to be put to the Business Chair, a member of the Cabinet or the Chair of any Committee or Sub Committee, in accordance with the Constitution’s Rules of Procedure No.9
Minutes:
Question 1 from Councillor Purvis to the Leader
Given the challenges is Adult Social Care and Northumberland residents feeding back it was the one of the most concerned areas for them, could the Leader clarify how he plans to make millions of pounds worth of cuts without affecting care?
Response from Councillor Pattison
Through this Budget, we are significantly increasing the budget for Adult Social Care by 16% (from £111m to £129m (net)) because the Council is committed to tackling inequalities and helping people most in need. That delivers on what residents told us in the Budget consultation. None of the proposals would lead to people being denied care which they have been assessed as needing. In fact, the budget proposes many positive things such as continuing the scheme we introduced last year to pay the Real Living Wage to care services workers because the Council is committed to good-quality jobs.
The main saving included in the adult social care budget is based on continuing the programme in which a specialist team reviews existing individual care plans to ensure that the risks to people with complex needs are being managed in a way which doesn’t restrict their independence any more than is necessary.? This is not about reducing the volume of services to individual clients where that service is required to meet their assessed needs.??However, it does lead to better value for money in the use of resources in Adult Services.
Councillor Purvis referred to the £1.1m efficiency in vacant posts. This was a significant figure and demonstrated the problems in recruiting and retaining staff. He asked what more could be done to attract staff like care assistants and social workers, such as increasing the ?hourly wage rate. Councillor Pattison noted these concerns.
Question 2 from Councillor Nisbet to the Leader
Does the Leader of Council realise how much a Council House rent increase of 7% will affect the most vulnerable in Northumberland’s Communities?
Response from Councillor Horncastle
Having good-quality Council Homes for rent is a vital part of delivering on the Council’s tackling inequalities priority. That means we are committed to maintaining existing services to tenants, carrying out essential maintenance, meeting regulatory obligations as well as building new, affordable homes. And, to do all that we have to increase rents. We are not alone in this, for example Newcastle City Council have increased rents by 7% for their tenants, and Karbon Homes have also just announced a 7% increase in their rents.
However, just over 70% of our tenants are in receipt of benefits which will increase to offset the proposed increase in rent. They will also be able to claim Discretionary Housing Payments should they experience financial difficulties.??And, for those tenants who don't receive any benefits and may experience difficulties paying rent as a result of this increase, we are proposing a hardship fund of £350,000.
Alongside this, the Housing Operations team will continue to provide support and advice on welfare benefits and debt to help tenants manage their finances. During this financial year alone, the?Team have helped secure an additional £449k including securing water discounts and maximising housing benefits for tenants.
Question 3 from Councillor Scott to the Leader
Can he tell Council whether the cut to children’s services will impact SEN provision?
Response from Councillor Renner Thompson
The budget will impact positively on SEN provision and indeed, this is a key part of this Council’s commitment to tackling inequalities. And, it’s important to highlight this Budget increases Children’s Services funding. Gross expenditure is increasing from £239.379 million to £256.787 million (an increase of £17.408 million). High needs funding had increased by 54% since 2010.
He then detailed a number of other support measures.
Children’s Services overall is funded from multiple budgets and this proposal will make better use of those existing funding pots, aligning them to fund SEN services and posts. It will also make better use of digital platforms which will give greater reach into schools. These changes do not impact negatively upon SEN.
Councillor Scott asked the Cabinet Member to include the children of Prudhoe in the next plans for building special needs schools. Councillor Renner Thompson responded that this was covered by the SEND place planning strategy. Of the 330 pupils in the west of the county with these needs, 240 were educated in the west area and it was recognised that this was an issue. There was a large piece of work ongoing on special educational needs transport. If the numbers in any one part of the county supported the need for a stand alone school, that is what he would commit to do.
Question 4 from Councillor Murphy to the Leader
Can the Leader tell us over the last year how much money has been spent on external legal costs?
Response from Councillor Wearmouth
The total legal fees for the previous 3 financial years has been provided as a comparator and is as follows: -
20/21 circa £700k -( £712,073.51)
21/22 circa £800k - (£812,177.80)
22/23 circa £800k - (£816,115.90)
External legal fees are considered to be those relating to either the instruction of external legal firms or Counsel (including KC's, formerly QC's). External legal spend fluctuates each financial year depending on the complexity of matters. In the past the Council has instructed to cover large scale projects such as the Northumberland Line, complex adult and children's social care matters, complex governance and employment matters and planning matters.
As the Council works through the matters highlighted in the Caller review and moves back to business as usual, embedding the 'best ways of working ' it is envisaged the external legal spend will reduce in time.
Councillor Murphy suggested that it would be better to develop the required expertise in house which would ensure that consistent advice was there when needed. Councillor Wearmouth responded that the in house legal team was very good but each area of law had its specialism and sometimes very specific support was needed from outside. Whenever things could be done in house, then they were.
Question 5 from Councillor Ball to the Leader
A large part of County Hall is currently stood empty, with no signs of redevelopment work, and from what I can see it is being used for old furniture storage, this will have a cost implication for the running of the overall site. We proposed small incubator business opportunities in 2021 to utilise the space to support startups and local businesses. What is the leader’s vision and plan for this wasted, unloved section of this building?
Response from the Leader
As well as what has been delivered so far, we have committed £3.1m in the Capital Programme to re-purpose Blocks 5 and 6. He commended the work which had been done on the refurbishment of county hall and appropriate measures had been put into place to ensure that the unused part of the building was kept safe for the moment.
Councillor Ball responded that office space was a premium in this area and she urged the Administration to be forward thinking and look at what could be done with this excellent business opportunity.
The Leader responded that proper consideration was being given to the most appropriate use of this space and part of the work of the strategic change programme would be to look at the Council’s assets. He urged members to be patient and reiterated that £3m in funding had been allocated to repurpose that part of the building in the next year or so.
Question 6 from Councillor Wallace to the Leader
How many Council Houses does the Leader plan to build with this budget given the 2017 election pledges have not been met?
Response from the Leader
Through this Budget, we have ringfenced £45m which will deliver 400 new, affordable homes for rent. I would also highlight we have recently obtained planning permission for 12 Dementia-friendly bungalows in Blyth which is great news and supports independent living. Planning permission has just recently been granted for a further scheme to?build?nine affordable bungalows?at New Hartley.
1,657 affordable homes had been delivered in the past six years and he committed to maintaining this level of progress through the rest of this Administration.
Councillor Wallace welcomed this figure and asked when his ward was going to get some. The Leader undertook to provide Councillor Wallace with a written answer.
Question 7 from Councillor Wilczek to the Leader
Town and Parish Councils are already picking up services to deliver tidy communities for residents, what areas of the local services does he think will be affected by the cuts he proposes?
Response from Councillor Riddle
The County Council is not proposing any cuts to grounds maintenance and street cleansing services across the county. Indeed, we have agreed service standards that ensure high quality local environments are maintained in our towns, villages and public spaces. We are also investing over £25m in our fleet over the next four years.
Through consultation, our residents have told us local services are very important to them and this Budget reflects what is most important to residents.
The County Council already works closely in partnership with Town and Parish Councils. We visit Parish Councils on a much more frequent basis, and my officers regularly attend training and support sessions, helpfully coordinated by NALC. At these sessions we listen, as well as inform, and I am pleased that closer working seems to be far more the norm now.
As there are no proposed changes to the core standards of service delivery for grounds maintenance and street cleansing, the well-established arrangements between the Council and towns and parishes remain unaffected by our Budget proposals.
Question 8 from Councillor Dunn to the Leader
Over recent years we have seen an increase in HMOs throughout the whole of the county, many of which house the more vulnerable in our society – homeless persons, asylum seekers, those in need of rehabilitation to achieve independent living. Often they are situated in residential areas and spring up in local communities without any warning. The Caller Report made several references to elected members not being given information they are entitled to. Does the Leader agree with me therefore that, if out of nothing more than courtesy and respect, elected members and Parish Councillors (bearing in mind that our recently refreshed Charter does state that this council “will engage with Town & Parish Councils on all issues that are likely to affect their area”) should be informed of matters like these which without a doubt impact the residents they represent?
Response from Councillor Horncastle
Local Members and Parish Councillors are already engaged in the development of HMOs because, in all but a limited number of cases, before an HMO can be licensed it must receive planning permission. The planning process provides for consistent consultation with members, parish councillors and the public. Notifying members of other potential HMOs does present some challenges, especially when they are established through existing permitted development rights, but Officers will work with the Member to explore what options are available to do this whilst avoiding undue, additional demands on staff. Finally, the Council is required to keep a public register of all licensed HMOs which is available to view all now on the Council's website. He acknowledged there had been some problems in Blyth recently which he was happy to discuss with Councillor Dunn.
Councillor Dunn responded that Blyth was not her area but Councillor Horncastle’s explanation did not mirror her experience. Lack of information could cause immense aggravation and worry when neighbours discovered what was happening. She asked what the Council’s expectations were of the companies who set up HMOs, where were they found and how did the Council ensure that everyone could co-exist in a safe, managed environment. She asked if the Leader could commit to a policy change to better inform members so they could adequately support both existing and new residents.
Councillor Horncastle responded that he could not commit to a policy change now, but he was happy to discuss specific problems with Councillor Dunn. The Leader suggested that a policy conference on housing could be a good idea in light of the points being made.
Question 9 from Councillor A. Watson to the Leader
Where is the inequality impact assessment on this year's budget, given the inequalities plan aims for everything the council does to be viewed through an inequalities lens?
Response from the Leader
An Equality Impact Assessment hadbeen duly completed for the budget. The Administration had demonstrated its commitment to equalities and members were going through specific areas of the budget to find a tool by which an inequalities impact assessment could be done at the same time as an equalities impact assessment. He stressed that work was underway.
Councillor Watson recognised that a long term plan was in place but the commitment to move from one plan to the other was this year. In appendix 10 in the current equality impact assessment, it stipulated that any budget proposals which needed further equality impact assessment would be considered. She therefore asked that those budget proposals be prioritised for inequality impact assessments, and that this be carried out for next year’s budget as other Councils had done. The Leader responded that the ambition was to create an integrated impact assessment which would look at equalities, inequalities and climate change to be in place for next year.
Question 10 from Councillor Wilczek to the Leader
Given the news about the firm Tolent being in financial difficulty, what assurances to us and communities can he provide about any work being carried out by them in Bedlington and the wider Council area?
Response from Councillor Ploszaj
Following the administration of Tolent Construction, Advance Northumberland have been working to secure and make safe the construction site and are now meeting with all of the Tolent supply chain who were engaged on the Project in order to establish the cost of completing the project and required timescales. Following receipt of costs and the required due diligence and approval process we aim to restart Phase 1 works (Greggs Unit) by the end of March 2023 with Phase 1 completion in June 2023. This will enable Greggs to ‘fit out’ their new unit and open during summer 2023.
In parallel to the above Phase 2 will be retendered with a view to starting work as soon as possible in summer 2023. In the meantime, we are keeping local Members briefed and will continue to do so.
Councillor Wilczek asked how much it was costing the County Council and Advance to provide support. Councillor Ploszaj replied that this was still being established. Councillor Wilczek asked that members be informed about this, which the Business Chair agreed.