Agenda and draft minutes

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The Chair referred Members present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein’.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Ali. Cllr Adamou joined online.

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 as noted below).   

The Chair informed the Panel of the item of urgent business in relation to item 8, Community Safety and Hate Crime Strategy. The Cabinet Member Community Safety and Cohesion had advised on the need for further engagement with members on the final strategy. The Panel were informed that an all-member briefing session would be arranged for early January 2024 to allow all members to consider and comment on the Strategy. As this was a budget and policy framework document, the Chair had been advised by Democratic services that the strategy can go to Scrutiny  in February to still reach full council in March.

RESOLVED:
To defer the Community Safety and Hate Crime Strategy  to the 27^th of February meeting.

None.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED:

To agree the Minutes of the meeting of the Climate, Community Safety and Culture Panel held on the 6^th of November 2023 were agreed subject to amendment of the term  ‘Doctor Bike’ to ‘Dockless Bikes’ on the item work programme update.

The Chair informed the Panel that in this item they would be compiling recommendations on the budget concerning Climate and Community areas of the budget, in line with the terms of reference of the Panel and Scrutiny protocol.

The Chair highlighted the process for considering the budget papers and compiling recommendations  which was as follows:

-       John O’Keefe, Head of Finance (Capital, Place and Economy) to provide a short overview of the main budget and key considerations.

-       The Chair would then take any questions from the Panel on the introductory information. The Chair would then take the Panel through each appendix separately, with Cabinet members and officers introducing and commenting on the information contained in the appendices, then there would b Panel questions, leading to  recommendations from the Panel.

The following points were noted in the discussion:

Appendix 1 – Scrutiny Role:

Appendix 1 set out the  key lines of enquiry that have been  compiled r to help members  identify  areas to make recommendations.

·         The Chair advised that the Panel members refer to Appendix 1 page 25 to 26 which set out the key lines of enquiry for budget setting, when making recommendations and asking questions.

Appendix 2 – 2024/25 Draft Budget and 2024/2029 Medium Term Financial Strategy Report:

NOTED  that Appendix 2  set out the details of the 2024/25 Draft Budget and the 2024/2029 MTFS, the draft HRA Budget 2024/25 and its draft Business Plan including estimated income (funding) and expenditure adjustments, as well as the draft capital programme for both funds.

John O’Keefe gave a brief introduction, advising that in Quarter 2 the  overallthe General Fund was  forecasted to overspend £20.8 Million. The overspend had been predominantly in Adult Care Services and Childrens services  and Temporary Accommodation. These pressures have been incorporated into the2024/25 budget. Additional growth had been built into the 2024/25 budget to deal with these demands.  The following was noted  in discussion

·         Small overspend in Q2 in areas that concern the Panel, these were Libraries and Facilities Management. In the context of the overall budget, this was not a significant overspend.

·         As of the 5^th of December, budget gap of £16.3m, despite significant saving against the backdrop of an unprecedented situation of inflation, interest rates, demand for services. Officers and the Cabinet continued to work on options to reduce the budget gap ahead of February 2024 budget approval. Panel members were informed that a budget gap of this size had not been unusual. Though formal benchmarking  exercise had not been undertakenhowever informally it was believed that other local authorities were facing challenges, and the Council were not an outlier.

·         March 2023 – December 2023: Capital Programme had been reduced by £396m.

·         Mixture of savings and income generation in this area, predominantly income generation sits in the review of fees and charges in parking. Operational changes in Library services with £0.67m savings and other savings which total to £2.1m savings.

·         Overspend on Facilities Management for the current year: due to transfer of staff in-house,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The work programme was noted.

To consider any items admitted at item 3 above.

No new items of urgent business.

27 February 2023

The date of the next meeting is 27^th February 2023.