Councillor Gledhill invited Councillor Gerrish to read the question that he had submitted.

Given the forecast overspend for the year is already over one million pounds, does the Leader still have confidence in his service budgets?

In response the Leader of the Council advised “Thank you, Councillor Gerrish.  Before I give my answer, let’s remind ourselves of what we inherited when we took administration and indeed the same report at this time in 2015.  That was the last similar report of the previous, Labour Administration.  That 2015 report showed a first quarter pressure of £1.269million comprising of a number of issues such as shortfall from recharges, impact of environment contracts failing, overspends in environment and transformation budgets to name a few.  Indeed, most of us will see some of the similarities to this evening.  That Cabinet assured residents that it would be cleared by the end of the financial year, however by the end of that financial year we inherited from the Labour Administration a forecast net pressures of over £4million in 2016.  Yes, £4million shortfall that we had to address before starting on our own priorities.

Now, at the end of the last financial year, and that was the first of the Conservative Administration, bearing in mind we had the same amount of tax payers’ money to spend as the previous Administration and induced the Clean it, Cut it, Fill it Programme.  We reduced the pressures caused by the number of unaccompanied asylum seeker children, we saved a small fortune in penalties from the Government by using the right to buy receipts to cover the cost of the new council homes your administration commissioned at a cost that was so massive to build they wouldn’t have sold on the open market without making a loss, we introduced a new, proactive environmental enforcement team but most of all we finished the year with minor underspends in both the general and housing revenue accounts.

I would also like to point you in the direction of the external auditor’s assessment that is set out in the Annual Results Report to be considered by the Standards and Audit Committee next week.  Not only does it give a positive value for money conclusion – this is their independent assessment of the Council’s financial position and plans for the future – but in reaching that conclusion they carried out testing on a number of the budget assumptions and savings proposals, and said they were good.

So, I can assure you, Councillor Gerrish that the Cabinet are working closely with our Directors in identifying ways to bridge this gap and are sure that future reports will show the progress being made.  So, based on the last year of the Labour Administration versus the first year of the Conservative Administration, I think any objective minded individual would have as much confidence as I do in delivering a balanced budget, so the short answer: yes.”

Councillor Gerrish was offered a supplementary question in which he asked: “Thank you very much, Councillor Gledhill.  Putting aside for a second the fact that it’s disappointing to see some savings not delivered like the £80,000 from the library review that’s not set up yet, or the £25,000 that was forecast on the waste contract which turned into an additional cost of £75,000, no I agree that £1m overspend at this point in the year can be corrected and controlled, if there’s a clear, precise plan on how spending will be managed early on that we then stick to through the year.  Would the Leader please explain his plan to bring spending back under control and precisely break down where and how the £1m of mitigating action will be delivered?”

The Leader reported “I’ll give you a very short answer on that because I know Councillor Hebb has a very direct answer, as he goes through his report coming up as the next item. As I say we work very closely with our Directors, I will use an example of Councillor Sue Little reducing the number of unaccompanied asylum seekers and the added pressures has reduced the amount of unexpected costs within the service. Including, reducing the amount of temporary staff and Social Care Staff.

All reviews that we are carrying out for the next year, everyone single of them will lead to some form of induction savings, we do obviously, as you know have expected pressures as everybody does such as grass cutting, sickness within the waste team, all of these get managed throughout the year to seek any natural savings such as not advertising jobs. As I say where we are this year is a much better position than you were in the year 2015/16 and I can assure you that by the end of this year we will not only be putting more money into reserves which is what we have being doing, which you didn’t, but we will be coming in on budget.”  

Councillor Gledhill thanked Councillor Gerrish for his question.

Councillor Hebb, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance and Legal Services introduced the report explaining that since 2016 when the Conservatives were elected to the Administration they had inherited a £4million overspend in Children Services. Since then they had been finding ways to make savings and bring the budget in on target.

The Portfolio Holder commented it was important to focus on where the Council was currently and the response from the Peer Review. He continued that the Peer Review consisted of interviews of senior management and looking over the council’s budget plans. Councillor Hebb advised the outcome of the Peer Review was for the Council to continue working the way it was.

Members were advised the pressures on Children Services consisted of unique cases which in turn had cost implications. One of the pressures was the number of unaccompanied asylum seeker children. Councillor Hebb explained over the last nine months the number of unaccompanied asylum seeker children had reduced from 108 to 30.

It was highlighted that the Environment Service had a high overspend which included the waste disposal contract extension costs and the tender process for a new fleet which had now completed. Councillor Hebb explained that the aging vehicles working beyond their life expectancy had posed a potential financial risk.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Legal Services commented he was confident Commercial Services would be at a breakeven position by the end of the year and he assured Members that self-sufficient ways of working would continue to be identified.

Councillor Halden, Portfolio Holder for Education and Health remarked that the pressure indicated within the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) of £1.9million was being worked on by the Director of Children’s Services and hoped to be balanced within 3 years.

Councillor S. Little thanked Councillor Hebb for his report. She continued by stating overspend within Children’s Services was due to complex cases, such as special need cases which were expensive. The Portfolio Holder for Adult and Children Social Care further commented that she was working with the Director of Children’s Services and Officers to bring cases which were situated out of Borough back to Thurrock.

The Portfolio Holder for Environment welcomed the report and stated that the fleet of refuse vehicles had been purchased to reduce breakdowns of vehicles and disruption of services. Councillor Watkins commented that 27 vehicles had been purchased, alongside investment into 4 current vehicles the total fleet was now 31 vehicles.

Councillor Gledhill, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Housing mentioned the Homelessness function received £0.3million from the Flexible Homelessness Support Grant, he stated the he was working with the Director for Housing to address homelessness.

He continued to comment on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) identifying that three times the amount of properties were subject to repairs and maintenance as part of the Transforming Home Scheme. Councillor Gledhill advised that certain programmes would be delayed until such time as the Councils stock survey had been completed.   

The Leader finally highlighted the pressures caused by outside organisations such as the Coroners Court, where Essex Police had pulled out of the funding agreement. 

Resolved:

That Cabinet noted the forecast outturn position for 2017/18 and that further mitigation is required to outturn within the agreed budget envelope.