To consider the Financial Strategy (Report made to Cabinet 28 October 2015 attached) to gain an understanding of the challenges it addresses, the content and framework for the next five years, and identify how the Committee can take part in and enable engagement with how the Council evolves. 

The Statutory Scrutiny Officer referred to the Financial Strategy report which had been presented to Cabinet on 28 October 2015 (a copy is attached to the signed minutes).  He explained that at this stage of the development of the Financial Strategy the detail of the potential changes to the way that services were provided was not available. 

Members of the Committee praised the quality of the Financial Strategy document.

The Committee’s discussion covered the following: 

Big Conversation

Some Members expressed concern regarding lack of Member involvement and input into the development of the Big Conversation questionnaire.  The need for the ‘which electoral division do you live in’ question was queried.  Some felt that there might not be a big response and that people were not likely to respond unless they were already service users. 

Adult Social Care

Members were concerned about the risks of not getting Adult Social Care funding on to a sustainable footing and the turmoil within the local NHS, which could have a serious financial impact on the Council

It was recognised that more than 50% of the Council’s budget was spent on supporting the most vulnerable people in the county.  An ageing population and the increase in complexity of needs would continue to impact on resources.  Shropshire’s Adult Social Care Service was one of the lowest spending in the country for older people, learning disability and mental health, and there was little more to take out, whereas some other higher spending Councils still had potential to remove costs. 

The Committee acknowledged that a system wide solution was the only way forward and the Council should be prepared to play an active part in that system.

Members expressed concern that early intervention and prevention was not included in the list of protected services going forward, and that reducing focus in these areas would store up problems in both the near and long term future.

Public Health

The Director of Public Health advised that there were two aspects to the Public Health Budget. The first related to those services that had previously been the responsibility of the NHS and transferred in April 2013 to local government. Funding for those services came from the national public health grant and were therefore identified separately from the main council budgets.

The second were those public health related services that were commissioned prior to the transfer of NHS public health responsibilities to the council and were used to fund services such as emergency planning and air quality monitoring. Those services have been identified as maintained under the current programme to identify a sustainable business model for the future.

Members heard that the Treasury had imposed a 6.2% in year cut in the public health grant equating to a £700k reduction in the Shropshire grant and that it was anticipated that the Treasury would make further cuts when the Comprehensive Spending Review was announced.

The Committee’s comments on the Financial Strategy would be reported to the Performance Management Scrutiny Committee on 2 December 2015, which would then report overall Scrutiny feedback to Cabinet on 9 December 2015. 

The Committee said it wanted to be informed as soon as possible of any proposed changes and their likely impact on the most vulnerable people in Shropshire.

Chairman:  _____________________

Date:  _________________________