Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Time Square, Market Street, Bracknell, RG12 1JD

Contact: Hannah Harding  01344 352308

Link: This meeting will be a Hybrid meeting

Media

Items
No. Item

47.

Declarations of Interest

Members are asked to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary or Affected Interests in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

 

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

 

Any Member with an Affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting.  There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

48.

Minutes

To consider and approve the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 29 September 2022.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Executive on 29 September 2022 together with the accompanying decision records be confirmed as a correct record.

Executive Decisions and Decision Records pdf icon PDF 70 KB

The Executive considered the following items.  The decisions are recorded in the decision sheets attached to these minutes and summarised below:

Additional documents:

49.

Budget Update pdf icon PDF 174 KB

Provide the Executive with an update on the current year’s predicted spending against budget and an outline of future financial prospects.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Executive:

 

       i.         notes the identified best-case and worst-case scenarios for the Council’s

current year financial position summarised in Table 1 and detailed in Annex A of the Executive Director: Resources report.

 

     ii.         approves drawing the full £1.5m from the earmarked reserve for Inflationary

Costs to support the current year’s budget, as proposed in paragraph 5.3 of the Executive Director: Resources report.

 

    iii.         Endorses the actions agreed by the Corporate Management Team to help

contain expenditure in the current year as set out under paragraph 5.5 of the Executive Director: Resources report.

 

    iv.         Supports the proposed responses to immediate budget priorities set out in the

report and specifically:

 

a) approves drawings from reserves to meet time-limited costs proposed for

core foster care allowances (£0.154m in 2022/23, paragraph 5.10), social

worker recruitment and retention subject to detailed review by the

Employment Committee (£0.190m, paragraph 5.15) and SEND support

service staffing (£0.271m + £0.197m + £0.022m, paragraphs 5.25, 5.27 and

5.28); and

 

b) approves inclusion in the Commitment Budget 2023/24 funding of £0.371m

for core foster care allowances (paragraph 5.10), additional funding and

associated savings of £0.115m and -£0.179m respectively related to the

enhanced foster care approach, £0.456m for social worker recruitment and

retention proposals (paragraph 5.15) and £0.052m for SEND support service

staffing (paragraph 5.28).

 

     v.         Notes the Council’s predicted medium-term financial prospects detailed in

paragraphs 5.29 to 5.53 and summarised in Table 3 of the Executive Director: Resources report.

 

    vi.         Reaffirms its support for the 7 key principles to guide budget preparations set

out under paragraph 5.54 of the Executive Director: Resources report.

50.

Special Educational Needs & Disabilities Overview and Scrutiny Review pdf icon PDF 124 KB

To consider the recommendations of the review into Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. The review seeks to understand the response by the Council and their partners to the outcome of the SEND Ofsted inspection.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Executive agrees the Education, Skills and Growth Overview & Scrutiny Panel’s recommendations as set out in the Panel report and paragraph 5.8 of the report, taking into account the comments of the Statutory Scrutiny Officer

51.

Financial Hardship Action Plan and Household Support Fund (Phase 3) distribution pdf icon PDF 110 KB

To seek approval on the distribution plans for the third phase of the Household Support Fund grant, provided by the Department for Work and Pensions. To brief the Executive on the operational action plan for reducing the longer term impact of financial hardship for residents.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that:

 

       i.         the distribution of the Household Support Fund (Phase three)

through the following routes be approved.

                                a.         Supermarket vouchers to Free School Meal pupils at Bracknell Forest schools, ages 5-16.

                                b.         Offering the local foodbanks additional funding, including to provide fuel vouchers and fresh food.

                                c.         Purchase supermarket vouchers to distribute to low-income households receiving income based council tax reduction or housing benefit but not the benefits, such as universal credit, which would qualify them for the £650 national cost of living payment.

                                d.         Enhancing the Local Welfare Scheme provision, allowing applications from households in hardship who would not otherwise automatically qualify for support.

 

     ii.         the financial hardship action plan (2022-2024) for operational implementation is endorsed.

 

Contact Information

Democratic services

Email: committee@bracknell-forest.gov.uk