The Chair presented a report by a Scrutiny Officer informing of a Scrutiny Workshop held on 6 December 2019 when Members had considered the 2019/20 budget proposals being put forward in respect of its remit. Attached to the report at Appendix 1 was a summary report that detailed the proceedings of the Workshop.

The report informed that a consistent approach for the scrutiny of the 2019/20 budget proposals had been agreed by the Chairs of each of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees. It had been proposed that the previous format used for the 2018/19 budget scrutiny workshops be continued, with a separate workshop arranged for each of the four Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

Members noted that a list of budget proposals under the remit of the Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee were considered by the Chair and Party Spokespersons of the Committee, with agreement that all proposals put forward would be examined during the workshop.

The report further informed that a dedicated scrutiny workshop had been convened for Members of the Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday 6 December 2018 in order to discuss the budget proposals for 2019/20. The outcome of the workshop deliberations at Appendix 1 to the report set out two key proposals, namely:

• Use of Grant Funding – proposing a review of contractual obligations in order to identify financial savings in current public health contracts to find approximately £800,000 for reinvestment into other Council services supporting the delivery of public health outcomes; and

• Mitigating Adult Social Care demand through maximising independence and wellbeing – whereby a number of savings plans and mitigations had been formulated to meet the cumulative gross budget deficit of £7.8m forecast for Adult Social Care in 2019/20. This included a focus on service delivery efficiencies, service quality improvements and income generation, as well as the use of national grants and funding.

The Chair sought views from Members of the Adult Care and Health Committee who had been unable to attend the workshop.

Resolved - That

(1)  the report on the Workshop (Appendix 1 to the report) be agreed as the Committee’s formal response to the 2019/20 budget proposals; and

(2)  the report and its appendix be referred to the Cabinet for consideration at the time when it is making recommendations to the Council in respect of the Council’s Budget for 2019/20.