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Agenda and minutes
 

Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

26.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received form Councillors Hunt, Jenkins, Luggar and Roome.

27.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 9th September 2021 (attached). pdf icon PDF 253 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED, that the minutes of the meeting held on 9th September 2021 (circulated previously) be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

28.

Declarations of Interest.

(Please telephone the Corporate and Community Services team to prepare a form for your signature before the meeting. Interests must be re-declared when the item is called, and Councillors must leave the room if necessary).

Minutes:

Councillor Pearson declared a personal interest in item 6 on the agenda as a member of the Save our Hospitals group.

29.

NHS Bill

Presentation by Tim Golby - Locality Director for Northern Local Care Partnership. Representing the Health and Care system.

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Tim Golby, Locality Director for Northern Devon Local Care Partnership. Representing the Health and Care System to the meeting.

 

The Locality Director for Northern Devon Local Care Partnership outlined his role and background to the Committee.

 

He highlighted the following points to the Committee:

 

·       On 6 July 2021, the Health and Care Bill was published with proposals to promote more joined-up services and to ensure more of a focus on improving health through Integrated Care Systemsrather than simply providing health care services.

 

·       It contained new powers for the Secretary of State over the health and care system, and targeted changes to public health, social care, and quality and safety matters.

 

·       The Bill proposed substantial changes to how the NHS in England was organised. There were proposals to abolish Clinical commissioning groups and introduce new Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).

 

·       The Bill had not yet been approved, and as such the system was preparing to implement changes as the Bill made its way through parliament.

 

·       Integrated care systems (ICSs) were new partnerships between the organisations that met health and care needs across an area, to coordinate services and to plan in a way that improved population health and reduced inequalities between different groups.

 

He added that in Devon they had been building the foundations towards an ICS for the past four years. This work included the following:

 

·       Built strong partnerships between organisations –including joint posts between the NHS and local authorities.

·       Established a new collaborative agreement between three of the hospital providers.

·       Merged two of the CCGs to enable them to commission services more effectively across the whole county.

·       Forged strong links with their Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) partners.

 

He explained that the Integrated Care System in Devon would be led by the NHS Devon Integrated Care Board and the Devon Integrated Care Partnership that was currently being developed.

 

 

Each ICS would have a Partnership at system level established by the NHS and local government as equal partners.

 

The Partnership would operate as a forum to bring partners together across the ICS area to align purpose and ambitions with plans to integrate care and improve health and wellbeing outcomes for their population. The partnership role would include:

 

·       Bringing together NHS, local government and others to integrate care and improve health and wellbeing.

·       Development of an Integrated Care Strategy.

·       Must include local authorities in Integrated Care System area and local NHS, but wider membership for local determination.

·       Chaired jointly selected by NHS and local authority.

·       Role in hearing lived experiences, building on existing engagement.

 

He added that this also included the collaboration of the NDDH and R&DE hospitals to form an integrated Health Partnership.

 

He outlined the benefits of an integrated care system, as follows:

 

·       Setting strategic objectives and outcomes to improve the health and wellbeing of the Devon population.

·        Determining the allocation of resources to “places” through Local Care Partnerships.

·       Ensuring that health inequalities were addressed across Devon.

·       Seeking to influence the application of resources  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

30.

Performance and Financial Management Quarter 2 2021-22 pdf icon PDF 516 KB

Report by the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive to Strategy and Resources Committee of 1st November 2021 (attached) and Minute Extract of Strategy and Resources Committee of 1st November 2021 (attached).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report by the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive to the Strategy and Resources Committee of 1st November 2021 together with minute extract regarding Performance and Financial Management Quarter 2 2021/22.

 

The Accountancy Services Manager outlined the report and drew the Committee’s attention to the following points:

 

·       The revenue budget for 2021/22 was approved at Council on 24th February 2021 at £13,639,000.

·       As at 30th September 2021, the latest forecast net budget was £13,617,000, which produced a forecast budget surplus of £22,000. Details of which were shown in Appendix A of the report – Variations in the Revenue Budget.

·       There was still pressure on the 2021/22 budget due to the Covid-19 pandemic with continued additional costs being incurred and forecast decline in core income sources.

·       Included within the approved budget the Council factored in a government grant in relation to Covid-19 pressures of £536,710 and also budgeted for £375,000 of additional costs and reduced income, these were already incorporated into Appendix A of the report together with the latest forecast for each service area.

·       The above grant of £536,710 was approved and received and the Council were also anticipating £80,000 re-imbursement for Q1 loss of Sales, Fees and charges, from the continued Government 75% income reimbursement scheme, this was an estimate as the scheme was extended to include the period April to June 2021 only.

·       At the end of 2020/21 the Council placed £375,000 into a Covid Budget management reserve to help mitigate any further adverse variances due to the pandemic in 2021/22, this future protection was still available if required.

·       As at 31st March 2021 the Collection Fund reserve balance was £9,810,252. This earmarked reserve was created to deal with the timing impacts of the Collection Fund (Business Rates), which ensured the revenue budget was not unduly affected in the year the taxes were collected. Collection Fund deficits/surpluses were reversed out to bring the revenue account back to the budgeted figure for the year; the deficits/surpluses were recovered/distributed in the following financial years. This reserve included an £8,660,000 balance that would be utilised in 2021/22 and 2022/23 to mitigate timing differences of business rate reliefs awarded in 2020/21 that from an accounting perspective impact over the next two financial years; thus leaving the fund reserve with a residue balance of £1,150,000 protection against future volatility.

·       An additional provision had been included within the forecast figures shown in Appendix A for the National Pay Award potentially being settled higher than the original 1% budgeted amount. Negotiations were ongoing between the Unions and the Employers and the Council would reflect the outcome of those discussions within the next report.

·       The 2021/22 Capital Programme was attached to the report as “Appendix D – Capital Programme 2021/22”.

·       The Budget and Financial Framework report to Full Council 24th Feb 2021 outlined the Capital Programme for the 2021/22 financial year of £22,419,916. Project underspend of £917,121 were bought forward from 2020/21 year and further variations of £1,479,065 were approved  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

31.

Mid Year Treasury Management Report 2021-22 pdf icon PDF 404 KB

Report by the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive to Strategy and Resources Committee of 1st November 2021 (attached) and Minute Extract of Strategy and Resources Committee of 1st November 2021 (attached).

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report by the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive to the Strategy and Resources Committee of 1st November 2021 together with minute extract regarding the Mid-Year Treasury Management Report 2021/22.

 

The Head of Governance outlined the report and drew the Committee’s attention to the following points:

 

·         The Treasury Management Strategy Statement (TMSS) was approved by Full Council on 24th February 2021.

·         The previously approved TMSS required revision in light of economic and operational movements during the year. He outlined the proposed changes as set out in table 4.1 of the report.

·         The forecast Capital Financing Requirement had increased by £6.2m from the original budget. The main reason for this increase was the additional capital budget of £9m for the acquisition of a strategic asset, offset by £1.4m slippage on the new Leisure Centre budget and £1.2m slippage on the Watersports Centre budget. These two budgets had been re-profiled into the 2022/23 capital programme.

·         The Council’s forecast capital financing requirement (CFR) for 2021/22 was £23.6m. The CFR denoted the Council’s underlying need to borrow for capital purposes. If the CFR was positive the Council may borrow from the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB), or the market (external borrowing), or from internal balances on a temporary basis (internal borrowing). The balance of external and internal borrowing was generally driven by market conditions.

·         At present, the Council had projected total external borrowing of £17.5m and utilising £6.1m of cash flow funds in lieu of borrowing (internal borrowing). This was a prudent and cost effective approach in the current economic climate but would require ongoing monitoring of economic conditions.

·         Debt rescheduling opportunities had been very limited in the current economic climate and following the various increases in the margins added to gilt yields which had impacted PWLB new borrowing rates since October 2010. No debt rescheduling had therefore been undertaken to date in the current financial year.

·         It was a statutory duty for the Council to determine and keep under review the affordable borrowing limits. During the half year ended 30th September 2021, the Council had operated within the treasury and prudential indicators set out in the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy Statement for 2021/22. The Chief Finance Officer reported that no difficulties were envisaged for the current or future years in complying with these indicators.

·         The Council held £40m of investments as at 30 September 2021 (£22.8m at 31 March 2021) and the investment portfolio yield for the first six months of the year was 0.05% against the benchmark 7 day LIBID of -0.08%.

·         The Council’s budgeted investment return for 2021/22 was £35,000. As at 30th September 2021 £9,375 investment interest was earned in the half-year period. Although investment returns had been low; using the cash flow balances for internal borrowing had reduced the borrowing costs on the expenditure budget.

·         The cash position included the residual balance of business support grants due to be repaid to central government shortly, this was currently estimated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

32.

Work programme 2021-2022. pdf icon PDF 123 KB

To consider the work programme (attached).

Minutes:

The Committee considered the Work Programme for 2021/22 (circulated previously).

 

Following invitation from the Chair, the Corporate and Community Services Officer advised that the meeting of Thursday 9th December 2021 currently had no scheduled items for consideration at that meeting.

 

She added that the second informal meeting of the Housing Panel was scheduled to be held virtually on Thursday 25th November 2021 at 6.30pm and following that meeting it was proposed that a report of its findings together with recommendations be presented to the Committee on Thursday 9th December 2021.

 

In response to a question regarding the format of the informal meeting on 25th November 2021, the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive advised that the aim of the meeting was to identify an action plan that could be progressed, costed effectively by the Council and identify those issues which would require escalation to government level with a set timeline and targets.

 

Councillor Walker requested that an item related to strategic transport for the North Devon area be added to the work programme for consideration at a future meeting.

 

The Chair added that he would like to add an item in relation to the Biosphere to the work programme for consideration at a future meeting.

 

RESOLVED:

 

(a)  That the work programme for 2021/22 be noted; and

 

(b)  That the requested items in relation to strategic transport and the Biosphere be added to the list on the work programme of items for future consideration by the Committee.