Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors C. Davies, H. Jones and F. Walters.

There were no declarations of personal interest or of any prohibited party whips.

The Chair advised that no public questions had been received.

The Committee considered the Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring Report in relation to the Health & Social Services, which provided an update on the latest budgetary position as at 31^st October, 2024 in respect of the 2024/25 financial year.

The Health & Social Services was forecasting an overspend of £7,011k on the revenue budget. The main variances on capital schemes indicated a forecasted variance of £0k against a net budget of £728k on social care projects, and a -£14k variance against the Children Services projects net budget of £136k.

A number of questions were raised to which officers responded. The main matters were as follows:

• Reference was made to Appendix B – Main Variances.  It was noted that that progress was being made in regard to the ‘Older People Residential Care Homes’ division, however it was asked why this same progress was not being made in the same manner?  The Head of Adult Social Care stated that whilst the demand and complexity of mental health cases had increased significantly, it was reported that there would be a focus on mental health in the future.  This would be covered in more detail in the scrutiny member development session this afternoon.

• Clarification was sought on the Learn Disability - Other variances section of Appendix B.  The Head of Financial Services explained that this was the aggregation of any small variances in the context of the overall budget.

• Reference was made to the £321,000 overspend on the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children (UASC), it was asked, would the Home Office would be covering the additional cost and how the costs would be recouped?  The Head of Children and Families reported that she was unable to confirm that the Home Office would cover the additional costs, however work was currently ongoing on a national basis providing an opportunity for Authorities to address the fact that there was a shortfall.  Work to lessen the shortfall had been successful, which had resulted in a significant reduction.  Furthermore, the model that was currently in place meant that no children allocated into the Council’s care were placed into commissioned placements, as it was now managed in-house within the provision of the Home Office funding.  It was explained that the issue lay with the young individuals who arrived in the early days of the mandatory referral mechanism, when there was no infrastructure within Carmarthenshire Council and therefore had no option other than to rely on expensive commissioned placements to care for them.  It was reported that incrementally, achievements were being made in order to relocate these young individuals into more affordable placement that would meet their needs.  Assurance was provided that the future costs would reduce due to a continued reduction in commissioned services and the successful in- house care provision.

In addition to and in connection with the previous query, reference was made to the Commissioning & Social Work (UASC) within Appendix Ai – Saving Proposals cited within Agenda item 5.  In noting the £400,000 saving proposal, it was asked, how  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Committee considered a report on the Council’s Revenue Budget Strategy 2025/26 to 2027/28 and which provided Members with the current view of the revenue budget for 2025/2026, together with indicative figures for the 2026/2027 and 2027/2028 financial years.  The report was based on officers’ projections of spending requirements and took account of the provisional settlement issued by Welsh Government (WG) on 11 December 2024.

It was reported that whilst significant work had already been undertaken in preparing the budget, the report represented an initial position statement which would be updated following the consultation process.  Accordingly, Members were reminded that the report had been considered by the Cabinet at its meeting on 13 January 2025 and members of the Committee had attended recent consultation events which had provided an opportunity to analyse and seek clarification on various aspects of the budget.

The Committee was informed that the announced provisional settlement represented a 4.1% increase for Carmarthenshire, which, taking account of the ‘transfers-in’, equated to £25.1m. While the cash value of the settlement was marginally above the Council’s planning figure, there remained a substantial funding shortfall due to the scale of the additional cost pressures facing Carmarthenshire, particularly in respect of the increase to Employers National Insurance rates.

In terms of Welsh Government Service Specific Grants, most would remain at the same cash value to previous years, thereby resulting in a detrimental impact on outputs due to the increase in general inflation and pay awards.  Welsh Government funding continued to fall short of the true cost of service, effectively meaning the gap would need to be funded the Carmarthenshire taxpayer.  It was reported that the one area of increase related to the Local Authority Education Grants (LAEG), though even here the increase of £22 million was on a like for like basis (circa. 6%) and would be sufficient purely to meet the additional costs of pay awards, but not to actually increase outputs.

The Committee’s attention was drawn to section 3.5 of the budget strategy whereby an overview of the situation regarding schools’ delegated budgets was provided to Members.  The Committee was appraised of the Authority’s ongoing actions to mitigate the budgetary overspend, however the forecast over expenditure remained at a critical level across a large number of schools within the county and had potential to destabilise the Authority’s wider finances. It was therefore considered highly unlikely that a further budget reduction would in fact be delivered/deliverable at this stage. Accordingly, it was proposed that the reduction be met through increased council tax, equating to approximately 3.5%, in order to prevent the situation getting worse whilst urgent action was undertaken to bring expenditure back in line with current resources. The Council was proposing a Council Tax increase of 9.75% for 2025/26.

An overview of the updated position on the current financial outlook, as set out at section 4 of the report, was provided to the Committee which took account of the provisional settlement and also other recent validation changes.

The Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee considered the 2024/25 Quarter 2 - Performance Report relevant to this Scrutiny.  The report showed the progress as at the end of Quarter 2 – 2024/25 of the deliverables linked to the Corporate Strategy and Well-being Objectives.

A number of questions were raised to which officers responded.  The main matters were as follows:

• In reference to the ‘Off target’ measure – ‘the Total number of days on the Child Protection Register for Children who were removed from the register during the year’, it was raised that whilst noting the measure remained ‘off target’ there were no real concerns, as Members were aware that the team continued to provide a vital support and work tirelessly in this area, as stated within the remedial action section.  The Head of Head of Children and Families expressed her thanks for the words of support and explained that this was more of a statement of fact and not really regarded as a target.  The Director of Community Services added that a piece of work was currently being undertaken on performance management where it was recognised that the happy, neutral and sad face symbols were not the most helpful way to describe complex variations.  Members were advised to approach the symbols with the awareness and caution as many of them attempted to represent a general statistical variation.  The future performance management would apply statistical methodology to show a trend as well as a variation.

• In praising successful work of the Flying Start and Cwm Gwendraeth Early Years Integration Team, it was asked if this would be extended to the Ammanford area.  The Head of Children and Families and the Director of Communities had high regard for this area of work and invited the Committee when appropriate to visit the team to gain an insight first hand at the work that they undertake.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the Performance Monitoring Report – Quarter 2024/25 be received.

The Committee received for consideration the Business Plans relevant to the Health and Social Services Committee for 2025/26 as follows:

• Children and Families
• Adult Social Care Services
• Integrated Services

The following questions/issues were raised in respect of the Children and Families Divisional Delivery Plan 2025-26:-

A number of questions were raised to which officers responded.  The main matters were as follows:

• Reference was made to the divisional structure shown within the Integrated Services Divisional Delivery Plan.  Clarity on the colour scheme was sought.  The Head of Integrated Services stated that the chart required an update and would ensure that this was completed. 

• Reference was made to the table of costs provided within the Integrated Services Divisional Delivery Plan.  It was commented that this was useful and important information and thanks was extended to the division in their efforts in achieving a balanced budget whilst at times in can seem that Welsh Government were making it a real challenge.

• Reference was made to the Integrated Services Divisional Delivery Plan.  In response to a query raised regarding the objective – To further modernise and develop as a resilient and efficient Council, the Head of Integrated Services explained that CGI had recently been announced as the digital partner of the Health Board and work had already begun within the safeguarding area.  In terms of the 360 view, the digital interface amongst all the various systems that were utilised daily.  It had been recognised that operating a number of systems was not fit for the future and information placed centrally would be beneficial for access on a 24/7 basis to enable a full picture of an individual’s needs and their interactions with different agencies.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the Business Plans 2025/26 be received.

The Committee received for consideration the Annual youth Justice Plan for 2024/25.  The report had been developed and agreed with youth justice partners and designed in line with the recently published Youth Justice Plans: YJB Practice Guidance (March 2023) and the Youth Justice Blueprint.  The report provided a review of the performance and developments over the last year and a plan for the forthcoming year.

It was reported that the Youth Justice Plan for 2024/25 was signed off by the Local Management Board prior to its submission to the Youth Justice Board on 30^th June 2024.  In addition, Members note that the plan reflected a very successful year for the Youth Justice Team in Carmarthenshire, having attained a rating of ‘outstanding’ as a result of an inspection of His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation in November 2023.

A number of questions were raised to which officers responded.  The main matters were as follows:

• In highlighted that this area of work had supported 100’s of constituents and residence across the County and with the Shared Prosperity Fund only available for one more year it was commented that Welsh Government, if they were serious about youth justice and mental health strategies the Central Government, Welsh Government and Hywel Dda Health Board must consider how to fund this area of work in the future.

• Reference was made to the Standards for Children in the Justice System – At Court, Action Plan on page 21 of the report.  It was asked if ‘Hot Spots for Policing’ could be included, this would provide from analysis areas that need to be targeted enabling a prioritisation of resources and shared workload.  Suggested to link in with the police.  The Principal Manager - Youth Support Service, explained that they had an established relationship with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OP&CC), with the Police and Crime Commissioner, Mr Dafydd Llewelyn championing the work across the Dyfed Powys area.  The OP&CC had also funded different elements of the work, including prevention, regional projects and more recently a restorative approaches project.  Work was currently being undertaken with the OP&CC to develop and submit a business plan for the next year and beyond.

• In reference to the figures cited in regard to the Children and Looked After (CLA), page 12 of the report, it was felt that the inclusion of National comparison data would be informative.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the Annual Youth Justice Plan 2024/25 be received.

The Committee received an explanation for the non-submission of the following scrutiny report.

• Progress Update Against the Cabinet Visions & Actions

RESOLVED that the explanation for the non-submission be noted.

RESOLVED that the list of forthcoming items to be considered at the next scheduled meeting on the 20^th March, 2025 be noted.

The Committee considered the update report detailing progress in relation to actions, requests and referrals emerging from previous meetings.

UNANAMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 28^th November 2024 be signed as a correct record.