North Yorkshire County Council
Thirsk and Malton Area Constituency Committee
Minutes of the remote meeting held on Wednesday 13 January 2021 commencing at 10.00 am.
County Councillor Caroline Goodrick in the Chair. plus County Councillors Val Arnold, Robert Baker, Lindsay Burr, Gareth Dadd, Caroline Patmore, Janet Sanderson, Peter Sowray, Helen Swiers, Roberta Swiers and Greg White.
In attendance: County Councillors Carl Les, David Chance and Caroline Dickinson, and Suzanne Lamb (Harrogate & District Foundation Trust).
NYCC officers present: Gary Fielding, David Kirkpatrick, Louise Wallace, Victoria Ononeze, Melanie Carr & Ruth Gladstone.
Apologies: County Councillor Keane Duncan.
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Copies of all documents considered are in the Minute Book
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Welcome by the Chair - Introductions & Updates
Members of the Thirsk & Malton Area Constituency Committee introduced themselves, and County Councillor Caroline Goodrick (Chair) welcomed everyone to the meeting and confirmed there were no updates to provide.
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Minutes of the Meeting held on 23 September 2020
Resolved – That the Minutes of the previous meeting of the Thirsk and Malton Area Constituency Committee held on 23 September 2020, having been printed and circulated, be confirmed and signed by the Chair as a correct record.
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Apologies & Declarations of Interest
There were no apologies given, or declarations of interest made, at the meeting.
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Public Questions or Statements
There were no public questions or statements.
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County Council Budget Proposals 2021/22
Gary Fielding, Corporate Director for Strategic Resources gave a presentation on NYCC’s latest Budget & Mid Term Financial Strategy Forecasts, together with the associated risks and issues, which highlighted:
· 2021/22 would be balanced mostly through one-off Government funding and Reserves – Gary Fielding provided a breakdown of where those reserves would come from, confirming that some reserves were ring-fenced e.g. insurance reserves. Members noted the use of Reserves would allow the time to produce the necessary plans. · No Spending Review was expected beyond 2021/22; · It was not a sustainable option to balance 2022/23 through the use of Reserves, so a strong and credible plan was needed; · Funding and Net Service Pressures; · The legacy of Covid – a breakdown of the post Covid pressures; · The latest forecast for the next 3 years was projecting a £82m cash shortfall at the end of the MTFS, with a recurring £30m shortfall thereafter; · Whilst there was a great deal of uncertainty at this stage, the Local Government Review may deliver part of the solution; · Council Tax consideration and Adult Social Care Precept Options – it was confirmed that the Council had the option of taking advantage of the 3% ASC precept now or retaining the flexibility of doing so in the future. Members noted that the ASC precept would be built in to the base budget; · The proposed locality budget per annum for 2021/22 and 2022/23£ was 10k per member, at a total cost of £1,440k; He went on to outline the Council’s budget plan, which included the option of an intermediate Budget later in 2021, and the next steps in the Budget process.
Finally, Gary Fielding highlighted some specific financial issues affecting the Thirsk & Malton constituency area, which included:
· Projections for maintained schools, including that 115 LA maintained schools (49%) were projecting an in-year deficit in 2020/21; · A breakdown for schools across the constituency e.g. the number of schools expected to be in deficit over the next 3 years and the value of that deficit, which was expected to rise to £18.3m by 2022/23. Members noted that the average deficit figures provided often masked some serious problems for some individual schools; · The Thirsk & Malton constituency area covered a number of ASC budget areas i.e. Hambleton, and Scarborough, Whitby & Ryedale · The expected HAS Directorate overspend for 2020/21 of £10.3m, made up of COVID-19 related budget pressures of £13.9m and non-COVID net underspends of £2.7m, related to business-as-usual activity; · Detailed examples of reduced ‘business-as-usual’ activity, as a result of COVID e.g. a 30% reduction in Living Well referrals and a 25% reduction in reablement activity etc. Members raised concern about the likely impact of a growing backlog of need in those areas; · In Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale 38% of existing residential and nursing care contracts were being paid above NYCC rates, together with 30% in the Hambleton area; · Overall, 94.7% of the new residential and nursing payments since April 2020 cost more than the Council’s official rate; Looking forward, it was confirmed that it might be possible for Area Constituency Committees to have more say on Highways maintenance budgets as part of the development of their role.
The Chair thanked Gary Fielding for his informative presentation and it was
Resolved – That the presentation and update be noted. |
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Hambleton District Council Off-Street Parking Places Amendment Order
Considered –
A report detailing the proposed amendments to Hambleton District Council’s operation of off-street car parks
Members noted the proposed amendments as detailed in the report presented by David Kirkpatrick (NYCC Highways Team Leader). In particular, County Councillors Gareth Dadd, Robert Baker and Caroline Patmore whose divisions would all be affected by the proposals, confirmed their support for the proposed amendments.
The Chair thanked the officer for attending and it was
Resolved:
That theCorporate Director for Business & Environmental Services be informed of the Committee’s support for the proposals ahead of making a decision on the matter.
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Healthy Child 0-19 Service Model Consultation Report & Survey
Considered -
A presentation by Louise Wallace (Director of Public Health, HAS), Victoria Ononeze (Public Health Consultant, HAS) and Suzanne Lamb (Harrogate & District Foundation Trust).
The key points from the presentation were:
• The Healthy Child Programme was a national scheme routed in Safeguarding. It would be delivered locally by Public Health, promoting health and support at an early stage for children, young people and their families; • A public consultation on the proposed changes ran from 26 October 2020 to 4 January 2021, and working was now underway to analyse the feedback received; • A report outlining the proposed changes to services and the feedback from the public, Area Constituency Committees and the Scrutiny of Health Committee was scheduled to go to the Executive on 26 January 2021; • The proposed new service was scheduled to start in April 2021; • Funding for the Healthy Child Programme was through the North Yorkshire Public Health Grant; • The Public Health Grant was subject to an 8% reduction between the financial years 2017/18 - 2019/20, with an inflationary increase only for the financial year 2020-21. As a result savings of £657,000 in public health funded services needed to be found by 2024; • The priority would be to children aged 0-5 and their families through 5 mandated contacts, maintaining the support necessary for their early development and to ensure that they were ready to learn. A key element of those five contacts would be promoting responsible parenting; • Targeted support for 5-19 year olds would still be funded, albeit through a range of different programmes and services • The Healthy Child 0-19 services would combine a mix of face-to-face, online, individual and group work services • Vulnerable families would continue to be targeted for increased face-to-face support. • The focus was upon prevention - it was anticipated there would be greater access to a broader range of services, following the proposed changes. Victoria Ononeze outlined the consultation process undertaken, and confirmed that over 200 responses had been received, which was higher than would be the norm for one undertaken pre-pandemic.
It was noted that in response to the pandemic, two national lockdowns and various local restrictions, a whole range of public, private and third sector organisations had adopted new ways of working. Typically, this had involved remote meetings/appointments/assessments and an increased use of internet-based services.
It was acknowledged that for many this had been liberating, but for some there was a risk of exclusion from the services they needed. Face-to-face and telephone-based access to services would therefore be maintained for those most vulnerable or for those unable to use/access technology. Suzanne Lambert confirmed that the experience of running services during the pandemic had delivered key lessons on the Healthy Child Programme service design.
County Councillor Lindsay Burr raised two issues - children and young people’s mental health, which had suffered during the pandemic during extended periods away from school and social support networks, and increased safeguarding concerns. She suggested the impact of the pandemic needed to be taken into account as the proposed changes to services were being finalised.
In response, it was acknowledged that in the past 9 months of the pandemic and social restrictions there had been a decline in children and young people’s mental health. Officers confirmed work would continue to ensure the Healthy Child Programme could support children and young people with mental health problems and/or those where safeguarding concerns were identified. It was also confirmed that resources to supplement that response were being moved into place. In addition, Victoria Ononeze confirmed other Mental Health Services outside of the Healthy Child Programme offer were also available for young people and their families to access.
Finally, the Chair queried the need for improved integrated IT services for the service providers and it was confirmed that whilst it would not be possible to open up access to the IT systems of individual providers, there were already good processes in place to ensure the appropriate sharing of data.
The Chair thanked officers for their attendance, and it was
Resolved – a. To support the proposed changes, as outlined in the consultation document b. To forward the views of the committee, as outlined in the previous section, to the Scrutiny of Health Committee for their meeting of 18 December 2020.
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Work Programme
Members considered a report by the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) which contained the Committee’s current work programme for the remainder of the municipal year (2020/21).
Members requested that the meeting scheduled for March 2021 be moved to a Friday so that the MP could attend. The following additions to the future work programme were also proposed: · Presentation on the future plans for Thirsk Hospital · Local Government Reorganisation Update · Highways England Update
Resolved – That the work programme for the remainder of 2020/21 be amended as above.
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The meeting concluded at 12pm.