Agenda item

The Chair, Cllr Jason Smithers invited the Chair of the Finance and Resources Scrutiny Committee (F&RSC), Cllr Mark Pengelly to present the committee’s budget consultation submission following the conclusion of the process to scrutinise the Council’s draft budget for 2022/23.

It was noted that the F&RSC had met with Executive members and officers of each directorate across eight task and finish group meetings (two per directorate) between 6^th and 24^th January 2022 in order to scrutinise the budget. In total, the meetings had provided over 19 hours of scrutiny.

Cllr Pengelly thanked all those who had taken part in the scrutiny process, noting the difficulty involved in producing a balanced budget as a new authority while facing Covid-19 pressures alongside uncertainty regarding central government funding in the medium-term, the Council having received a settlement figure for only one year. Cllr Pengelly also stated that full scrutiny of the budget had been difficult to achieve in the timescales available to the committee and requested that the process commence earlier in future years.

Cllr Pengelly recognised the efforts made by the Council in publicising the budget consultation but felt that adoption of a Consultation Policy would enable more effective engagement with residents in future.

Cllr Pengelly referenced a number of aspects of the draft budget and recommendations made by the F&RSC during the scrutiny process as set out below:

·         Staffing; a number of unresolved issues had been inherited from legacy councils, with particular focus on the use of agency staff and staff retention

·         Utility costs;  an initial assumption across directorates that utility costs would increase by an average of 15% was deemed optimistic, and although this figure had since been adjusted to 40%, the Executive was asked to consider whether this figure was sufficient

·         Children’s Trust Budget Setting; the F&RSC wished to have greater input and meaningful consultation regarding the budget-setting proposals and would undertake scrutiny on this area far earlier in the process

·         There remained a case for new children’s home in the county to reduce the impact on children and costs associated with “out of county” placements

·         Legacy charging anomalies relating to car parking and green waste required harmonisation

·         Highways Contract; the F&RSC requested updates regarding the formation of a dedicated client team to oversee the new highways contract

·         Chester House; the F&RSC required greater understanding of the capital spend associated with the project

·         Further information and explanation be provided to the F&RSC regarding variances in void property turnarounds across the two Housing Revenue Accounts

·         Capital Programme; only areas which could be developed in the next financial year should be shown, those for future spend could be identified accordingly

·         The Council’s scrutiny committees required a dedicated scrutiny officer to provide administrative support, with this issue needing to be resolved as a matter of urgency.

The Chair thanked Cllr Pengelly for his presentation and the Finance and Resources Scrutiny Committee for their diligence and understanding in relation to the complexities and challenges faced within the budget, and for recognising the improvements made by the Council since 1^st April 2021.

Cllr Smithers appreciated the recommendations made by the Finance and Resources Scrutiny Committee and noted that many of the issues identified during the scrutiny process were already being addressed. The Chair provided verbal responses to each of the points raised above by Cllr Pengelly and stated that a full written response on each aspect of the recommendations would be provided.

Cllrs Harrison, Mercer, Lawman, Brackenbury, Pentland, Edwards and Howell welcomed the comments and recommendations of the Finance and Resources Scrutiny Committee and responded to points raised by Cllr Pengelly in relation to their own directorates.

The Chair concluded by stating that the Executive and Council as a whole valued positive, relevant scrutiny and noted that the scrutiny of the Council’s initial budget setting process was a milestone for the organisation.