Issue - meetings

“Creating the right conditions for businesses and our economy to grow and thrive while supporting our most vulnerable residents remain priorities for the county council.

We know that many people still face challenges in dealing with the increased cost of living and we continue to do what we can to support them.  Programmes such as the Household Support Fund which has provided over £15 million of financial assistance and the Sustainable Warmth Competition which has installed energy saving measures in almost 900 homes are all providing valuable support.  Through the Holiday Activities and Food Programme we’ve also helped thousands of families while the ‘Here to Help’ campaign has provided advice to over 24,000 visitors to the website.

Alongside this, our supportive communities work is helping people to live independently with support from their families and local communities.  The programme has seen the recruitment of 166 Community Champions and the creation of 26 community help points to date.

Our work to support local businesses to start up, survive, and grow remains a priority, while our ‘We are Staffordshire’ campaign goes from strength to strength in promoting business and employment opportunities in the county. We also continue to invest in highways, enterprise centres and infrastructure including broadband which benefit both residents and businesses alike.  Major investment projects at Chatterley Valley in Newcastle, i54 South Staffordshire and highways work at Pets at Home’s new headquarters in Stafford are all helping attract more jobs to the county.

Work to tackle climate change and achieve net zero by 2050 is ongoing with the council already reducing its carbon emissions by 44% since declaring a climate change emergency in 2019.  We do continue to face challenges in adult social care and children’s services including levels and complexity of demand in both areas. However, additional investment is helping ease the situation”.

Alan White, Leader of the Council

“Significant progress has been made across the organisation during quarter 4 and during the year with departments delivering on key areas of work.

We still face pressures from inflation across all council areas which we continue to monitor carefully.  Challenges around recruitment and demand within children’s services also continue which we are trying to address within our longer-term plans.  The final outturn position for the county council for the year is an overspend of £11.294m (1.9%).  The quarter 3 forecast was an overspend of £11.635m.

Like most local authorities, we still face financial challenges, but we are a well-run council and continue to keep our finances in as strong a position as possible. Well managed finances means we can continue to invest in our future, grow our economy and improve people’s lives”.

Ian Parry, Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources