Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors: Ian Jelley, Steven North and Richard Levell. Councillor Scott Brown was in attendance, as a substitute.

No declarations were received.

The Committee considered a report by The Executive Director of Finance, which set out the Budget Forecast 2022/23 as at Period 9 and was presented to Executive at its meeting on 16^th February 2023.

During discussion, the principal points were noted:

·         Members queried whether there had been any movement in relation to contingency funds.

·         One member queried what happened to outstanding amounts of uncollected Council Tax and questioned whether it had been written off as ‘bad debt’.

·         One member queried where contingency funding could be accessed from, should the Council’s contingency budget be exhausted, and unforeseen circumstances were to arise.

·         Members queried how usage of Council reserves would be recorded.

·         Members queried how and when The Northamptonshire Children’s Trust (NCT) would receive payment of £6m, for its overspend budget position.

·         Members queried how payment of contingency funding to address the NCT’s overspend had been split between North and West Northamptonshire Councils.

In response, The Executive Director of Finance clarified that:

·         The contingency budget remained at the same level as previous budget monitoring periods.

·         Tax collection was carried over to the following financial year as either a surplus or a deficit. This had been monitored as part of an annual analysis of collection. Council tax could only be written off should collection from an individual not be deemed possible.

·         In the event that the Council’s contingency budget was exhausted, and it required emergency funding, it would have to use its reserves to address any additional overspend.  

·         The usage of Council reserves would form part of the overspend on the budget position.

·         Additional funding for the NCT would be paid through contract adjustments. Overspend positions by the Trust were closely scrutinised, as The Strategic Commissioning Group met monthly. 

·         The cost of the NCT’s budget overspend was split proportionally between North and West Northamptonshire Councils, based upon services rendered.

RESOLVED that: The report be noted.

The Committee considered a report by The Executive Director of Finance, which set out the Capital Forecast 2022/23 as at Period 9 and was presented to Executive at its meeting on 16^th February 2023.

RESOLVED that: The report be noted.

The Committee considered a verbal update by The Assistant Chief Executive, concerning future scrutiny of Council ICT.

A sub-committee was formed to carry out a scrutiny review of ICT, comprised of the following members:

·         Councillor Mark Pengelly

·         Councillor Mark Rowley

·         Councillor Ken Harrington

·         Councillor King Lawal

·         Councillor Scott Brown

·         Councillor William Colquhoun

·         Councillor Charlie Best

RESOLVED that:

a)    The verbal update be noted.

b)    The ICT scrutiny review sub-committee be established.

The meeting closed at 7:40pm.