Issue - meetings

This report details the comments from the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee on the referral from the Executive regarding overspends in Adult Social Services.

RESOLVED: 

1. That the Executive Member notes the contents of Annexes B 1 & 2.

2. That a summary of the Executive Members comments will be included in the Health & Overview Scrutiny Committee report which will be considered by the Executive on 16 February 2010.

Reason: To address the concerns raised by the Executive referral.

The Executive Member considered a report that detailed the comments from the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee on the referral from the Executive regarding overspends in Adult Social Services.

The Chair of the committee, Councillor Alexander and the Scrutiny Officer gave an update and informed the Executive Member that, in the Scrutiny Committee opinion, the overspend had been clearly caused by an increase in demand for the services provided and was due to low funding for care compared to the national average. Furthermore, the service was aware of the risks of an overspend while entering the financial year and although savings in the service had been found, the full financial position of the service had not been fully addressed through the breadth of the financial year. Cllr Alexander added that due to a lack of information regarding the possible impact upon budgets for the next financial year and the effect this would have on service users, the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee did not feel it was in a position to recommend ways of off-setting the increase in demand that the Executive requested. This had obvious budgetary connotations and the Committee had felt they were not therefore in a position to give recommendations without the information regarding an overall picture

The Executive Member stated that one of the reasons he did not attend the meeting in January was because he felt the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee were trying to anticipate the budget and were asking for information on the budget proposals that had not been published or finalised.  

RESOLVED: 

1. That the Executive Member notes the contents of Annexes B 1 & 2.

2. That a summary of the Executive Members comments will be included in the Health & Overview Scrutiny Committee report which will be considered by the Executive on 16 February 2010.

Reason: To address the concerns raised by the Executive referral.