Issue - meetings

The committee received the final outturn for the Children and Families services for the financial year 2023/24.

Officers reported that there was an error in paragraph 4 of the report which stated that the full report would be received by the Corporate Policy Committee on 13 June 2024. This was corrected to refer to the Finance Sub-Committee meeting on 25 June.

A query was raised regarding the reference to the Springfield Satellite Site (Dean Row) on page 96 of the agenda and whether this was government funded or from the Children and Families budget. The committee were advised that this was requesting a virement for an already approved fund and officers undertook to check and confirm whether this was fully DfE funded.

A request was made for an item to be added to the work programme regarding the school catering service, with further detail to be submitted to officers in writing. 

A query was raised regarding page 99 of the agenda which referred to the Dedicated Schools Grant and stated that funding had not kept pace with the increasing numbers and cost of children with an education, health and care plan and what the difference was between the funding provided and the cost per child. Officers undertook to provide the detail in a written response.

RESOLVED (by majority):

That the Children and Families Committee:

1. Consider the factors leading to an adverse Net Revenue financial outturn of £8.2m against a revised budget of £81.9m (10.0%), for Children and Families Committee services

2. Scrutinise the contents of Annex 1 and note that any financial mitigation decisions requiring approval will be made in line with relevant delegations

3. Approve the Capital Budget Virements above £500,000 up to and including £5,000,000, as detailed in Annex 1, Section 3 Capital Strategy, Table 3

4. Note that Finance Sub Committee will be asked to approve the Supplementary Capital Estimates (SCEs) over £1,000,000 and Capital Budget Virements over £5,000,000 in accordance with Financial Procedure Rules as detailed in Annex 1, Section 3 Capital Strategy, Table 4

Cllr Bulman left the meeting for the duration of this item, having declared an interest.