Rob Parr presented the latest financial report. The main areas of concern in terms of the safety valve moving forward are on the independent special school fees and other packages of support for EHCP. Rob explained that this year they are offset by some sizeable underspends, for example joint funded placements which is the education element of our residential placements. But because our residential placements are much reduced that's impacts on the education side.

There is also a large underspend on MTS as it's not running in its intended capacity. So that's £200k relating to last year and £150k for this year. So in effect they're being offset to a degree, but if those underspends don't arise next year, then potentially we are under pressure unless our numbers start to fall.

One of the main changes between this position and November is our recoupment with other authorities (mainly with Devon). We have a few pupils in other authorities, but mainly with Devon and that's been an ongoing negotiation relating to charges and pupils relating to last financial in and this financial year and they've almost just been agreed, putting the overspend up between November and January. Despite this, Rob clarified that we are still within our target in terms of what we set the safety valve at.

Lawrence asked for clarification on what business support and business intelligence meant, Rob explained that this was staff teams that support the DSG and all the functions within DSG, for example data analysts. Lawrence then asked about the education element of residential placements. Rachael explained that we only want children to be taught in residential provisions away from Torbay if that is exactly what is required for their care or education needs. The LA historically has had a high number of children that had gone into residential provision. So it is a deliberate decision to actually review the children that were in residential provision and make sure that actually they could be brought back further to towards their community but also receive support through that, that fostering network or through connected carriers and things where that's appropriate as well. So it is something that the local authority doesn't see rising in the future. It's a position that we want to maintain low residential numbers. Residential provisions are only used where there are really extreme examples of children needing different types of provision that that could not be applied in a different way. It's our published mission within our social care sufficiency strategy.

Mike Lock then asked a question on recoupment, and how accurate the process is now for charging authorities. Rob explained that whilst it is still in the process of being established, he is confident that the mechanisms in place are ensuring that Torbay is getting the correct monies paid.

Rob then went on to discuss the comparison of initial DSG funding between 2023/24 and 2024/25. that just shows across the schools block, central schools block, early years, high needs etc. and the amount of additional funding we're getting through the DSG. A large chunk of that is obviously due to the expansion of the early years provision, which we'll come on to on the on the next item.
High needs has gone up by £900k. That is in line with what we are assuming in our safety valve, so no massive surprises there, which is good.

Members noted the position of the LA budget and agreed to review the safety valve update report and make recommendations to ensure future progress enables the budget position to be held and improved during the financial year.