Venue: Sparkenhoe Committee Room, County Hall, Glenfield
Contact: Mr. S. Marra (Tel. 0116 3053407) Email: stuart.marra@leics.gov.uk
No. | Item |
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Question Time. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 35. |
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Questions asked by members under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5). Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5). |
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Urgent Items. Minutes: There were no urgent items for consideration. |
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Declarations of Interest. Minutes: The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting. No such declarations were made. |
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Declarations of the Party Whip in accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 16. Minutes: There were no declarations of the party whip. |
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Presentation of Petitions under Standing Order 36. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no petitions had been
received under Standing Order 36. |
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Medium Term Financial Strategy 2015/16 - 2018/19 Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee
considered a joint report of the Director of Adults and Communities and
Director of Corporate Resources which provided information on the proposed
2015/16 to 2018/19 Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) as it related to the
Adults and Communities Department. A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 7’
is filed with these minutes. The Chairman
welcomed Mr D W Houseman MBE CC, Cabinet Lead Member for Adult Social Care and Mr
R Blunt CC, Cabinet Lead Member for Heritage, Leisure and Arts to the meeting
for this item. In introducing
the report the Director of Adults and Communities and Cabinet Lead Members
advised that the Department was facing unprecedented budget pressures as well
as demand pressures. In response to the challenge the Department was focused
on:- · Reducing demand by investing in early intervention and
prevention; · Ensuring care was provided in the most
cost effective way which would mean some restriction on choice; · Closer working and commissioning of services with
partners, particularly the NHS. There were some
key risks facing the Department particularly in relation to resources required
to implement the Care Act and the level of fees payable to care providers. In
addition, the Committee was advised that monies from the Better Care Fund
coming into the County Council were subject to the achievement of challenging
targets for reducing hospital admissions. General In response to comments from members the Director
undertook to provide:-
Arising from
discussion the following points were raised:- Communities and Wellbeing Savings (i)
In relation to the departmental saving D28 – Reduction in funding
for Community Museums, members noted the proposals to develop community
partnerships to operate community museums. Whilst this was generally welcomed,
concern was raised regarding community capacity given that there were already
proposals for communities to operate local libraries. Officers noted concerns
expressed and advised that the County Council would work to build capacity in
local areas which would include working with parish councils, schools and
community groups. The County Council would provide some professional museum
support as well as access to museum collections; (ii)
With regard to the reduction of the overall Communities and
Wellbeing budget which would reduce to approximately £3 million by 2017/18, the
Director advised that work was underway to consider the future shape of the
service with a view to understanding how to achieve best value for that level
of investment. This work would cover both libraries and museum services, explore
options for future delivery and consider how to maximise income; (iii) Members were advised that savings targets
for Communities and Wellbeing services for 2015/16 totalled £710,000, of this a
total of £180,000 had been identified. The balance of £530,000 remained
unallocated pending further consideration of business cases and outcomes of
consultations currently underway; (iv) In relation to the savings
requirements for libraries members were advised that £180,000 was to be
achieved by a reduction in the opening hours at the 16 main libraries; Adult Social Care Savings (v) Members welcomed the work undertaken in developing the Shared Lives service which had ... view the full minutes text for item 66. |
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Date of next meeting. The
next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 3 March at
2.00pm. Minutes: It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday, 3 March at 2.00pm. |