Agenda and minutes

Apologies for non-attendance were received from Councillors Jim Hakewill, Steven North and Russell Roberts.

The Chair invited those who wished to do so to declare any interests in respect of items on the agenda.

No declarations of interest were made.

There were no requests to address the meeting.

The Chair presented the report which detailed the feedback from the budget scrutiny sessions which had been conducted on the Executive’s budget proposals for 2024/25.  The Committee was now requested to determine its representation to the Executive for consideration at the Executive meeting on 8^th February 2024.  The final budget proposals from the Executive would be forwarded to Full Council on 22^nd February 2024 for determination.

At its meeting on 21^st December 2023, the Executive set out its draft proposals for the Council’s budget 2024/25.  These draft proposals were submitted for public consultation, with the consultation period closing on 26^th January 2024.  As part of this consultation process, the Corporate Scrutiny Committee was invited to consider and scrutinise the draft budget proposals.

To assist the Committee in formulating its response, two phases of budget scrutiny sessions were timetabled through a Budget Scrutiny Panel.  Phase 1 consisted of seven sessions during November 2023 and included an early indication of key issues to be taken into account in the formulation of the draft 2024/25 budget proposals.  Phase 2 involved detailed scrutiny of the proposed budget and again took place over seven meetings between December 2023 and January 2024.

The Chair acknowledged that the scrutiny process had meant a lot of work for members.  She thanked Ben Smith, Head of Democratic Services and the support team for supporting the sessions and pulling the response together.  Thanks were also given to all service officers for their guidance and support and also to the Finance Team.

During discussion on the report, the following key points were made:

i.              Clarification was sought as to whether there was adequate funding to support schools to meet any RAAC requirements.  In response, it was confirmed that no schools had been flagged as having RAAC.  The Capital Programme contained a significant amount for schools.

ii.            It was noted with concern that the proposed pressure of £692k for domestic abuse funding was as a result of not knowing if government grant funding would continue.  The Leader and Portfolio Holder were encouraged to lobby for continued funding for domestic abuse.

iii.           It was stated that funding through the highways contract was rising and what safeguards were in place to stop prices continuing to rise. Kier were also now undertaking our flood work, along with verge maintenance and was this putting more pressure on them to deliver more things. In response, the Executive Director for Place and Economy clarified that the contract had a set price, with inflationary increases each year.  We were also investing more in maintaining our roads.  Due diligence had been undertaken on Kier during the contract process and they were a company with financial stability and resilience.  Checks would continue to be undertaken throughout the contract.

iv.           It was noted that for Place and Economy, 2024/25 would be a balanced budget but there would be pressures in the future.  Asked to identify the top pressures, officers confirmed that these included inflationary pressures, growth of population  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

The Chair thanked members and officers for their attendance and closed the meeting.

The meeting closed at 8.02pm.