Notice of question to be given in writing or by email by Friday 14 February 2025 to the Council’s Monitoring Officer (via the online form here: Public Question Form) and to be dealt with in accordance with Standing Order 10.

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The Chair advised three public questions had been submitted in advance of the meeting. 1 question, relating to housing and regeneration had been referred to the Economy, Regeneration and Housing Committee on the grounds it related to matters within that committee’s Terms of Reference. The Chair reiterated the Council’s commitment to its Brownfield only policy which was unchanged by the Council’s financial situation.

The Chair then invited Vicky Forfar on behalf of Together All Are Able to ask her question.

Ms Forfar noted that at Policy and Resources Committee on 15th February 2023 the then chairperson said future budget processes would be coproduced with Together All Are Able and queried why that had not happened so far.

The Chair responded to state that the budget processes referred to in 2023 were specifically based around resident budget consultations, those being consultations where a budget proposal may result in a service change that could impact on residents. Whilst there was no such consultation for the previous budget savings in 2024/25, for any budget savings for 2025/26 which may require this type of consultation to take place, the Council is committed to ensuring that all accessibility needs are addressed.

Ms Forfar was informed that the Committee was to consider a new consultation policy in March 2025, which included details of reasonable adjustments and when planningand developing consultations that may result in a service change, Directors will consider what level of accessibility is legally required and appropriate. 

The Chair then invited Andrew Hobson to ask his question.

Mr Hobson noted budget overspends for 23/24 and 24/25 and queried if the 25/26 budget was overspent it was likely that the council would need to borrow more money to add to the outstanding loans to be paid for by council taxpayers.

Mr Hobson asked if anything had changed in the way officers were to forecast their spending to reduce the risk of overspend in the 25/26 budget.

The Chair responded to state that the overall Council budget was balanced in both 22/23 and 23/24, and the Adults budget was underspent in 22/23.

There were many factors affecting the Council’s budget over the course of a year, many of which are uncontrollable and cannot be predicted.  It is for this reason that the Council needed to hold sufficient reserves to manage these risks and issues.

Forecasting of pressures in both Adults and Children’s services was undertaken using the best available data at the time.  This included national data sets around adult population and needs forecasts.  The growth in demand for adult services had changed significantly post Covid, changing the long-term trends, at least temporarily. Forecasting this growth and meeting the costs of the increased demand was presenting a significant challenge for Council’s across the Country. 

A spike in activity for both Children’s and Adults occurred in the final quarter of the 2023/24 budget and had a significant impact in the current year.  The significant inflationary growth in the cost of Children’s care placements had also impacted. 

These increases are so far in excess of the underlying rate of inflation that the Government is now looking at whether this warrants direct intervention. 

The budgets for 25/26 had been revised to reflect both the current activity and the increased demographic growth levels seen over the past 2 years. The budget monitoring information presented to Committees reflected these issues and the reports track actual activity against assumptions.