Agenda

To approve the record of the meeting held on 5 October 2023.

The Chairperson will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct. Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 4.

At the 2 March 2023 meeting it was proposed and agreed that as a result of work undertaken in partnership with the Local Government Association the Committee adopt a hybrid model moving forward.

This would be based on the assumption that meetings will last no more than three hours, with two hours focused on the theme and the remaining time on general matters that need to be reviewed by the Committee as existing ongoing business. 

Following consultation with the Director of People, Children and Adults’ Services it was agreed that this meeting would be Finance Themed with reports covering the Draft Budget, Capital and Revenue Budget Monitoring Round 2.

This report sets out the Draft Capital and Revenue Budgets for 2024/25. In accordance with the Constitution, Cabinet is required to develop ‘initial budget proposals’ approximately three months before finalising the budget and setting Council Tax levels at the end of February 2024. The Draft Budget is based on the principles set out in the Medium Term Financial Outlook 2023-2028 (MTFO) considered by the Cabinet on 26 September 2023.

This report presents the results of the second round of the Council’s capital budget monitoring process for 2023/24.

This report presents the results of the second round of the Council’s revenue budget monitoring process for 2023/24. The Council’s summary position is presented in section 5, with sections 6-7 providing the detail for each service area.

The annual report provides information on children’s services complaints handled during 2022–2023, and includes the numbers received and the types of issues raised. The report also highlights some examples of the many positive things people have said about the provision of children’s services in Medway over the same period, and the service improvements Medway Council has made as a result.

The purpose of this report is to present the Medway Safeguarding Children Partnership (MSCP) Annual Report 2022-23 to the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The report provides an overview of the work carried out by the MSCP in the last year. It sets out the key achievements of the partnership against its key priorities and gives an overview of the learning and improvement role of the MSCP including case reviews that have been undertaken. It also includes a section from the Independent Scrutineer, Rory Patterson.

The report was presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board on 23 November 2023 and will be presented to the Community Safety Partnership in line with the Joint Working Protocol between the boards in Medway.

Medway’s Council Plan 2023/24 sets out the Council’s three priorities and the measures used to monitor performance. This report and appendices summarise performance in Q2 2023/24 on the delivery of these priorities and the actions we are taking to improve performance.

This report also presents the Q2 2023/24 review of strategic risks which fall under the remit of this committee (Appendix 2).