The 3rd joint meeting of the Child & Family Services Overview & Scrutiny Board and the Performance & Finance Overview & Scrutiny Board was held recently at the beginning of December and it was an opportunity for the members of the Performance & Finance Overview & Scrutiny Board to meet the new Corporate Director responsible for Social Services, Phil Hodgson and the new Head of Child & Family Services, David Howes.
The Boards were given details of the areas where there were projected overspends and underspends. Positive news was that the number of Looked After Children (LAC) in Swansea was falling, whereas the national trend was for numbers increasing, however due to various complexities the total spend was not yet decreasing with the numbers of LAC. The Director has made it clear that whilst there is still a big overspend in this area the service won’t be exempt from looking for potential savings and contributing to the effort that the Council faces to meet the future challenges. Comparative information on the spend per LAC across Wales was given to the Boards.
The next joint meeting is scheduled for 13th February 2012.
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