Councillors concerned after being told Herts public health grant is expected to be below inflation

COUNCILLORS have expressed concern that an expected increase in government funding for public health services will not keep up with inflation.

Unlike other county council departments, public health services are funded through a ring-fenced grant from the Department of Health and Social Care.

That grant – according to Hertfordshire County Council’s budget proposals – is expected to go up by 1.3 per cent next year (2024/25) – to £53.7m.

But despite being more than last year, it’s an increase that’s been highlighted as being below inflation.

As councillors met to scrutinise the budget plans on Wednesday (January 24), it was suggested that ‘in real terms this could be seen as a reduction in funding’.

And Liberal Democrat Cllr Lawrence Brass – who was chairing the scrutiny session – said: “We are all concerned that I think in real terms there is actually going to be a reduction in funding in the coming year.”

Executive member for public health and community protection Cllr Morris Bright revealed that the service was already undergoing a strategic review.

And director of public health Sarah Perman said that ‘in real terms’ the public health grant has reduced by about 26 per cent since 2015/16.

“We are facing severe pressures with the public health grants, as are other directorates with their sources of funding,” she said.

“In real terms the public health grant has reduced in value by about 26 per cent since 2015/16.”

Meanwhile Ms Perman warned that the suggested 1.3 per cent increase in funding from government had not yet been confirmed – suggesting that it could be even lower,

“[…]we are hoping to get an increase of about 1.3per cent because at the moment its not guaranteed,” she said.

“We have actually projected a smaller increase in our budget because we are nervous about what actually we will get, while we wait for that confirmation to come through from the Department of Health and Social Care.

“So we are hoping for good news there, that will impact positively on our budgets.”

Pointing to the below inflation increase, Cllr Bright accepted that ‘it does look on paper like a reduction’.

He stressed that unlike other council departments, public health was funded by a ring-fenced grant from the government.

And he said they would have to ‘squeeze in as much as possible’ out of the funding.

Public health services provided in Hertfordshire by the county council include health visitors and school nurses, drug, alcohol and addiction, sexual health and weight management services.

And in response to a question focussed on the impact of efficiencies on service delivery, Cllr Bright highlighted the ongoing ‘strategic review’.

He said that in the wake of the covid pandemic there were some areas that were ‘staff heavy’.

And he suggested the review could lead to reductions, without reducing the services that were currently needed,

Ms Perman said the review – expected to go on until the end of July – would lead to some redesign and restructure of the public health team.

She told councillors that since the pandemic there had been a tendency for public heath to try ‘to do everything’.

But she said that they now had to re-set priorities – ensuring they were doing what they had to, in line with the evidence about communities.

She said the aim of the review was to ensure the department was ‘very clear’ on its strategic priorities for the next two to three years.

And she said they would be looking to make sure they had the size and the structure of the workforce to allow them to efficiently deliver the strategic priorities.

Meanwhile she said the department had implemented the council’s ‘recruitment prioritisation’ – which freezes recruitment to all but essential roles.

And she said that further efficiencies included staff giving up mobile phones when nor used and using technology more effectively.