Issue - meetings

Draft Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2020-2021 to 2023-2024 - Children, Young People and Families Scrutiny Panel

Meeting: 27/11/2019 - Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel (Item 6)

6 Draft Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2020-2021 to 2023-2024 pdf icon PDF 446 KB

[James Barlow, Finance Business Partner, to present report]

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Finance Business Partner introduced the report and outlined changes to the format in response to feedback. The Panel were invited to comment on the Draft Budget and Medium-term Financial Strategy and the specific proposals within the remit of the Panel. The Panel highlighted the need to have information specifically related to destinations for post sixteen-year olds.  The Finance Business Partner agreed to note the comment and consider the level of detail when producing future reports.

 

The Finance Business Partner outlined an analysis of the budget for children and young people services. The majority of the spend in education was funded by the Dedicated Schools Grant which is a ringfenced for specific activities.  It was reported that 24% (£56.9 million) of net revenue expenditure budget was for services for children and young people. The Panel made the following comments on the specific budget proposals.

 

The Head of Service - People, added that a significant amount of the budget expenditure was on service transformation work. Wolverhampton was performing much better when compared to regional and national trends. The Head of Service explained in the budget proposal for Transforming Children’s Services that £500,000 of the predicted budgeted spend would no longer be required due to range of activities that was expected to reduce demand on children services. The Head of Service People gave an example of the longer-term benefits of early investment in speech and language services for children which would reduce demand for more specialist services in the future. The Head of School Organisation commented on the planned consultations about funding options that would be discussed at the Schools Forum.

 

The Panel queried the options being considered for Towers Outdoor Activity Centre.  The Head of School Organisation advised the Panel that no decision had been made about the possible options for the future of the service. The Panel discussed the importance of investment in speech and language therapy services for children.

 

Resolved:

 

1.    The Panel comments on the Draft Budget and Medium-Term Financial Strategy 2020-21 to 2023-24 and the draft budget proposals relevant to the remit of the panel to be included in the response to Scrutiny Board for consideration.

2.    A final response to be finalised by the Chair and Vice Chair.