Agenda and minutes

Please note that this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method. Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting. Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on. 

By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Chair referred Members present to item one on the agenda in respect of filming at the meeting and Members noted the information contained therein.

There were no apologies for absence.

None

None

None

To approve the minutes of the previous meetings.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting on 27th November were agreed as a correct record.

To receive and note the minutes of the following Scrutiny Panels and to approve any recommendations contained within:

·         Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel – 16^th November 2023

·         Children & Young People’s Scrutiny Panel – 13^th November 2023

·         Climate, Community Safety & Culture Scrutiny Panel – 6^th November 2023

·         Housing, Planning & Development Scrutiny Panel – 14^th November 2023

RESOLVED

The minutes of the following Scrutiny Panels were received and noted and any

recommendations contained within were approved:

• Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel – 16th November 2023.
• Children & Young People’s Scrutiny Panel – 13th November 2023.
• Climate, Community Safety & Culture Scrutiny Panel – 6th November 2023.
• Housing, Planning & Development Scrutiny Panel – 14th November 2023.

To scrutinise the revenue and capital proposals relating to the 2024/25 Draft Budget and the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2024/25 to 2028/29. This covers budget items under the remit of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee including part of Culture, Strategy & Engagement and part of Environment & Resident Experience.

Appendix 1 – Scrutiny Role

Appendix 2 – Cabinet report – Budget and MTFS (5^th December 2023)

Appendix 3 – MTFS Savings Tracker – Q2 2023/24

Appendix 4 – New Revenue Growth Proposals

Appendix 5 – New Revenue Savings Proposals

Appendix 6 – Draft Capital Programme

The Committee received a report which set out the draft General Fund (GF) Budget for 2024/25; the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2024/29; the draft HRA Budget 2024/25 and its draft Business Plan including estimated income (funding) and expenditure adjustments, as well as the draft capital programmes for both funds.

The Vice Chair for this Committee highlighted that this meeting would focus on all other areas of the Council that had not been scrutinised through the panels, which included Culture, Strategy & Engagement, Resident experience, Corporate, Legal & Governance and Finance.

The report was introduced by Frances Palopoli, Head of Corporate Financial Strategy & Monitoring as set out in the agenda pack at pages 51-130.

The following was raised in the discussion of this item:

a)    Forecasts outlined an overspend of £3.6m for this financial year and this was predominantly due to inflation and the current level of interest rates.

b)    The Committee sought clarification around whether fixed interest rates at the time of borrowing was reflected in the overspend figures presented in the report. The Committee was advised that the increase in interest rates that had occurred was a result of refinancing and new borrowings and did not incur from existing borrowings made in the previous years.

c)    In response to a question regarding the ongoing issue of agency staffing, the Committee noted that this issue had been ongoing for a while despite efforts to reduce the number of agency staff being employed. Reducing the number of agency staff had been challenging as there were pressures on certain areas where it had been difficult to recruit full time staff into certain roles. In order to tackle this issue, all Directors had been tasked to produce data on the number of agency staff and a possible end date for each worker. In addition, a quarterly meeting was held with the Directors to discuss this further and to ensure that Directors were actively working to encourage the reduction of agency staffing. The Committee noted that these quarterly meetings had been successful as the number of agency staff had reduced substantially.

d)    The Committee was advised that in the Community Safety service, there was an underspend of around £29,000 in salaries budget for vacancies. In the ASB Enforcement team, there was an underspend of around £76,000 in relation to vacancies that were being held within the service. The majority of the underspend related to the actual Waste Management Client and Contract budget which was under spending by £430,000 and the main component of that was from the rebate that the Council would get from Veolia in relation to pensions contribution.

e)    The Committee sough clarification regarding pressures within Digital Services. Officers advised that the main pressures were around IT contracts as many of the contacts were priced in other currencies, such as dollars and as a result the exchange rates were high. General inflation was also a contributing factor. Another pressure within Digital Services was around organisational changes. The cost of running the business had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

N/A

To consider any additions or amendments to the Committee’s current work programme.

RESOLVED

The Committee noted the work programme report

·         18^th Jan 2024 (7pm)

·         1^st Feb 2024 (7pm)

·         11^th Mar 2024 (7pm)

·         18^th Jan 2024 (7pm)

·         1^st Feb 2024 (7pm)

·         11^th Mar 2024 (7pm)