Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Director of Transformation and Partnerships that provided an update on the implications of the Government’s policy programme, major policy developments and announcements and provided an analysis of the implications for the Council and County Durham (for copy see file of minutes).

The Corporate Public Relations and Policy Manager highlighted the most significant announcements since the last report to Members which relate to the following:

·                     European Union exit next steps;

·                     Budget 2016;

·                     Queen’s speech;

·                     Education White Paper;

·                     National funding formula for schools;

·                     Devolution;

·                     Planning and housing;

·                     Adoption;

·                     Health and social care funding;

·                     Benefit Cap;

·                     Modern crime strategy;

·                     Parliamentary boundary changes review;

·                     Local Government Transparency Code.

The Corporate Public Relations and Policy Manager advised that matters had progressed significantly since the Cabinet report was produced. The government announced that £3.5b in public sector spending savings need to be found by 2020. The proposal regarding welfare spending cuts of £4.4b had been dropped and the government would confirm in the autumn statement on the 23 November how the gap would be met.

It was reported that the Education White Paper highlighted the quality of education across the county. The intention was to move towards an academy system with state schools becoming academies and the role of local authority moving away from provision. The Board were informed that a consultation paper titled Schools that work for everyone was published on the 12 September and runs to December 2016.

The Board were informed that a decision was made on the 17 May 2016 by the North East Combined Authority to move to the next stage of the process.A number of authorities felt that the European funding programme was not sufficient and only had assurances up to the autumn statement. The Secretary of State has put a hold on legislation with the possibility of a new legislation programme following government elections next year.

Councillor Hopgood referred to the national funding formulas (NFF) for schools and highlighted some would be significantly worse off than others. She asked if there were plans in place to prepare for the situation. The Corporate Public Relations Manager advised that an officer working group was looking at NFF which was a two stage consultation process. The financial consequences would not be known until government considered feedback from the first phase of consultation. An update would be reported to the Board.

Resolved:

That the information contained in the report and the actions taken to anticipate and respond to the government’s reforms be noted.