Agenda, decisions and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interest they may have in the business on this agenda.

The Chair invited Members to declare at this point any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.  No interests were declared.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Executive’s remit can do so.  The deadline for registering is 10:00 am on Monday 4 December 2006.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

To receive an update on those items that are currently listed on the Executive Forward Plan.

Members received and noted an updated list of items included on the Executive Forward Plan at the time the agenda for this meeting was published.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 21 November 2006.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 21 November 2006 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record, subject to the amendment made by full Council to paragraph 3 of Minute 117 (Gambling Act 2005 – Statement of Licensing Policy), so that the second sentence of that paragraph reads as follows:

                        “These included whether or not to adopt a ‘no casino’ policy for York, whether or not to adopt a statement on permits for unlicensed Family Entertainment Centres and/or permits for prize gaming, and whether or not to adopt more prescriptive definitions of ‘interested parties’ and location of premises.”

To receive the minutes of the meeting of the Social Inclusion Working Group held on 20 September 2006 and the meeting to the Young People’s Working Group held on 25 October 2006 and to consider the advice contained therein.

Members considered a report which presented the minutes of recent meetings of the Social Inclusion Working Group (meeting on 20 September 2006) and the Young People’s Working Group (meeting on 25 October 2006).

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Working Groups be noted.

REASON:      To fulfil the requirements of the Council’s Constitution relation to the role of Working Groups as advisory bodies to the Executive.

Members considered a report which presented the minutes of recent meetings of the Social Inclusion Working Group (meeting on 20 September 2006) and the Young People’s Working Group (meeting on 25 October 2006).

The report drew attention to the following resolutions made by the Groups which the Executive might wish to comment upon:

• Resolutions (i) to (iii) under Minute 10 of the Social Inclusion Working Group (relating to equality monitoring);
• Resolution (v) under Minute 11 of the Young People’s Working Group (relating to the setting up of a young people’s website).

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Working Groups be noted.

REASON:      To fulfil the requirements of the Council’s Constitution relation to the role of Working Groups as advisory bodies to the Executive.

This report provides an update on the current position of funding for Supporting People, advises of the cost pressures arising from new, complex cases in adult social services and seeks approval to release funding from contingency for additional complex cases in 2006/07.

Members considered a report which provided an update on the current funding position of the Supporting People (SP) Programme, advised of cost pressures arising from new, complex cases in adult social services and sought approval to call off funding from contingency for these cases in 2006/7.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the funding position relating to Supporting People, and the fact that growth will need to be provided as part of the budget process for 2007/8 to deal with the additional cost pressure to the Council, be noted.

REASON:      So that the Executive is briefed on the context of budget pressures before considering the budget requirements for 2007/8.

                        (ii)        That a call off of £400k from contingency be approved, for additional complex cases in adult social services in 2006/7.

REASON:      To enable Housing and Adult Social Services to meet the additional costs arising from the increase in complex cases.

Members considered a report which provided an update on the current funding position of the Supporting People (SP) Programme, advised of cost pressures arising from new, complex cases in adult social services and sought approval to call off funding from contingency for these cases in 2006/7.

SP was a grant programme enabling the provision of housing related support services to help vulnerable people to live independently.  Due to a change in the distribution of grant funding, York would receive 2% less SP funding in 2007/8 than in the current year, equating to a cut of 4.3% in real terms.  Furthermore, a review of SP services to ensure they complied with revised government guidance had indicated that some services were no longer eligible for SP grant funding.  The most significant impact of this would be on services for people with learning or physical disabilities living in ‘care and support’ schemes.  The full financial implications of these changes would be set out in the budget proposals for 2007/8.

The potential need to seek funding from contingency for additional complex cases had already been flagged up as part of the budget process for 2006/7.  So far this year there had been 23 such cases, resulting in a net increase of £411k.  Examples to illustrate the complexity of these cases were set out in Annex 1 to the report.  The following options were presented:

Option 1 – not to approve the call off from contingency, leaving the £411k as a cost pressure on Adult Social Services;

Option 2 – to approve a call off from contingency of £400k for these cases, thus reducing the projected overspend on the department in the current year.

In commenting on the proposals, Members discussed whether it would be helpful for the Council to write to the Department of Health to highlight the issues faced by the City of York in this area.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the funding position relating to Supporting People, and the fact that growth will need to be provided as part of the budget process for 2007/8 to deal with the additional cost pressure to the Council, be noted.

REASON:      So that the Executive is briefed on the context of budget pressures before considering the budget requirements for 2007/8.

                        (ii)        That a call off of £400k from contingency be approved, for additional complex cases in adult social services in 2006/7.

REASON:      To enable Housing and Adult Social Services to meet the additional costs arising from the increase in complex cases.