Agenda and minutes

Resolved:- That the minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2008 be approved as a correct record.

At the previous meeting Councillor Gosling asked for an update in relation to the accommodation strategy, in particular future plans for Wath Town Hall.

Mark Gannon, Transformation and Strategic Partnerships Manager reported that there was a Customer Access Strategy in place which looked to bring all Customer Access Points to the same standard.  This would include looking at projects and transferring services to allow a uniform service for all residents of Rotherham, no matter which office they attended.

A question and answer session ensued and the following issues were discussed:

• There had been a draft report circulated some time ago regarding cash offices which had caused concerns for the members and customers and was therefore not taken forward. It was confirmed that the intention was to extend the services rather than reduce them, and this was in the process of being formalised.
• Whether the access teams were to be moved from Wath to Rawmarsh upon completion of the new building.  Sam Newton confirmed that access teams would be relocated but that there were no plans to move the adult social work teams out of Wath.

Mark Scarrott, Service Accountant (Adult Services) presented the submitted report which provided a financial forecast for the Adult Services Department within the Neighbourhoods and Adult Services Directorate to the end of March 2009 based on actual income and expenditure to the end of August 2008.

The budget monitoring report for Adult Services showed there were some emerging budget pressures, with a projected net overspend of £283,000 to the year end.  This excluded the financial impact of any management actions that were currently being identified at the finance clinics to mitigate this forecast overspend.

The latest year end projections showed there were budget pressures on Direct Payments, within Physical and Sensory Disabilities and Mental Health services.  Other projected overspends included additional unforeseen placements into residential care for clients with Physical and Sensory Disabilities and overspends within employees budgets including increased use of in-house residential care bank staff and an overspend within domiciliary care management and administration teams over and above budget.  The increase in energy costs was being monitored across all directorates within the Council.

These pressures were being partially offset by additional income from continuing health care placements and delays in start up of supported living schemes within Learning Disability services.

To mitigate the financial pressures within the service all vacancies continued to require the approval of the Service Directors.  Budget clinics with Directors and managers were now taking place on a monthly basis to monitor financial performance against approved budget and to consider potential options for managing expenditure within budget.

A question and answer session ensued and the following issues were discussed:

• Whether staffing levels had been established for the new homes.  It was confirmed that interviews had now taken place and all positions had been offered at management level.
• Concerns were raised at the increasing level of overspend and members asked what was being done to rectify the situation.  Tom Cray reported that budget clinics had been held and savings of over £400k (for the whole NAS Directorate) had been identified and were being finalised before being included in the next monitoring reports. It was agreed that the most up to date figures on identified savings would be made available to the Cabinet Member following the meeting.
• Whether the position in relation to direct payments was improving.  It was agreed that further analysis would be undertaken in time for the next meeting.

Resolved:- that the next meeting be held on Monday 20 October 2008 commencing at 10.00 am.