Agenda item

[To consider the draft budget and medium term financial strategy for 2018/19 to 2019/20 and to provide feedback for the Scrutiny Board to consider]

Finance Business Partner (People), introduced the draft budget report 2018-2019. The panel members comments would be consolidated with comments from other panels and presented to Scrutiny Board to agree a final draft response that would be presented to Cabinet.

The Finance Business Partner (People) invited panel members to also comment on the approach to the budget consultation process. The Finance Business Partner (People) outlined the plans to identify £14.8 million of budget reductions and income generation to address the projected deficit in 2018-2019. The Finance Business Partner (People) added that a series of

public meetings were arranged to explain the budget proposals and to invite comments. The members of the public also had the opportunity to submit comments online.

The Finance Business Partner (People) explained that there were no new savings proposals that fell within the remit of the Health Scrutiny Panel detailed in the draft budget report. The Finance Business Partner (People) briefed the panel on the planned reduction in the public health grant for 2018-2019 and that further reductions in the grant were expected. The public

health grant is currently awarded as a ring-fenced payment from the Department of Health. The Finance Business Partner (People) explained that an overspend of £376,000 for Public Health for 2017-2018 was predicted at quarter on in order to address the recurrent budget pressures and review was being undertaken across Public Health including a restructure and

commissioned services. A report will be presented to Cabinet on 29 November 2017 on findings of a review of commissioned services delivered by Public Health with recommendations for new priorities for the service.

Director of Public Health, outlined plans for restructuring of the public health service and the vision for promoting the development of a public health focused organisation in the future. The Director of Public Health commented on the contribution of the policies and financial resources of other Council departments in contributing towards improving public and well-being and the

change in the role of a restructured service from funding a number of traditional services, such as stop smoking, to looking at the factors that impact on the health of the local population and which encourage healthier life choices.

The panel requested that it would be useful to have information about quality of life, measures such as breastfeeding rates, to provide evidence to be able to assess the impact of the policies.

The Director of Public Health explained that there was a public health outcome framework and agreed to present the information to a future meeting for panel. The Director of Public Health explained that the new approach was focused on achieving lasting behaviour change and improving current health measures.

The panel queried the plans to achieve a balanced budget for public health service, given the overspend and the use of £1.7million reserves. The Finance Business Partner (People) explained that a financial recovery plan for quarter one has been developed to bring the budget back into balance. The panel were advised that public health service would not be required to repay the funding allocated from reserve for 2017-2018.

The panel queried if a feasibility study had been taken on the changes outlined for changing the priorities of the service and the restructure of the workforce to deliver the new programme of work. The Director of Public Health commented that current approach was not delivering sustained changes in health outcomes and that it was important to recognise the impact of environment and importance of employment in helping to deliver better results. The Director of Public Health added that the new approach was aimed at building resilience among the population.

The panel queried the public response to the consultation events. The Finance Business Partner (People) responded that the events were widely publicised but public response had been lower than in previous years.

The panel discussed performance indicators for public health. The Director of Public Health agreed to present information to show how the performance of Wolverhampton compares statistically against national averages to a future meeting.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to receive a report from the Director of Public Health to detail the performance of Wolverhampton against national indicators to a future meeting of the panel.