This meeting of the Cabinet was scheduled to receive reports on a variety of issues affecting the Council, including climate change, treasury management, the capital programme and the forecast overspend for the current financial year. It was also scheduled to make decisions about the allocation of funding from the special educational needs budget and to discuss responses to consultations on the redesign of the Disability Design Team and the future of the Community Safety Agreement.

Derbyshire's Climate Change Adaptation Plan

The meeting was scheduled to receive a report on the Council's progress in adapting to climate change.

The report outlines the work the Council has undertaken in 2023 and 2024 to review and update its approach to managing the risks of climate change. It describes how the Council has engaged with its own service areas to assess their vulnerabilities and to identify steps they are taking to build resilience.

The report describes the assessment framework developed by the Council, which draws upon a range of sources, including the Climate Change Risk Assessment 2022 (CCRA3), published by the UK Government, the Local Partnerships' Climate Adaptation Toolkit and guidance from the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA) and the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT).

The report also sets out what the Council considers to be the 13 priority climate change risks facing it in the short- and medium-term. These include the risks to the health and wellbeing of vulnerable people from very hot weather, the discomfort from increasingly hot summers, the overheating of schools and care homes, the risk of flooding to buildings and to vulnerable people, the impact of flooding and heat on the ability of carers to reach the homes of the people they care for, the risk of power outages from severe weather, the increased risk of slope instability and landslips on the highway network, the risk of flooding and heat damage to the highway network and structures like bridges, and the risks of drought and wildfire.

The report also sets out a number of proposed actions that Council departments are either already planning to take or could be considered to mitigate these risks. For example, the Highways department is researching the most vulnerable drainage assets on the highway network, to enable a more proactive maintenance approach ahead of extreme rainfall events.

Finally, the report seeks approval to submit a summary of this work to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) by the end of 2024, as part of the Adaptation Reporting Power (Fourth Round) Local Authority Pilot.

Treasury Management Mid-Year Report 2024-25

The meeting was scheduled to be updated on the Council's treasury management activities during the first half of the financial year 2024-25.

The report describes the economic context for the Council's treasury management, noting that consumer price inflation (CPI) fell over the period from 2.3% in April to 1.7% in September, and that the Bank of England cut its official bank rate from 5.25% to 5% in August. The report also notes that the Council's treasury management advisers predict that the bank rate will fall to around 3% by the end of 2025.

The report says that at 31 March 2024, the Council had net borrowing of £214.916m, and that the Council's underlying need to borrow to fund its capital programme is likely to increase in future years. It says that in order to reduce risk and keep interest costs low, the Council is following a strategy of keeping its borrowing and investments below their underlying levels, also known as internal borrowing. As part of this strategy, the Council increased its short-term borrowing by £10.5m in the first half of the financial year, and says it will continue to borrow in the short term, before locking in to longer term borrowing rates when interest rates are lower.

The report also sets out the Council's investments, including its investments in pooled funds, which allow it to invest in a range of asset classes without having to manage those investments directly. These pooled funds currently amount to £66.383m.

Finally, the report states that the Director of Finance believes that the Council's treasury management activities during the first half of the financial year, to 30 September 2024, have complied fully with the principles of the Treasury Management Code and the Council’s approved Treasury Management Strategy. It also confirms that the Council has complied with all the statutory limits and operational boundaries that apply to its borrowing and investments.

Capital budget monitoring and forecast as at Quarter 2 2024-25

The meeting was scheduled to be updated on the Council's capital budget monitoring position as at 30 September 2024.

The report details the capital budgets and forecast expenditure for each of the Council's departments, noting that:

• Adult Social Care & Health had a budget of £98.676m to fund 20 schemes, and is forecasting an underspend of £1.025m. The largest underspend within this budget is on the Heanor Specialist Community Care Centre, which is now complete, but the report recommends transferring the underspend to the Disabled Adaptations scheme. The report also discusses the progress of a number of other schemes, including the Belper Integrated Specialist Facilities Centre, Bennerley Avenue Care Home, Darley Dale Specialist Care Centre and the Disabled Adaptations (Open Years) 2023-2024 scheme, and reports that each is expected to be delivered either on budget or with a small underspend.
• Children's Services had a budget of £191.09m to fund 767 schemes, and is forecasting an underspend of £3.896m. The largest schemes within this budget are Alfreton Park New School, Clover Leys Academy New School, Bramley Vale New Primary, Tibshelf New Primary School and Harrington Junior School. The report discusses the progress of each of these schemes, reporting that the Alfreton Park and Harrington schools are now complete, that Clover Leys Academy became operational in September 2024, that Bramley Vale is expected to be operational soon, and that Tibshelf is expected to be delayed by a year, with the cost increasing from £7.013m to £12.5m. The report states that the Council's bid for £6.76m of additional borrowing to fund the Tibshelf project was rejected, and that the costs are being reviewed to identify cost reductions that would allow the project to proceed.
• Corporate Services and Transformation had a budget of £54.233m to fund 277 schemes, and is forecasting an underspend of £4.494m. The report states that this is due to a number of schemes being curtailed or cancelled as a result of estates reviews. It discusses the progress of a number of individual schemes within this budget, including the SAP S/4 upgrade, which became operational on 1 April 2024, the Replacement ICT Hardware and Equipment scheme, the Williamthorpe Solar Farm, which is expected to receive planning permission in November, the Green Deal and Fuel Poverty grant, the Glossop 3G Pitch and Changing Room scheme, which is now operational, the ICT Network Equipment & SD-WAN Implementation, and the County Hall Winter Gardens Refurbishment, which has been paused pending the redevelopment of County Hall.
• Place had a budget of £435.456m to fund 135 schemes, and is forecasting an underspend of £0.938m. The largest schemes within this budget are the Local Transport Plan & Potholes 2018-2024, the Waste Project, the Markham Vale Employment Zone, the Bus Service Improvement Plan, the Woodville Swadlincote Regeneration Route, and The Long Eaton High Street Redevelopment. The report discusses the progress of each of these schemes, reporting that:
  • The Local Transport Plan is expected to be delivered on budget and that work continues on refining the approach to financial and scheme delivery forecasting
  • Work continues on the Waste Project, including procuring a new operator for the Derby and Derbyshire Waste Treatment Centre
  • £1.168m remains to be spent from the Markham Vale Employment Zone budget and that the Council expects to receive an overage payment of £0.542m in October 2024. The report states that the Option Agreement to sell another parcel of land is nearing completion, and that this will generate a further capital receipt of £0.930m. The report also states that construction has started on the £3.578m Staveley Waterside Project, part of Markham Vale, and that this is expected to take a year to complete. The project is being funded by £3.16m of grant funding from the Staveley Town Deal Fund, with the Council contributing £0.25m of in-kind land value.
  • The Bus Service Improvement Plan is in its final stages of delivery, with an expected completion date of March 2025. The report states that the DfT has indicated that extensions can be requested for projects that are not completed by March, and that the Council is considering submitting an extension request to September 2025 for some projects. The report states that the programme has included highway improvements in Alfreton, Ashbourne, Bamford, Chesterfield, Hayfield, Heanor, Long Eaton and Swadlincote.
  • The Woodville-Swadlincote Regeneration Route is complete, with only legal expenses remaining to be paid.
  • Work on The Long Eaton High Street Redevelopment, for which Erewash Borough Council are the accountable body, is expected to start soon, with an anticipated completion date of March 2027.

Overall, the report states that the capital programme is forecasting an underspend of £10.353m, but this includes the planned completion of a number of major projects, such as the Elvaston Castle Masterplan, which may yet require additional funding. It also notes that the Council is continuing to review its approach to capital programme monitoring, with a view to being able to provide more reliable forecasting.

Performance Monitoring and Budget Monitoring/Forecast Outturn 2024-25 Quarter 2

The meeting was scheduled to receive an update on the Council’s progress in delivering the strategic objectives set out in the Council Plan 2024-25, and its financial performance against the 2024-25 revenue budget.

The report states that, as at Quarter 2, the Council is forecasting a net overspend of £28.104m for the current financial year, up from £20.163m at Quarter 1, despite savings delivery being on track in most areas.

The report states that the overspend is a result of continued demand and cost pressures in Adult's and Children's Social Care services, with the forecast overspend increasing significantly since Quarter 1. This is mainly due to additional forecast expenditure on placements in Children's Social Care, and expenditure on Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Home to School Transport increasing as a result of continued growth in numbers of Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). The report states that the forecast overspend on placement costs has increased because of revisions to expected move dates for children changing placements and says that, due to a lack of suitable foster care placements internally and externally, the Council is having to make continued use of high cost residential placements. It says that at the end of September 2024 there were 1,034 children in care, of which 49% were in external placements, and that the overspend on external residential placements is forecast to be £14.7m and £3.3m on semi-independent living placements.

The report states that the Council is introducing expenditure controls across the organisation to try to mitigate these overspends, including a review of its recruitment policy, vacancy management, a freeze on the creation of new posts and a reduction in the use of agency workers. It says that the Council is also reducing procurement spend to only essential areas, and that Executive Directors are being asked to produce recovery plans to detail how they will manage their budgets within cash limits.

The report recommends setting up a cross-party Budget Commission, chaired by the Leader of the Council, to review the causes of the Council's significant budget overspends, with its first meeting to take place in December 2024.

Finally, the report sets out the position on the Dedicated Schools Grant, which is forecast to be overspent by £26.1m in 2024-25, taking the cumulative deficit on the DSG to £43.080m by 31 March 2025.

Preparation of Budget 2025-26

The meeting was scheduled to receive a report on the Council’s proposed timetable and procedures for preparing the budget for 2025-26.

The report says that the Council is obliged to publicise a timetable for setting its budget, and to set out arrangements for consulting with stakeholders, for a period of not less than six weeks.

The report proposes a timetable starting with pre-budget engagement activities in November and December 2024, and including a consultation on specific budget proposals, starting in January 2025. The report states that the Your Council, Your Voice survey will be launched in the week commencing 11 November 2024 and says that it will be distributed to a representative sample of residents.

The report states that the budget consultation, which is expected to start in January, will include consultation with individual service users where relevant, statutory consultation with business rate payers, consultation with trade unions and consultation with the Council's Resources Improvement & Scrutiny Committee. It says that the Cabinet will consider the results of the consultation before making its final budget proposals.

Finally, the report notes that the Government's Autumn Budget is expected at the end of November 2024, and that the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement is expected in December.

Design Services for Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) Consultation Response and Recommendations for the Future

This item was scheduled to receive a report on the outcome of a consultation on the redesign of design services for Disabled Facilities Grants. The report sets out three options for delivering those services in future, with recommendations about which option the Council should choose.

A Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) is a grant paid by District and Borough Councils to help fund adaptations to the homes of disabled people, such as ramps, stairlifts, level access showers, wet rooms and home extensions. The report states that many adaptations require the input of an Occupational Therapist (OT) to assess what the applicant needs, and that this is usually followed by the development of architectural designs and specifications for the work, by the Council's Disability Design Team (DDT). The report states that this service is provided by the Council's Corporate Services and Transformation (CST) department. The report states that the DDT manages the process from obtaining a quote from a contractor to managing the building works and ensuring the work has been completed to a good standard.

The report states that the DDT provides this service for six of Derbyshire's eight District and Borough Councils: Amber Valley Borough Council, Bolsover District Council, Chesterfield Borough Council, Derbyshire Dales District Council, Erewash Borough Council and North East Derbyshire District Council, but that High Peak Borough Council and South Derbyshire District Council both use alternative service providers.

The report states that the cost of running the DDT is expected to be £1.371m in 2024-25 and is currently funded from the Council's capital programme and by fees paid by the District and Borough Councils that use the service. The report states that in April 2024 the Council entered into new Service Level Agreements with the District and Borough Councils, under which they agreed to pay the DDT a fee of between 5% and 10% of the cost of each adaptation, to a maximum of £30,000. The report states that the income from these fees is not sufficient to cover the cost of the service and that the Council is expecting to have to cover a shortfall of £1.19m in 2024-25.

The report also states that the Council has a statutory duty to fund and deliver adaptations in cases where the applicant has been assessed as having eligible needs under the Care Act 2014 or the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970, and that the costs exceed the £30,000 limit on Disabled Facilities Grants. This budget, known as the Major Adaptations Budget, is funded from the Council’s revenue budget.

The report states that in July 2024 the Cabinet agreed to consult on three options for the future of the DDT:

1. Retain an in-house DDT Service but seek full funding from the Districts and Boroughs for all the services and support it provides.
2. Retain the in-house DDT Service to only support DCC statutory project work funded by the Major Adaptations Budget.
3. Cease to operate an in-house DDT Service, with statutory work to be sourced from external providers on a case-by-case basis.

The consultation ran from 2 August to 29 September 2024 and sought the views of members of the public, staff from District and Borough Councils and staff from the Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board (DDICB). The consultation consisted of an online survey, engagement meetings with District and Borough Councils and written submissions from the DDICB. The report states that 122 people completed the survey.

In its response, the DDICB said that it believed that the proposals would lead to a decrease in the number of home adaptations taking place and that this could have a range of negative impacts on disabled people, carers and the health and social care system.

The report sets out the results of the survey, which indicated that the majority of respondents supported option 1.

In their responses, District and Borough Councils representatives stated that they believed that options 2 and 3 would be more expensive, as they would have to create their own services, and that this could result in fewer adaptations being funded. They also stated that they believed that there would be a postcode lottery in the quality of service offered by different Councils, and that some Councils would not have the capacity to deliver complex adaptations.

The report sets out a number of alternative suggestions made by respondents, including:

• Stopping the Council from over-providing adaptations and instead focusing on delivering only those adaptations that are absolutely necessary.
• Allowing clients to arrange their own adaptations.
• Slowly transitioning the design service to District and Borough Councils.
• Merging the DDT with another service.
• Charging full cost recovery for the DDT’s work.

The report states that an Equality Impact Analysis (EIA) was undertaken in response to the consultation, and that this concluded that disabled people are most likely to be negatively impacted by the proposals. The report also states that an assessment of the impact on carers was undertaken, and that this found that carers would be likely to face additional pressures as a result of any delays or reduction in the number of adaptations.

The report concludes with a number of recommendations, including that:

• The Council should discontinue funding the discretionary element of the DDT service from 1 April 2025.
• The Council should retain a reduced DDT service, operational from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026, to manage cases that are already in transition, as well as to support projects funded by the Major Adaptations Budget.
• The Council should write to the six District and Borough Councils that use the DDT service by 12 December 2024 to give them formal notice of the Council’s intention to discontinue funding the discretionary service from 1 April 2025. The Councils would be given two weeks to confirm whether they wish to fund the service for a 12 month period commencing on that date.
  
• The Council should start a public consultation in January 2025 on a new policy and procedure for allocating funding to projects costing over £30,000, to be funded from the Major Adaptations Budget.

Community Safety Agreement

The meeting was scheduled to receive a report on the Derbyshire Community Safety Agreement 2024-2027.

The report states that Community Safety Partnerships were introduced in 1998 and require Councils to work together with the police, fire and rescue service, probation service and the Integrated Care Board to reduce crime and disorder. It says that each partnership is required to produce a plan setting out how it will work together to achieve its objectives. In Derbyshire there are eight such partnerships, covering each of the District and Borough Councils. The report states that Derbyshire County Council is also required to produce a Community Safety Agreement, which aligns the work of the District and Borough level partnerships.

The report describes how a number of legislative and policy changes have affected the way Community Safety Partnerships work, including the introduction of Domestic Homicide Reviews, the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, changes to safeguarding legislation, the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, the Serious Violence Duty, the Online Harms Act, the Victims and Prisoners Bill and the new 'Martyn's Law', which will require a range of public venues to take steps to prevent and prepare for terrorism.

The report also describes how Derbyshire's Safer Communities Board has adapted its delivery structures to meet the demands created by these changes, including the introduction of eight thematic boards covering the areas of:

• Serious Violence
• Violence Against Women and Girls
• Serious Organised Crime and Exploitation
• Neighbourhood Crime and Anti-social Behaviour
• Domestic and Sexual Abuse
• Prevent
• Resettlement and Integration
• Online Harm

Finally, the report asks the Cabinet to approve the Derbyshire Community Safety Agreement, 2024-2027.

Children's Services SEND Capital Budget (High Needs Provision Capital) Allocations

The meeting was scheduled to consider a report on the allocation of funding from the Children's Services Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Capital Budget. The report states that the Council has received a number of allocations from the Department for Education (DfE) to fund projects that improve the quality and range of provision available for children with SEND, and that the unallocated balance of the fund at 30 September 2024 was £21,436,216.

The report seeks approval to allocate £3,195,777 from the budget to three projects:

• £2,600,000 to Bennerley Fields School to fund the construction of three additional classrooms, to provide places for 24 pupils, with the possibility of expanding to 30 places from September 2025. The report states that the project has been identified as a result of the Council’s SEND sufficiency survey.
• £230,000 to Stanton Vale School, in addition to the £320,000 already approved for the project. The report states that this additional funding is necessary as a result of the tender price for the refurbishment increasing.
• £365,777 to the Whitemoor Centre, which is part of the Holbrook School for Autism, run by the Esteem Multi Academy Trust. The report states that this is interim funding, intended to reimburse the Trust for the costs it has already incurred in delivering the second phase of the project. The project, which is expected to provide additional places for pupils with SEND, is being managed by the Trust, and the report states that it will submit a further report to Cabinet once it has received the final tender price.

The report states that if these allocations are approved, the unallocated balance of the Children’s Services SEND capital budget will be £18,240,439. It also states that the goods, works and services required to undertake these projects will be procured in accordance with the Council’s financial regulations and seeks approval from Cabinet to commence the procurement process.