Agenda item

The Executive is asked to note the:

a.    Latest position for the County Council’s 2022/23 Revenue Budget, (see paragraph 2.1.2 of the report).

b.    Position on the GWB (paragraphs 2.4.1 to 2.4.3).

c.    Position on the ‘Strategic Capacity – Unallocated’ reserve (paragraph 2.4.4)

d.    Latest position regarding the Local Government Review transition fund (paragraph 2.5.1)

e.    Position on the County Council’s Treasury Management activities during the second quarter of 2022/23

The Executive is also asked to:

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

g.    Approve the refreshed Capital Plan summarised at paragraph 4.2.3; and

h.    Agree that no action be taken at this stage to allocate any additional capital resources (paragraph 4.5.7).

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

County Councillor David Chance introduced the section on Quarter 2 performance, which provided an in-depth focus on ‘Every adult has a longer healthier and independent life’.  He drew attention to the strong performance and leadership across a range of areas, as detailed in the report, and provided an overview of the strengths and challenges in performance across all of the Council’s ambitions.

Specifically in regard to the ambition of ‘Every adult has a longer healthier and independent life’, County Councillor Michael Harrison drew attention to the ongoing resource pressures in social care being experienced right across the sector which included;

·         A sustained increase in hospital discharges creating ongoing significant pressure in assessment activity and reduced assessor capacity in front line teams;

·         High occupancy levels in residential settings and low availability in the domiciliary care sector;

·         An increase in requests for financial support from care providers

·         An increase in safeguarding referrals

·         Workforce pressures, with a focus on recruitment and retention;

Richard Webb, Corporate Director for Health & Adult Services confirmed that whilst the situation was plateauing and there were some improvements, it was still a challenging time.  He drew attention to the benefits arising from international recruitment and the excellent joint working with partners.  He also noted the continuing work on prevention and the investment in extra care housing with proposals for new schemes expected.

In regard to the County Council’s other ambitions:

Leading for North Yorkshire - County Councillor David Chance confirmed the cost of living crisis continued to cause hardship across all parts of the County, with the County Council taking a proactive lead in Communities, providing access to services and supporting economic growth.

Best Start in Life – County Councillor Janet Sanderson confirmed the ongoing parallels with Health e.g. the number of referrals.  County councillor Annabel Wilkinson confirmed the Authority would continue to lobby the DFE for fairer funding settlements for North Yorkshire Schools.

Growth – County Councillor Keane Duncan highlighted the Authority’s successes which e.g. its largest capital project ever - Kex Gill, the trialling of Yorbus, with positive feedback from users, the introduction of electric vehicle charging points, with an ambition to deliver 3000 across the county by 2030, and the recently successful bid for £2.2m from the Government’s Levi Fund.

In response to questions from members of the Scrutiny Board, it was confirmed that:

The impact of care market costs was hitting different parts of the market in different ways, including the impact of the rise in labour and energy costs, and notable increase in hardship applications;

Work was underway to analyse the increase in safeguarding referrals, as there was no obvious reasons for it – it was noted there was a similar emerging pattern in Local Authorities across the region;

Addressing workforce pressures in social care had been focussed on a combination of overseas recruitment for a number of specific professional roles where the County had struggled with recruitment from the domestic workforce, and a number of specifically targeted apprenticeship schemes;

The concern around bank branch closures across the county was noted - it was acknowledged the Authority could only encourage banks to maintain the remaining branches and look at alternative venues for provision such as local libraries;

The age assessment of asylum seekers was done using the ‘Merton Judgement’ and was an ongoing focus in recognition of the need for their appropriate placement;

In regard to Ofsted reporting on North Yorkshire primary schools, it was difficult to compare the data with national figures as North Yorkshire was 18 schools short.   A risk based approach was being taken with a robust school improvement team in place charged with assessing school plans and providing guidance. It was noted that regular changes in the Ofsted framework were a barrier in maintaining consistency within schools.

In regard to referrals to Children’s Social Care, there had been an increase in demand through Customer Service Centre which could be linked to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and other factors such as the war in Ukraine and the ongoing financial crisis.  In regard to repeat referrals, attention was drawn to the table on page 67 which indicated they were within range and favourably comparable with the national picture.  

Attendance is a core responsibility of a school and the Authority monitors how schools are monitoring it.  Intervention happens were there are safeguarding concerns.  Currently not all schools provide the Authority with data but there is a government initiative to introduce a national database, which the Authority would welcome.  New guidance has also recently been introduced by the Government that comes into force in September 2023.  There is concern that this new non-funded guidance would put an additional strain on schools and Local Authorities.

The whole country saw a significant increase in childhood obesity through the pandemic, which the Authority was responding to by trialling a family weight management programme to encourage parents to work with their children to reduce weight.

The drivers behind the high rate of general hospital admissions for children under the age of 15 as detailed on page 103 of the report was not clearly understood at this stage and was being assessed through the Authority’s  safeguarding partnership work.  It was noted the reasons were in line with expected age related injuries etc and health advice and public health alerts were regularly issued in response.  Young people mental health submissions were an ongoing concern.  The situation was not unique to North Yorkshire and was known to be for a variety of reasons and was considered to be a legacy impact of the pandemic.

The general aspiration regarding Authority owned property post vesting day was to only retain what was necessary thereby reducing CO₂ emissions and both capital and revenue costs.  Major pieces of work were ongoing with district/borough councils to fully understand what should be retained in the long term.  Work continued to embed hybrid and remote working and it was noted that in regard to recruitment and retention, it had become an expectation, and the LGA was still pushing for government approval to enable virtual decision making meetings.

In the last 18 months, waste going to landfill had reduced from 15-20% to 8-10%, and work was ongoing to improve throughput by reducing annual shut downs at Allerton Park from 2 to 1, with a reciprocal contingency arrangement in place with Leeds and Sheffield.

The Kex Gill project was key to the maintenance of east west connectivity across the County. In regard to the funding shortfall, the Authority’s contribution of £12.7m was being addressed through its reserves.  It was noted that inflation had been considered at part of the tendering process and the Authority was not contractually liable for inflationary rises in costs. £11.39m capital had been built in to the contract to capture the risk of any future inflation issues.  However the Authority had put aside a secondary reserve to address any extra risk on contract overrun arising from supply chain issues as a result of Covid and Brexit.  That extra reserve contingency remained in place and could also be used if necessary to address inflation rises.

There was the potential to roll out the Yorbus scheme to other areas of the County.  In order to identify the most appropriate use of the available budget for public transport and to maximise the services provided by the Authority, work was underway to identify the best way forward e.g. through a combination of fixed timetabled routes and demand responsive transport, which included considering national good practice. It was acknowledged that the continued provision of public transport related directly to how much it was used.

Revenue Budget, Treasury Management & Capital Plan

County Councillor Gareth Dadd introduced each section of the report.  In regard to Revenue, he drew attention to the £2m underspend but noted it masked an underlying issue i.e. that without use of the contingencies, there would have been an overspend of nearly £21m.  Prior to the Autumn statement, the Authority was facing an additional £50m of inflationary pressure next year which added to the structural deficit inherited from the districts could rise to approx. £70m.  The analysis and effect of the autumn statement was to come. £22.6m of contingencies had been used this year; together with £7.7m of reserves already budgeted. The overall spend on LGR was not expected to be high as envisaged resulting in savings on the £14m allocated.  He also noted that the longer term savings from LGR would take a year or two to materialise and therefore having the Council’s reserves available was crucial.

Gary Fielding, Corporate Director – Strategic Resources confirmed the situation could well become more challenging as the majority of the contingencies for the year had already been deployed. 

In regard to Treasury Management, County Councillor Gareth Dadd drew attention to the external debt, which was expected to decrease to £208m from the £222m at the start of the financial year.

In regard to the Capital Plan, it was noted that the District’s capital deployments were being analysed, and it remained unclear at this stage whether everything could still be delivered, given the financial climate.

Executive Members voted unanimously in favour of all of the recommendations within the report, and it was

Resolved– That the following be noted:

a.    The latest position for the County Council’s 2022/23 Revenue Budget, (see paragraph 2.1.2 of the report).

b.    The position on the GWB (paragraph 2.4.1 to 2.4.3).

c.    The position on the ‘Strategic Capacity – Unallocated’ reserve (paragraphs 2.4.4)

d.    The latest position regarding the Local Government Review transition fund (paragraph 2.5.1)

e.    The position on the County Council’s Treasury Management activities during the second quarter of 2022/23

The Executive also agreed to:

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

g.    Approve the refreshed Capital Plan summarised at paragraph 4.2.3; and

h.    Agree that no action be taken at this stage to allocate any additional capital resources (paragraph 4.5.7).