Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Callum Wernham  Democratic & Electoral Services Specialist

Media

Items
No. Item

44.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

45.

Declaration of Interest

To receive any declarations of interest.

Minutes:

A declaration of interest was submitted from Emma Hobbs regarding agenda item number 48, on the grounds that she was a Trustee for the Wokingham Advice Bureau. Emma stated that she would continue to take part in the discussion and questioning for this item.

46.

Public Question Time

To answer any public questions

 

A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice.

 

The Council welcomes questions from members of the public about the work of this committee.

 

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Committee or an item which is on the Agenda for this meeting.  For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact the Democratic Services Section on the numbers given below or go to www.wokingham.gov.uk/publicquestions

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

 

47.

Member Question Time

To answer any Member questions.

Minutes:

There were no Member questions.

48.

Medium Term Financial Plan 2021-24: Revenue Budget pdf icon PDF 120 KB

To consider Revenue growth bids for the Adult Social Care and Place and Growth directorates.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report, set out in agenda pages 5 to 102, which outlined the proposed revenue bids for Adult’s Services and Place & Growth.

 

John Kaiser (Executive Member for Finance and Housing), Parry Batth (Executive Member for Environment and Leisure), Pauline Jorgensen (Executive Member for Highways and Transport), Charles Margetts (Executive Member for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Services), Graham Ebers (Deputy Chief Executive (Director of Resources and Assets), Matt Pope (Director of Adult Services), and Chris Traill (Director of Place & Growth) attended the meeting to answer Member queries.

 

John Kaiser stated that the Council was in the middle of its pandemic response, and any proposals were subject to change as a result of the pandemic response. John added that the papers also included special items, which had not been agreed and were subject to review.

 

Graham Ebers stated that the papers presented showed all of the proposed savings and growth bids of £50k or over for Adult Services and Place & Growth. Graham added that special items and capital bids for these directorates would be presented at a future meeting.

 

Matt Pope stated that the Adult’s Services budget was approximately £62m, with a net income of approximately £52m. Matt added that in general, when people were approaching the service for help they tended to be in greater need and from an aging demographic. Part of the Adult’s Services transformation plan had included a review into the Optalis contract price, resulting in an overall reduction in costs. In addition, demand management had become a large part of the service, whereby staff worked closely together and with management to deliver a good service whilst looking after staff. Charles Margetts added that the service was experiencing uncertain times as a result of the Covid-19 (C-19) pandemic, and as such all bids were subject to change.

 

During the ensuing discussions relating to Adult’s Services, Members raised the following points and queries:

 

·           Relating to bid 6, better use of accommodation relating to learning disability review, could this be clarified? Officer response – Residential services for people with a learning disability tended to be quite expensive. In addition, this was quite an old mode of service delivery specifically for people with a learning disability. Most people with a learning disability need, requiring support, now accessed supported living where Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) paid for the care and support, but the individual got access to housing via streams such as housing benefits. Therefore, this was about moving away from the old style towards the newer supported living style, slightly reducing the overall costs and giving people a more independent life.

 

·           Could clarification be given regarding the £62m gross expenses and the £52m net income? Officer response – Some of the income was made up of grants, however most of this was made up of charges for adult social care. Officers looked at the average costs, and then made a projection for the likely costs for the next year whilst taking into account the numbers of people moving  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.