Agenda item

To consider a joint report by the Chief Financial Officer and the Director of Public Health.

The Board received an update on the use of each Council’s grant for public health, including the budget for the shared service, Public Health Dorset, and the other elements of grant used within each Council outside of the public health shared service. The report described how the funding was being applied and to what services and in what proportion.

Of note was:-

·       the final 19/20 outturn for the shared service budget, being an underspend of £170k.

·       following the Spending Round 2019 announcement of a real terms uplift, details of local authority allocations had been published on 17 March 2020.

·       agreed contributions to the shared service budget for Public Health Dorset in 2020/21 give a revenue budget of £28.748M, based on an indicative Grant Allocation of £33.838M.

·       Dorset Council retained £617k and BCP £4.472M of their respective 20/21 ring-fenced grants.

·       recognised underlying cost pressures, for example in drugs and alcohol, had been met through savings in other areas to date. With COVID-19 it was unclear to what extent this could continue. COVID-19 has also highlighted additional cost-pressures within public health services and for the system. These cost pressures would be met within the uplift to the shared service budget, without making a call on MHCLG additional COVID-19 funding. Tentative initial forecast outturn was therefore a £177k underspend

·       work on local outbreak management plans in response to the next phase of COVID-19 began during June. Additional DHSC funding had been allocated nationally to support these plans. Resource and capacity plans would be developed through the COVID-19 Health Protection Board, chaired by the Director of Public Health, overseen by each Health and Wellbeing Board.

·       reserves stood at £617k for Prevention at Scale and £293k uncommitted funds.

Given all that had happened with attention being given to the pandemic, it was acknowledged that there would now be a need to re-evaluate the Prevention at Scale initiative, to ensure that the investments being made in it met practical need and the importance of embedding the principles of PAS in the transformation strategies of each Council was understood.

How there came to be underspend in the budget was explained, in that whilst contractual arrangements with those services commissioned were more readily able to be determined, the budgets of the 2 councils were not so readily distinct being based more on necessity, demand and allocation . The Board had the authority to scrutinise how monies were being spent and this was a fundamental part of their terms of reference. Moreover the Section 151 Officer had the ability to scrutinise how the grant was being used, in ensuring the correct criteria was met.

Nevertheless, there was little room for manoeuvre in allocations made, with savings needing to be made, and it being prudent that reserves were built up because of recommissioning needs and re-procurement: essentially reserves were there to ensure flexibility.

For some assurance it was confirmed that the Board had the opportunity to consider documents in advance of any new tender - to ensure the business case was sound - and ultimately would be asked to agree these.

Whilst it was acknowledged that the interventions needed to address the issues associated with Covid-19 were unprecedented and represented a unique challenge both in financial and practical terms, the Board recognised that the available funding was being used as efficiently as it could be – in the way that it was - and was being prioritised – selectively - so as to continue to optimise the benefits to Public Health Dorset in achieving its objectives.

Resolved

That the content of the Finance report, and what it was designed to achieve, be noted and acknowledged.

Reasons for Decision

1)The public health grant is ring-fenced and all spend against it must comply with the necessary grant conditions and be signed off by both the Chief Executive or Section 151 Officer and the Director of Public Health for each local authority.

2)The public health shared service delivers public health services across Dorset Council (DC) and BCP Council. The service works closely with both Councils and partners to deliver the mandatory public health functions and services, and a range of health and wellbeing initiatives. Each council also provides a range of other services with public health impact and retains a portion of the grant to support this in different ways.