County Council – 7 February 2023

Cabinet’s report paragraph 1 – Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources

Amendment to be proposed by Councillors Tutt, Webb, Denis and Stephen Shing

Delete paragraph 1.71 of the Cabinet’s report and replace with:-

(1)  approve, in principle, the draft Council Plan 2023/24 at Appendix 1 and authorise the Chief Executive to finalise the Plan in consultation with the relevant Lead Members;

           (2)  approve the net Revenue Budget estimates totalling £501.4m for 2023/24 as set out on Appendix 2 (Medium Term Financial Plan) and Appendix 3 (Budget Summary) and authorise the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer, Leader and Deputy the Leader, to make adjustments to the presentation of the Budget Summary to reflect the final settlement and budget decisions with the following one year only amendments:

(i)         £615,000 to reduce the cost of transport, to service users, to and from Day            Services.  Directly provided by ESCC and commissioned from the private       sector.  This should reduce charges to users of this transport by 100%.

(ii)        £628,500 to increase by 5% the provision of Mental Health non-residential services           for working age mental health, older people's mental health and section 117 service     users.

(iii)       £300,000 to provide Carers' support.  This sum to be allocated for bids from the    Voluntary Sector to provide direct support for carers on a one-off basis that will help      improve the quality of life for carers.  This sum to be used to provide small sums to a    number of Voluntary Organisations to achieve the aforementioned.

(iv)       Additional School Streets - £300,000.

(v)        Additional Resource for additional pavement repairs, dropped kerbs, rights of way and pothole repairs - £1,000,000.

(vi)       Carbon mitigation and adaptation for One Council/One Planet – Recruit a Climate             Adaptation and Mitigation officer to work on the systemic adaptation issues across     the Council – looking at the big picture. Issues to include including flood management          linking with natural environment, road response to extreme weather, extreme heat,        feeding into retrofit strategies, care homes adaptation etc. There is a commitment to            an adaptation plan in the new climate emergency plan but no obvious budget line,             targets or timescale. This work is urgent and essential. £125,000 – 2023/24 and     £125,000 – 2024/25.

(vii)      Supporting Mission 2 and Mission 5 of the Council’s Recovery Plan to work with partners to identify skills and support needs in the county to deliver on climate adaption and mitigation and meet the county’s business and domestic retrofit needs in order to reduce the climate impact and user costs related to energy use. Also, to have the capacity to respond to government funding opportunities. £125,000 – 2023/24 and £125,000 – 2024/25.

(viii)     CAMHS: To provide urgently needed services for young people left on the waiting list       for undue periods of time by the NHS - £700,000

(ix)       SEND: Further to provide help and assistance to children with special educational             needs - £800,000

(x)        Reversal of increase to travellers’ site service charges and rentals, to be reviewed            the year after - £6,500

(xi)       Recruit a Food Policy Officer to develop a food strategy for East Sussex and deliver on the key recommendation from the Food Matters “Good Food for East Sussex report commissioned for ESCC to address barriers to sustainable growth within the local food economy as well as public health goals of increasing access to a healthy diet - £80,000

Total of proposed revenue amendments - £4,930,000

To be funded by:

(xii)      Use of Revenue Service Grant 2022/23 unallocated of £4,905,000

(xiii)     Further Savings/Additional income from use of County Hall - £25,000

Total of proposed revenue funding amendments - £4,930,000

            (3)  in accordance with the Local Government Finance Act 1992 to agree that:

(i) the net budget requirement is £501.4m and the amount calculated by East Sussex County Council as its council tax requirement (see Appendix 5) for the year 2022/23 is £348.8m

(ii) the amount calculated by East Sussex County Council as the basic amount of its council tax (i.e. for a band D property) for the year 2023/24 is £1,693.80 and represents a 4.99% (2% of which relates to the Adult Social Care precept) increase on the previous year;

(4)  advise the District and Borough Councils of the relevant amounts payable and council tax in other bands in line with the regulations and to issue precepts accordingly in accordance with an agreed schedule of instalments as set out at Appendix 5;

(5) agree the Reserves Policy set out in Appendix 6;

(6)  approve the Capital Strategy and Programme as set out at Appendix 8;

(7)  note the progress with the Council Plan and Budget 2022/23 since quarter 2 set out in paragraphs 1.40 to 1.43 of the report;

(8)  note the Medium Term Financial Plan forecast for 2023/24 to 2025/26, as set out in Appendix 2 and amended by the proposals in paragraph 1.71 above;

(9)  note the comments of the Chief Finance Officer on budget risks and robustness as set out in Appendix 6;

(10)  note the comments from the engagement exercises as set out in Appendix 7 and

(11)  note the schedule of fees and charges that have increased above 4% at Appendix 9.