This presentation will outline the Council’s strategy to the 2023-24 Budget within the context of the Corporate Plan. The presentation will provide details of the approach to setting the budget for the next financial year and the broad impact this will have on the delivery of services.
Minutes:
Councillor Sanderson, Leader provided information on the State of the County reflecting on the work the Council were undertaking based on the Council’s priorities of providing value for money, tackling inequalities and delivering growth and jobs. A copy of the presentation would be filed with the signed minutes of the meeting and uploaded to the Committee papers on the Council’s website.
He firstly informed members of the news of British Volt and the Devolution Deal outcome for the North East.
The Council continued to invest in education and skills with a number of capital projects coming forward including schools within the Astley and Berwick Partnership, the Port of Blyth; Energy Central Learning Hub in Blyth; Seghill Construction Training Centre and the new Northumberland College.
Following consultation with residents a number of park commemoration schemes had been announced to form a countywide celebration of the life of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Information on what the Council was doing to help address inequalities in health and education, with the belief that all children should be offered the same opportunity in life to flourish, and the financial support being offered to those people most in need were outlined. The response by residents and communities to an appeal for donations to support Ukrainian nationals had been tremendous. The Council’s current Capital Programme included over £806m investment in 2022-2026 to ensure that the infrastructure and facilities were provided to drive future growth and job creation within the County along with further investments through the Borderlands Partnership and North of Tyne Combined Authority.
The commitment to maintain frontline services had remained with increased funding for highway maintenance in 2022-23, however the recent bad weather had impacted on the number of defects on the road network being reported. The Council had been praised for its work in supporting people requiring care packages after being discharged from hospital and was grateful for staff who provided this service. There was always a need to attract more care workers and travel allowances had been increased to try to encourage more people into this sector.
A new Chief Executive was to start at the Council on 8 February 2023 and recruitment was also underway for a new Executive Team. The Corporate Plan was to be refreshed to drive improvements in all services and a Strategic Change Programme developed to deliver the things that were most important to residents in a cost-effective way. It was hoped that compulsory redundancies could be avoided, but this could not be guaranteed. The recently announced Government settlement had been better than expected and new legislation would give the Council more power to address issues related to second or vacant homes and the pressure this put on some communities. There would still be inflationary pressures on the budget going forward in relation to pay and other factors. Details of the proposed budget would be released at the beginning of February and all Members would be invited to the Corporate Services and Economic Growth Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 13 February 2023.
In response to a comment in relation to Bedlington Memorial Schemes, the Leader advised that the schemes could not be installed in every place and tried to cover as many placed in the county as possible.
(Councillor Taylor left the meeting at 5.50 pm).
Members welcomed the vocational training but questioned the increase in Council Tax.
The Leader explained that all future vacancies would have to be approved and go through a proper process before being agreed, this was to ensure services continued to be delivered. NCT (Northumberland Communities Together) would continue to deliver funding to those who needed it and a Council Tax Support Scheme.
In response to the memorial awards, the Leader stated that if a specific scheme was required to let him know.
Discussion took place on the indicators of deprivation and the use of local contractors to deliver certain services.
In response to the inclusion of high school children to free school meals, the Leader advised that this would need to be discussed with officers and suggested an email to sent to him to he could raise with the Director of Education.
With reference to British Volt, members were informed that the Blyth local MP had been contacted and would also be raised with the Prime Minister. Action would be taken to facilitate a large employer for the plant.