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.

Apologies for absence received from Lourdes Keever and Yvonne Denny.

It being a special meeting, under Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 17, of the Council’s Constitution, no other business shall be considered at the meeting.

Any required tabled items would  only relate to those items shown on the agenda.

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To follow

The Committee was presented with a table outlining the Outstanding Requests for Information on the MTFS/ Budget Scrutiny Proposals.

The following was noted in discussion around the Overview & Scrutiny Committee (Corporate, CS&E and E&RE):

• In response to a question from the Committee in relation to the budget position regarding Community Safety, Waste & Enforcement, Officers advised that the underspend predominantly related to an underspend in maintenance and there was a small element of the underspend in staffing.
• The Committee sought assurances around possible impact on services by the underspend in CCTV. The Committee was advised that the service was prioritising the use of CCTV in areas that most require it. The suspension in the maintenance programme would have minimal impact as the current coverage in CCTV would be enhanced to cover a wider area.
• In relation to the response provided for the Outturn Position & 2024/25 Budget Position regarding Culture, Strategy & Engagement, The Committee recommended that colleagues in Strategic Procurement, Finance and Digital services should meet with members to provide a more informed briefing as to how contracts were managed across the Council; of which digital services have approximately 300 contracts. This should be discussed during an Overview & Scrutiny meeting.
• In regard to the Management Actions (page 56 of agenda pack) table 7.2c, the Committee noted that under Environment & Resident Experience for 2025/26, there was an overspend of £35k predicted. Officers advised that it was not unusual to see minus figures in tables as sometimes you would see a financial benefit that were greater in year one than in year two and thus would not necessarily constitute as an overspend. However, in relation to the overspend of £35k, this was not substantiated and the Committee recommended that this would need to be clarified when presented to the Cabinet. The Committee also suggested that if this could not be substantiated, this line in the report must be removed from the pack.
• The Committee sought assurances around the events income increases. The Committee had requested further details on how these savings would be achieved and clarification on the reasons for the variation in the savings target in each of the years over the MTFS period, and whether these targets were realistic and achievable. The response on the table stated that the figure of £124k shown in column N does not appear to be correct and the Committee queried why this was continuing on the tracker and the Cabinet papers. Officers advised that they would be reviewing this to confirm if the figure of £124k was correct and if not, then this would need to be removed from the papers.
• The Committee noted that there was a growth of £946k for the delivery of the Leisure Management Service in-house and in response to a follow up question, Officers advised that the decision to insource two and a half leisure centres meant that the Council was able to join up the provision into a wellbeing strategy to improve the health of the residents in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To follow

The Committee was presented with the Final 2024-25 Budget and 2024-29 Medium Term Financial Strategy report. John Warlow, Director of Finance introduced the report as set out in the agenda pack. 

The following was noted in discussion of this item:

• There was a £16.3m budget gap in the December Draft General Fund Budget. Considerable further work had been undertaken to identify additional savings and actions to close the gap. Consequently, the budget position had improved by c. £10.4m since December.
• The Council was required to draw-down £5.9m from the Strategic Budget Planning Reserves in order to set a balanced budget for 2024/25.
• Haringey had been a poorly funded local authority by the government for many years.
• It was noted that there had been updates on inflation and treasury assumptions.
• Extensive work had been done to further reduce the capital for the General Fund of just under £29m which was an overall reduction in the Capital Programme.
• Since considering the report previously, there was some improvement in the latter years of the forecast. The Housing Revenue Account had increased by around £1m in year four or five.
• The Committee noted that the figures may change again before this was submitted to the Full Council as there was a wait for the final local government settlement figures.
• In response to a question from the Committee regarding building reserves, Officers advised that in order to maintain and build reserves, the Council should ensure that funds were not drawn from these reserves. However, this would be challenging and there would be a need to have high level of financial improvement.
• In response to a question from the Committee, Officers clarified the Capital Programme had been revised and included reduction. These items included primary schools, repairs, maintenance, Pendarren house, borough roads, parks, asset management, active life in parks, parking, walk bridges, place making and housing, Tottenham Hale green space and Council building.
• Officers added that it was difficult exercise to identify areas on where and how the Capital Programme could be reduced.
• It was noted that the new build developments were assumed to be self-financing through extra income streams.
• The Budget/MTFS report in March 2023 forecasted a gap for 2024/25 of c. £6.3m. The draft Budget presented to Cabinet on 5 December 2023 had a gap of £16.3m. The December gap had reduced to £5.9m which was proposed to be met from the Strategic Budget Planning reserve. Further work had been carried out to ensure the reductions which included corporate changes along with corporate growth. The corporate changes included treasury income improvements, reduction in inflation, improvements in the Council tax position, changes in grants, empty properties change and finally, the work done by each Directorate and portfolio holders in bringing forward savings. 
• In terms of reserves, the Committee noted that there was a small number of usable reserves which would give the Council £23million worth of availability. This included the General Fund and the £7million annual contingency fund.
• The Committee recommended that the budget would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

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11 March 2024

11 March 2024