Agenda and minutes

Members of the Executive and Corporate Management Team introduced themselves, followed by other Councillors present at the meeting.

Resolved –

That the public Minutes of the meeting held on 19 July 2022, having been printed and circulated, be taken as read and confirmed by the Chairman as a correct record.

County Councillor Michael Harrison declared a prejudicial interest in the Treasury Management section of the Q1 Budget Report (item 6 on the Agenda), and confirmed he would leave the room and not participate in that part of the debate.

Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this meeting if they have given notice to Melanie Carr of Democratic and Scrutiny Services and supplied the text (contact details below) by midday on 18 August 2022, three working days before the day of the meeting.  Each speaker should limit themselves to 3 minutes on any item.  Members of the public who have given notice will be invited to speak:-

·            at this point in the meeting if their questions/statements relate to matters which are not otherwise on the Agenda (subject to an overall time limit of 30 minutes);

·            when the relevant Agenda item is being considered if they wish to speak on a matter which is on the Agenda for this meeting.

If you are exercising your right to speak at this meeting, but do not wish to be recorded, please inform the Chairman who will instruct anyone who may be taking a recording to cease while you speak.

There were no public questions or statements.

Considered – A  joint  report  of  the  Chief  Executive  and  Corporate  Director  -  Strategic  Resources, bringing together key aspects of the County Council’s performance on a quarterly basis.

County Councillor Carl Les introduced the Q1 performance monitoring report, confirming it provided an overview on all of the ambitions of the County Council.

County Councillor David Chance provided a summary of the Executive performance report.  He confirmed the County Council continued to make progress in delivering its wide-range of ambitions, and drew specific attention to the ongoing challenges, which included:

·          External forces in the Care Sector continued to put Health & Adult Social care under sustained pressure, with hospital discharges averaging 13.8 per day - a 38% increase compared to the pandemic average of 10 per day;

·          An increase in short term placements to 278 since the end of 2019/20;

·          Pressure in Children & Young People’s Services, with the number of children requiring EHC Plans- a 12% increase since the same point last year;

·          The cost of living crisis food and fuel prices and a rise in interest rates;

·          A 24% increase in demand for support from the income maximisation team since the same period in 21/22;

·          The demand for Energy Vouchers had grown, with 1,581 vouchers awarded in this year’s Qtr1  compared to 697 in Qtr1 last year;

·          An increase in demand for the Customer Service Centre, with an increase in call waiting times and call abandonment;

·          Social Care calls made up a third of all calls to the Customer Service Centre so a separate call number had been introduced;

Finally, he confirmed the Q1 performance report demonstrated a relentless focus on the Council’s ambitions, with the continued development of a strength based approach to effective leadership.

In response to Scrutiny Board members’ questions, it was confirmed that:

·            The Authority was doing relatively well in regard to the number of NHS Health Checks compared to neighbouring Authorities,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

Recommendations: To

a.    Note the latest position for the County Council’s 2022/23 Revenue Budget, as summarised in paragraph 2.1.2 of the report;

b.    Note the position on the GWB (paragraphs 2.4.1 to 2.4.3 of the report);

c.    Note the position on the ‘Strategic Capacity – Unallocated’ reserve (paragraphs 2.4.4 to 2.4.6 of the report);

d.    Note the latest position regarding the Local Government Review transition fund (paragraphs 2.5.1 of the report);

e.    Approve the £1.6m PSVAR contingency be repurposed and used to support the Home to School Transport budget (paragraph 2.1.12 of the report);

f.     Endorse the exceptional increase in fostering weekly rates from October 2021 outlined in section 2.6 of the report;

g.    Endorse the one-off increase to adult social care providers as detailed in section 2.6 of the report;

h.    Note the position on the County Council’s Treasury Management activities during the first quarter of 2022/23

i.     Refer the report to the Audit Committee for their consideration as part of the overall monitoring arrangements for Treasury Management.

j.     Approve the refreshed Capital Plan summarised at paragraph 4.2.3 of the report;

k.    Approve the provision of £7.2m of Brexit Reserve funding to meet the shortfall in relation to the A59 Kex Gill diversion scheme (paragraph 4.3.9 of the report);

l.     Approve the provision of a further £424.7k Strategic Capacity Reserve in match funding towards the Levelling Up Fund Round 2 bid (paragraph 4.3.11 of the report);

m.   Agree that no action be taken at this stage to allocate any additional capital resources (paragraph 4.5.8 of the report);

n.    Recommend to the County Council that it approves the revised Prudential Indicators for the period 2022/23 to 2024/25 as set out in Appendix A.

Considered – A  joint  report  of  the  Chief  Executive  and  Corporate  Director  -  Strategic  Resources, bringing together key aspects of the County Council’s performance on a quarterly basis.

County Councillor Carl Les introduced the Quarter 1 budget report, and County Councillor Gareth Dadd went on to introduce each section of the report.

In regard to the Revenue budget, he drew attention to the current £1.92m underspend but confirmed a lot of the contingencies were already earmarked for use during 2022/23 and it was underpinned by £7.7m from reserves.  He drew specific attention to:

·          The £13m used in contingencies in Health & Adult Services, with the effects from fairer funding cost of care and the new approved provider list still to be seen;

·          The £612K overspend on the Business & Environmental Services budget masked by a highways maintenance overspend of £1.772m and offset by an increase in fixed penalty notices and concessionary fares;

·          Inflationary pressures in Children & Young People’s Services – a £4.5m overspend with a proposal to offset the overspend on the Home to School Transport budget through use of the £1.6m PSVAR contingency;

·          An overspend in Central Services, attributed to the rise in energy costs of £1.1m

In regard to the Authority’s reserves, he drew attention to the table at paragraph 2.4.5 of the report, and confirmed that based on the MTFS, all the usable reserves would be used by mid 2026.   He also highlighted the proposals to increase fostering care payments with the aim of stabilising the market, and to provide a one-off increase to adult social care providers.

Gary Fielding Corporate Director Strategic Resources reiterated that the contingencies put aside to address inflationary pressures had already be eroded, and there were still other areas of concern in Adult Social Care to be taken into account.  

Finally, County Councillor Gareth Dadd confirmed that as a result of the increase in the cost of energy, the business case for the investment in LED street lighting had improved.

County Councillor Michael Harrison left the meeting room at this point due to his declared interest associated with the Treasure Management section of the report.

In regard to Treasury Management County Councillor Gareth Dadd confirmed that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

Recommendations - To approve:

i.     The making of representations and/or objections in respect of the draft Network Rail (Church Fenton Level Crossing Reduction) Order.

ii.    The contents and submission of any representations and /or objections be delegated to the Corporate Director Business and Environment in consultation with the Executive Member and Corporate Director, Strategic Resources.

iii.    The submission of a joint response with Selby District Council if appropriate.

iv.   Continuing to negotiate with Network Rail on representations and or objections made in respect of the Network Rail (Church Fenton Level Crossing Reduction) Order

v.    Engaging in the preliminary stages of the Public Inquiry process including but not limited to preparation of statements and proofs of evidence.

Considered: A report of the Corporate Director - Business and Environmental Services advising the Executive on the TWAO known as The Network Rail (Church Fenton Level Crossing Reduction) Order, and seeking authorisation to respond to the draft TWAO which may include objecting to the TWAO. 

County Councillor Keane Duncan introduced the report and drew attention to the outstanding technical issues that still needed to be resolved, as detailed in the report  He noted that if those issues remained unresolved by the end of the consultation period, the County Council would have to submit representations or an objection to the TWAO, which may lead to the Council being involved in a public inquiry. 

Karl Battersby, Corporate Director - Business and Environmental Services confirmed the Authority had already reached a verbal agreement on the outstanding technical issues, and stressed it was an issue of timing, to formally reach agreement before the end of the consultation period.  He also confirmed:

·          The risk was low of Network Rail not constructing to the specification required by the Authority

·          If representations or an objection was submitted, requiring a public inquiry, it would likely delay the project by a year;

·          If outstanding issues were resolved, an objection could be withdrawn prior to a public inquiry being initiated;

Having considered the report and the information provided at the meeting, the Executive

Resolved – To approve:

i.     The making of representations and/or objections in respect of the draft Network Rail (Church Fenton Level Crossing Reduction) Order.

ii.    The contents and submission of any representations and /or objections be delegated to the Corporate Director Business and Environment in consultation with the Executive Member and Corporate Director, Strategic Resources.

iii.    The submission of a joint response with Selby District Council if appropriate.

iv.   Continuing to negotiate with Network Rail on representations and or objections made in respect of the Network Rail (Church Fenton Level Crossing Reduction) Order

v.    Engaging in the preliminary stages of the Public Inquiry process including but not limited to preparation of statements and proofs of evidence.

Considered –

The Forward Plan for the period 15 August 2022 to 31 August 2023 was presented.

Resolved -   That the Forward Plan be noted.

Resolved –

That the private Minute of the meeting held on 19 July 2022, having been printed and circulated, be taken as read and confirmed by the Chairman as a correct record.