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Following consideration of the officer report,
recommendations from Scrutiny Committee – Children and
Families, appendices and discussion, the Executive resolved to:
 

Approve the proposed overall Deficit
Management Plan incorporating a range of service improvements and
projects as set out at Appendix 2.
Note the updated DSG forecast
deficit to 2029/30 of £294.600m based upon current policy and
practice and the risk that this presents to the Council’s
financial sustainability.
Note that the DMP includes:

Workstreams listed in section 14.1.1
have been delivered or are in delivery in line with existing policy
and approved resources.
Proposed workstreams listed in
section 14.1.2 may be delivered within existing policy but require
additional investment to enable delivery in order to realise
projected cost reduction as set out in this report.
Work streams listed in section
14.1.3 will require a change in policy and may require additional
resources above those included within this report to enable
delivery, and these will be the subject of further reports to the
Executive in due course

Endorse and recommend to Council,
the approval of:

The incorporation of the DSG revised
budget including proposed investment and savings, the forecast
Deficit and the Deficit Management Plan into the MTFP for the
period 2025/26 to 2029/30 as set out in Table 3 and Appendix 3
The additional General Fund base
budget investment required from 2026/27 to deliver the proposed DMP
workstreams set out in Appendix 4 of up to £0.679m as set out
in Table 5.
That the additional expenditure of
£0.679m at 4b is financed initially from the Corporate
Contingency Budget in 2026/27 with funding over the MTFP period to
be addressed as part of balancing the 2026/27 budget in March
2026.

Subject to approval of
recommendation 4 a) to c) by Council, Executive to approve a
virement of up to £0.455m in 2025/26 from the Corporate
Contingency Budget to the Education GF Budget to fund the
investment in resources required to deliver the DMP, subject to
full business case approval by the Section 151 Officer and Service
Director of HR and OD
Note that quarterly progress on
delivery and financial tracking of the DSG Deficit Management Plan
will be presented to Executive as part of future corporate revenue
and capital monitoring reports.
Agree in principle to the
recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee – Children and
Families and delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer in
consultation with the Chair of Scrutiny Committee – Children
and Families and the Lead Member for Children, Families and
Education to further develop the Scrutiny Committee
recommendations.