Issue - meetings

To receive and respond to the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2023-27. (Paper to follow)

The committee received the report which aimed to capture committee members’ feedback as consultees on the development of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy 2023 – 27 in relation to the responsibilities of the committee.

The following comments were put forward:

• Cllr Anderson queried the increase in cost of transport and requested a breakdown of where the additional costs are coming from. The Director of Education responded that the majority of the cost is the increase of children eligible for transport as well as the increase of cost due to procurement. A report brought to committee previously had set out in detail the strategy to review the programme but it was likely to be the next contract year when the benefit of that would be seen. The committee were advised that a small amount of that money would fund the additional capacity needed to deliver the change and that providing school transport for eligible children was a statutory requirement. The data requested would be extracted from the previous report and re-circulated to committee.

• Cllr Parkinson, who was present as a substitute, asked for clarity on the amount received from government grants in Children’s Services and where these funds had been distributed. The Director of Strong Start, Family Help and Integration responded that there was regular reporting to committee on funding received from grants and that a full breakdown of this could be shared following the meeting.

• Cllr Beanland raised a query regarding what the resettlement fund is and whether there was any money left from that fund. The committee were advised that Cheshire East had received this funding for families coming to Cheshire East and that it applied to any services where cost was incurred, for example for transport or additional staffing costs. There was an ongoing piece of work to assign the income to services.

• Cllr Beanland raised a query regarding the £45.6m deficit on the DSG reserve and how it was being managed. The committee were advised that this was being managed by statutory override and that a piece of work was ongoing. The Chair highlighted that high needs did not sit within the MTFS but was part of a high needs management strategy and an update on this would be coming to committee for debate.

• Cllr Beanland raised a query regarding appendix 1 which referred to any betterment to the forecast outturn position being utilised to replenish reserves in line with the priorities of the Corporate Plan, and asked whether there was a figure available for the reserves. The committee were advised that it was necessary to wait for the year end to understand the position on this.

• Cllr Beanland raised a query relating to the £76m referred to in appendix 2 with regard to the DSG budget, specifically what the breakdown of this was and what control there was for how this was to be spent. The committee were advised that a breakdown of this would be brought to the February committee meeting and any outstanding questions could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66