Issue - meetings

Report by the Chief Executive

47.1     Keith Hinkley, Director of Adult Social Care and Health introduced the report by providing an overview of the context within which the current RPPR process is taking place.  Mr Hinkley also highlighted to the Committee that a key aim of the report is to ensure Members have all the information they need to support them with their contributions to the RPPR process.   

47.2     In response to a query about the impact of the Government’s announcement in September of a one-year spending round, Mr Hinkley commented that the additional funding would have a positive short-term impact.  The funding was therefore welcomed by the Council given the financial pressures it is currently working under.   However, and given its short-term nature, the additional funding was not likely to have a significant impact on the Council’s Medium-Term Financial Plan.  

47.3     Members of the Committee also discussed the targets contained within the Children’s Services Portfolio Plan.  In response to a specific query about a target relating to school exclusions, Stuart Gallimore, Director of Children’s Services, advised Members that the target in question had been developed in response to a range of factors, some of which are specific to East Sussex.  For example, East Sussex is an outlier in terms of the numbers of students who are excluded.  Whilst the Department are working to understand the reasons for this high rate of exclusion, it does mean any target it sets now has to be formulated with a clear picture of the current situation in mind (so the resultant target is set at a realistic, but still challenging level).  Furthermore, the savings the Department have had to implement in recent years mean that the level of support it can offer to schools has been greatly reduced.  This reduced capacity to provide support has come at the same time as schools and academies have gained a greater degree of autonomy.  Nonetheless the Department remain ambitious and within the resources available to it, it is working on initiatives which are aimed at helping to reduce the rate of school exclusion in the county.   This includes, for example, a focus on bringing school leaders together to discuss what can be done to positively impact on the issue.  

47.4     It was confirmed that the RPPR 2020-21 Savings Board will meet on Monday 16 December 2019.

47.5     RESOLVED: to establish a RPPR Scrutiny Review Board to meet on Monday 16 December 2019 to consider the developing Portfolio Plans, the Core Offer and savings proposals as they emerge.  

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