Report to:	Adult Social Care and Community Safety Scrutiny Committee
Date of meeting:	19 March 2015
By:	Chief Executive
Title:	Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources (RPPR) 2015/16
Purpose:	To review scrutiny’s input into the Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources (RPPR) process during 2014/2015.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Committee is recommended to:

1) Review its input into the Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources process and;

2) Identify any lessons for improvement for the process in future.

1          Background

1.1       Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources (i.e. aligning the Council’s budget setting process with service delivery plans) has established an effective and transparent business planning process. A Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) has been produced and the 2015/16 round represents year three, of the three year savings plan.

1.2       Scrutiny committees actively engage in the process, firstly to allow them to bring the experience they have gained through their work to bear and, secondly, to help inform their future work programmes.

2          Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources (RPPR) and scrutiny in East Sussex

2.1       In September 2014 each scrutiny committee considered extracts from the State of the County report and the departmental savings and Portfolio Plans. Requests for further information or reports were made to help the scrutiny committee evaluate proposals made in the respective Portfolio Plans.

2.2       The scrutiny committees established scrutiny boards to provide a more detailed input into the RPPR process.  These met in December 2014 to consider the draft portfolio plans and the impact of proposed savings. The boards:

• considered any amendments to the Portfolio Plans and how they were being delivered against the proposed key areas of budget spend for the coming year;
• assessed the potential impact of these savings on services provided to East Sussex County Council customers.

2.3       Appendix 1 summarises the comments and recommendations made by the Adult Social Care and Community Safety RPPR board to Cabinet.

3.         Conclusion and reasons for recommendations

3.1       The committee is recommended to review its input into the 2015/16 RPPR process and in particular to establish whether there are lessons for improvement for the future.

BECKY SHAW
Chief Executive

Contact Officer: Martin Jenks
Tel. No. 01273 481327
Email: martin.jenks@eastsussex.gov.uk

LOCAL MEMBERS

All.

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS

None.

Appendix 1

Overview and Scrutiny: Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources (RPPR) boards 2014/15

This is a summary of the outcomes, observations and findings of the scrutiny RPPR Board held in December 2014.

All the scrutiny boards considered draft Portfolio Plans and savings plans and attempted to assess the impact of both any significant budget cuts facing the County Council over the coming years and activities where savings were not necessarily being proposed but which accounted for significant use of resources.

Scrutiny boards commented on the plans being put in place and the means being proposed to protect front line services as far as practicable.

Adult Social Care & Community Safety

RPPR Board on 18 December 2014

Councillors: Peter Pragnell (Chair), Trevor Webb (Vice-Chair), John Barnes, Peter Charlton, Charles Clark, Angharad Davies, John Ungar

Key messages to Cabinet:

Through the discussion the Board made the following observations to highlight to Cabinet:

1. The scale of savings to date (£27.8m over three years) inevitably changes the risk levels in the whole system.

2. The potential future savings required from 2016/17, whilst uncertain, are likely to have further significant impacts.

3. There are a number of potential risks and pressures associated with implementing the Care Act provisions.

4. There is a need to pursue partnership working with the NHS, and the East Sussex Better Together programme is of high importance in terms of working towards a sustainable health and social care system in East Sussex and a rebalancing towards community based care.

5. There is uncertainty regarding future commissioning arrangements for health and social care, given the forthcoming general election and differing policies amongst the national political parties.

6. The impact of reductions in personal budgets as a result of required savings continues to be assessed and the Scrutiny Committee will receive a further report in March 2015.

The Board agreed the following specific recommendation:

• Adult Social Care, working with health partners, should create a stable delivery vehicle for community services which can offer stability through any structural changes, with strong local accountability.

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