Agenda and draft 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 Agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda front sheet, in respect of filming at meetings, and Members noted the information therein.

Apologies for lateness were received from Cllr Makbule Gunes.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with at item 9 below).

None.

None.

It was noted that, following the questions from Nazarella Scianguetta about disabled accessibility in the Borough at the meeting of the Committee on 20^th October 2025, several applications for deputations had been made and accepted for the round of Scrutiny Panel meetings commencing from 15^th December 2025.

To receive and note the minutes of joint meetings between the Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel and the Children & Young People’s Scrutiny Panel on the subject of the Council’s Transitions Programme. These meetings were held on:

-       10^th June 2025

-       28^th May 2024

Cllr White informed the Committee that there were two sets of minutes to note from joint meetings of the Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel and the Children & Young People’s Scrutiny Panel which were held on 28^th May 2024 and 10^th June 2025 and had not previously been considered by the Committee.

Cllr Connor requested that the actions from the joint meetings should be clearly summarised at the end of the minutes in future and that an action tracker from the two previous meetings should be provided so that the responses to the actions could be monitored by the Panel Members. (ACTION)

To consider the report on the Council’s financial position at the end of Quarter 2 of 2025/26.

The report included with this item was first published as part of the agenda papers for the Cabinet meeting on 9^th December 2025.

Cllr Dana Carlin, Cabinet Member for Finance & Corporate Services, introduced the Quarter 2 update report for the Council’s 2025/26 financial forecast which projected an overspend of £23.4m. This was an improvement of £10.7m since Quarter 1 and this included a substantial reduction in the overspend on Adult Social Services and Temporary Accommodation. Officers had been working to reduce spend wherever possible including through spending control panels and tight controls on staffing, including a reduction in the use of agency staff. Cllr Carlin also reported:

·       An increase in the cost to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) of dealing with cases of damp and mould.

·       That the Council’s capital programme was under constant review in order to balance for need for infrastructure in the Borough with the need to reduce expenditure. Priority capital investment would continue, particularly where it would save on future revenue costs.

·       72% of the Council’s forecast services spend was on adult services, children’s services and temporary accommodation. These were areas where the Council had a statutory responsibility to provide support to those who were eligible. In particular, she emphasised the high number of elderly people living in poverty in the Borough.

Cllr Carlin and Taryn Eves, Corporate Director of Finance & Resources, then responded to questions from the Committee:

·       Cllr White noted the ongoing concerns with the size of the budget gap and the additional burden of financing this that would be added to revenue expenditure in future years. He also noted that only £3.8m out of the £10.7m of improvements to the projected overspend could be attributed to the services and requested further details on other factors, including over £5.2m of improvements attributed to ‘External Finance’. Taryn Eves explained that this included a revised forecast for corporate budgets and the interest received on this as well as reduced interest payments from lower capital spend than had been budgeted for. It also included an accumulated surplus from the collection fund of Council Tax and Business Rates which had now been brought into the revenue position in order to reduce reliance on EFS rather than a reserve fund which might previously have been the preferred option. She added that the £5.2m should be regarded as a one-off in-year benefit rather than something that could also be budgeted for in future years.

·       Cllr Carlin commented that it was reassuring to see some overall improvement in Q2 as there had been constant deterioration in the quarterly updates in the previous year, particularly in areas such as adult social care and temporary accommodation.

·       Cllr White highlighted the importance of borrowing and investments as a way of improving the Council’s financial position, noting that much of the focus in discussions had been on savings and preventing overspending. Taryn Eves agreed on the importance of long-term financial planning to get to a more sustainable position, particularly given that such a large proportion of the Council’s budget was focused on meeting statutory responsibilities.

·       Cllr Connor requested further details on unbudgeted additional bad debt provision referred to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

To receive an update on progress against savings under the remit of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee that were approved in previous years but are being implemented during the forthcoming MTFS period.

Report to follow.

Cllr Connor chaired the Committee for this item as it related to the proposals for the Budget 2026/27 and MTFS (Medium-Term Financial Strategy) for 2026/27 to 2030/31.

Cllr Connor explained that the purpose of this item was to receive an update on the progress of savings under the remit of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee which had been approved in previous years but were being implemented during the forthcoming MTFS period. She commented that, because these were often multi-year savings and that the table showed only the current MTFS years from 2026/27 to 2030/31, it would be helpful in future for the table to include information about any part of the savings which had already been achieved in the years prior to the MTFS period. Taryn Eves said that a 2025/26 column could be inserted into the table. (ACTION) Taryn Eves commented that this was not new information and, because these savings had previously been agreed, they had been shown as a single line in the recent Budget papers and this additional table provided a more detailed breakdown of that line.

The Committee then raised questions about specific items in the table:

• Asked by Cllr Connor about the reduction in Housing Benefit costs (Corporate & Customer Services), Taryn Eves explained that £3.5m had been added to the budget for this in 2025/26 and the aim was to reverse this growth by £1m in 2026/27 and then a further £2m in 2028/29. This was why it was classified as an ‘Other Adjustment’ as opposed to a new saving. However, the £1m reversal for 2026/27 could now no longer be achieved and so this had been reintroduced as a budget pressure in the 2026/27 budget proposals. The proposed saving of £2m in 2028/29 would need to be kept under review with three further budget rounds to take place before this point. Cllr Carlin reiterated that it had previously been expected that the Council would no longer be administering Housing Benefit due to the transition over to Universal Credit. However, it had since become apparent that some groups, such as those in supported exempt accommodation, were remaining on Housing Benefit with some complicated cases still being administered by the Council.
• Asked by Cllr Connor about the reduced cost of internal audit contracts, Taryn Eves explained that the current contact with Mazars was due to end in February and it was forecast that a small saving could be made by competitively re-tendering.
• Cllr Connor referred to the Asset Management savings/income growth (Capital Projects & Property) of £450k in 2026/27 and £300k in 2027/28. She compared these to the £350k savings/income growth for asset management in 2025/26 set out in Appendix 4 of the Q2 Finance Update report (page 75 of the main agenda pack). After some clarification of the figures, it was understood that marginally higher improvements were anticipated in 2026/27 compared to 2025/26.
• Asked by Cllr Connor about the agreed savings on Digital Transformation (Digital & Change), Taryn Eves clarified that previous budget report had forecast savings  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

To note the current 2025/26 work programme for the Committee and to propose any amendments as required.

Cllr White then resumed the chairing of the meeting.

Cllr White reminded the Committee that the final budget meeting of the Committee would take place on 19^th January. The following meeting on 12^th February was reserved for non-finance items with only ‘worklessness’ pencilled in so far with other suggestions required for this meeting.

In view of the heavy agenda for the 19^th January 2026 meeting, the possibility of an earlier start time was discussed with Committee members indicating they could be available by 6pm at the earliest. However, as the Treasury Management training usually took place before the meeting, Dominic O’Brien, Scrutiny Officer, said that he would look into the scheduling of the training and then agree a start time for the Committee meeting in consultation with the Chair. (ACTION)

Committee Members requested that paper copies of the agenda be distributed to them by post in advance of future Committee meetings. (ACTION)

• Mon 19^th Jan 2026 (7pm)
• Thurs 12^th Feb 2026 (7pm)
• Wed 11^th Mar 2026 (7pm)

-       Mon 19^th Jan 2025 (7pm)

-       Thurs 12^th Feb 2026 (7pm)

-       Wed 11^th Mar 2026 (7pm)