Issue - meetings

RESOLVED:            

(i)         That agreement be given by the Executive Member that the budget proposals are in line with the Council’s priorities.

(ii)        That comments made by the Executive Member on the budget proposals contained in the report and annexes be submitted to the Budget Executive on 15 February 2011.

(iii)       That officers be thanked for their hard work in preparing the budget proposals.

Reason:

As part of the consultation on the Adult Social Services budget for 2010/11.

The Executive Member received a report which presented the 2011-12 budget proposals for Adult Social Services in order that he could consider and provide comments on the budget proposals within the report, in advance of the proposals being considered by the Executive at its meeting on 15 February 2011. The budget proposals included:

• the national context regarding local government funding and the implications for City of York Council.
• the approach that had been adopted to develop budget proposals; the outcomes of the customer budget consultation.
• the revenue budget for 2010-11 to show existing budgets; the budget adjusted and rolled forward from 2010-11 into 2011-12.
• the cost of pay and price increases and increments for the portfolio.
• the proposals for budget service pressure costs and savings options for the portfolio area and fees and charges proposals.

The Director of Adults, Children and Education explained that the large reduction in funding to local authorities meant that the pure efficiency work of past years was not enough and advised that the report brought forward options for Members to consider and take forward. He emphasised that the budget papers contained a lot of positive news and stressed the Council’s continued commitment to adult social care in general and in particular to prevention and working with partners and the voluntary sector. He asked the Executive Member to note the proposed expansion of the Reablement Service and the significant investments in supporting the voluntary services which underpin statutory services. He explained that the Council faced a challenge in determining who was best placed to be the best provider of care, whether that be the Council or external providers.

The Director of Adults, Children and Education, the Assistant Director (Adult Assessment and Safeguarding), the Assistant Director (Adult Provision and Transformation) and the Corporate Strategy Manager (Integrated Commissioning) responded to specific questions and issues which had been raised by speakers under agenda item 16 (Public Participation).

The Executive Member responded further to issues raised and credited officers on putting together a set of proposals which looked beyond the immediate financial crisis to what adult social services (with joined up health provision) need to look like in five years. He acknowledged that a growing proportion of older people in our population translated into an even greater than expected demand for services and welcomed the proposals to double the number of hours available through the Reablement Service. He explained that the development of personal budgets would give control to individuals to spend the money allocated to them for care services. He stated that by already commissioning over three-quarters of homecare through independent providers, the Council had created a strong market and a field of quality providers, which in-house analysis and national research had shown to provide high quality care,  and that if the Council chose not to commission these providers to provide these services then customers were likely to, leaving any in-house services to become increasingly uncompetitive. He thanked officers for their hard work in preparing the budget proposals in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17