:  The minutes of the meeting held on 25 March 2019 were AGREED as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman.

Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member for Transportation highlighted the launch of the £15 million road resurfacing scheme.  Mr Tett advised that £4 million of this would fund plane and patch work. 

Cabinet Member for Children's Services highlighted "Foster Care Fortnight."  Informal drop in sessions would be held at Tesco Extra in Loudwater, Buckingham and Aylesbury.  An information event would be held at Buckingham Opportunities Centre on 29 May 2019. 

Deputy Cabinet Member for Education and Skills reported on the  success of the ‘Beaconsfield Decides’  Local Area Forum (LAF) vote. 

Cabinet Member for Community Engagement & Public Health highlighted Mental Health Awareness week and the importance of raising awareness of mental health.

Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing reported that the Dignity in Care Awards were taking place the following day and acknowledged the hard work of employees and volunteers.

Cabinet Member for Planning & Environment advised  that he had been appointed as the Chairman of the Aylesbury Garden Town Board.

There were none.

For Cabinet to consider the Forward Plan

RESOLVED: Cabinet NOTED the report.

RESOLVED: Cabinet NOTED the report.

For Cabinet to consider the Select Committee Work Programme

RESOLVED: Cabinet NOTED the report.

Mr Tett introduced the item, commenting that it had been a challenging year financially due to substantial pressures from Adult Social Care and Children’s Services.  There had been underspend in other areas to offset this, resulting in a slight underspend in the overall budget for the year.  Mr Tett commended the achievements and efforts made by members of Buckinghamshire County Council, and invited Mr J Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources and Mr R Ambrose, Director of Finance & Procurement to present the report in which the following points were highlighted:

• The headline figure of the revenue outturn position for 2018/19 showed an overall underspend of £227,000. This comprised of a portfolio overspend of £6.75 million, offset by an underspend of £7 million in non- portfolio costs. 
• The highest overspend portfolios included Education and Skills, Health and Wellbeing and Children’s Services. 
• There had been a significant underspend of £1.6 million in the Planning and Environment portfolio. 
• The overall slippage of Capital was £23.1 million, which was a slight increase from the previous year.
• Within capital slippage there were three main items from the Leader’s portfolio, which included major infrastructure schemes funded by the local enterprise partnership. These were multi- year schemes, included in the capital budget to secure the grant. 
• Some schemes had also beenput on hold following the unitary decision such as the Bucks Study Centre and ICT capital spend. 
• The two highest areas of capital spend were school places and highways. 
• Debt had fallen from £19 million to £18 million within the last financial year. 
• A corporate approach had been taken with the budget this financial year.  Mitigating actions had been taken in areas that were overspending. 
• The current reserves were £26.4 million and would increase to just over £30 million.
• Mr Tett highlighted a misconception that the charges implemented at the household recycling centres were due to debt, and clarified that borrowed money was invested to provide an income to protect front line services. 

Following the report Cabinet raised and discussed the following points:

• Mr Appleyard highlighted that the overspend in Education and Skills was largely due to an overspend in school transport.  This was due to delays in planned changes to the scheme, but the budget would be back on track in the next financial year. 
• Mr Whyte praised finance teams within Children’s Services for the effective identification and management of overspends mid-year.  Since mid-year the overspends had been managed well and had not increased despite the increase in Looked After Children (LAC.)
• The Children’s Homes were starting to have a positive financial impact, with two opening in Wycombe this financial year.  In house foster carers had increased by 34 in the financial year resulting in better value for the County Council and a positive outcome for the children.  The in house foster carers had meant the service had avoided a potential £2.8 million overspend.

• Mr Chapple highlighted that the underspend in Planning and Environment helped to manage the overall budget, and would not be carried forward into  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Cabinet are asked to AGREE 8 recommendations as set out in the report.

Mr B Roberts, Chairman of the Health and Adult Social Care (HASC) Select Committee and Mrs L Wheaton, Committee and Governance Adviser attended the meeting to present the recommendations from the Support for Carers Inquiry.  (Report appended to the minutes.)

Cabinet raised and discussed the following points:

• Gratitude and respect for carers was expressed and acknowledgements were given of the importance of their work.
• There was no clear structure highlighting how carers could access help via the current system.  The new digital front door to the system would co-ordinate information and help people understand what services they had access to.
• Ms Cranmer declared that she was part of the select committee.
• There were currently 50,000 carers living in Buckinghamshire, and many young carers slipped through the system.  This was due to a lack of understanding that they were playing a caring role.

Cabinet responded to the recommendations as follows:

Mr Appleyard advised that he would reword the response to recommendation 5 and present at the next meeting.

Mr Roberts and his inquiry team were thanked by Cabinet for their work.

 RESOLVED: Cabinet responded to the recommendations as set out in the table above.

Cabinet are asked to NOTE the progress being made with the establishment of the new unitary council for Buckinghamshire.

Mr Tett introduced the item and highlighted that in November 2018 the Secretary of State had made the decision to confirm the formation of a new unitary council for Buckinghamshire, which would come into effect from April 2020. The structural change order was passed in the House of Commons unanimously and was progressed to the House of Lords.  A report on the progress of the unitary formation was in the public domain. Mr Tett emphasised the importance of strong engagement with Parish and Town Councils.

Mr Tett reported that Mr Arif Hussain had been named as an additional deputy member of the Shadow Executive for Buckinghamshire County Council

RESOLVED:  Cabinet NOTED the proposal.

Cabinet are asked to agree that authorisation is given to the Director of Property and Assets in consultation and with the approval of the Cabinet Member for Resources, the Executive Director for Resources and the Director of Finance & Procurement to agree recommendations as set out in the report.

Mr Tett introduced the item highlighting that the proposal had been received but was subject to non-disclosure and details could not be placed in the public domain.  This item would be discussed in more detail in a confidential session.

Mr Chilver highlighted the policy to maximise income generation in order to support front line services. 

Mr Appleyard emphasised that the proposal was about ensuring that Buckinghamshire County Council could continue to deliver good services to the public, and not about making profit. 

RESOLVED:  Cabinet AGREED the proposal unanimously.

10 June 2019.

10 June 2019. 

RESOLVED

That the press and public be excluded for the following item which is exempt by virtue of Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972 because it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

To consider confidential appendices.