Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission held on 17 October 2024.

It was agreed to amend the following sentence on page 2 of the minutes from:

“Following a meeting on 9th August 2024 with ICB Frimley and the MP for Bracknell Dr Sachdev agreed to schedule a further public meeting with Cllr M Forster to discuss residents concerns.” To

“Dr Sachdev agreed to schedule a further meeting with Cllr M Forster to discuss residents’ concerns.”

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Commission held on 17 October 2024 be approved, with the amendment as stated above, as a correct record, and signed by the Chair.

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interests and the nature of that interest, including the existence and nature of the party whip, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

Any Member with an Affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting.  There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest or indications that members would be participating while under the party whip.

There were no items of urgent business.

No submissions had been made by members of the public under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

However, it was noted information had been received from a resident regarding the local government and social care ombudsman annual letter that was considered at the October commission. However, the individual had dealt with the matter an alternative way. A review of the public participation scheme for the commission and any updates would be provided at a future date.

To consider the budget update report that was presented to Cabinet on 15 October 2024 which provides an update on the current year’s predicted spending against budget and an outline of future financial prospects.

Stuart McKellar, Executive Director: Resources will present the budget update to the Commission

The Chair of the Commission welcomed the Executive Director: Resources to the meeting, who provided an overview of the current year’s budget position and forecasting for the next year. The following points were noted:

·         Last year saw a £1.2million overspend due to issues affecting all local authorities, including increasing demand, high inflation costs and a poor economic outlook.

·         Increased demand in service provision had seen a projected overspend in the 2024/25 budget earlier in the year of between £500,000 and £3.5million. The reason for the margin included the variation from core predicted variances to a position including emerging issues that constituted additional risks.

·         Actions taken by senior leaders had already reduced the potential overspend to between £300,000 to £2.7million.

·         Continuation of actions to remedy the overspend meant next weeks’ monitoring report to the Corporate Management Team included a core variance showing an underspend position with an overspend up to £1million including emerging issues.

·         It was acknowledged the biggest reason for the improved forecast was that senior leaders were tightly controlling all recruitment for agency and permanent members of staff.

·         The Council was also endeavouring to employ as many permanent members of staff as possible to ensure a stable workforce and reduce reliance on agency staff.

A discussion about budget prospects took place and the following points were noted:

·         73% of the Council’s budget was spent on statutory services including adult social care, children’s social care and waste collection and disposal.

·         Essential roles were continuing to be filled so there should not be any impact felt by residents about decisions taken so far to manage spending. If any significant changes to services were required these changes would be brought to Cabinet for consideration first.

·         While there was no immediate impact on residents due to the Council holding an ‘overdraft’ for the Dedicated Schools Grant, the statutory override permitting this approach was due to run out on 31^st March 2026. This would impact all upper tier authorities, so it was hoped the Government would look to address this issue before the deadline.

·         It was noted the withdrawal of the winter fuel payment for elderly residents was removed after the Council had set its budget, but the housing support fund was available for eligible households, and the Council had a welfare support team reaching out to at risk residents.

The second part of the report set out the projected budget and modelled a scenario that showed a budget gap of £5.5million in the medium term. This modelling was undertaken prior to the 30^th October Budget announcement and assumed resources would remain similar in the year ahead, which now felt overly optimistic.

·         Inflationary changes were expected as a result of the Budget that would impact on a number of services, including leisure and social care. Leaders were anticipating demands from partners for increased funding. Bracknell Forest Council was working with neighbouring authorities to ensure compensation for providers for increasing costs would be similar, so that no authority would be unable to place  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Improvement, Councillor Neil, has been invited to give an account of performance within the Corporate Performance Overview Report (CPOR) related to this portfolio.

Presentation to follow.

The Chair of the Commission welcomed Cllr Neil, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Improvement to the meeting.

The following points were noted during Cllr Neil’s presentation:

·         The Council’s financial sustainability remained a significant risk on the risk register.

·         Single year financial settlements created a lack of sustainability.

·         Cllr Neil thanked members of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission who had attended the Governance and Audit Committee the previous evening, which reviewed the financial risks in depth.

·         In year actions to stabilise the budget had improved the financial budget and the corporate improvement programme, which had been going for six months, aimed to drive savings and efficiencies.

·         The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) programme was delivering actions contained in the Written Statement of Action and Safety Valve proposals.

·         The College Hall Pupil Referral Unit had been closed, despite some hurdles, with projected savings of over £300,000 this year and £1million next year.

·         Savings had been gained from restructuring tuition services to a new operating model.

·         The Sandhurst special resource unit had opened and was resulting in a saving of £30,000 per pupil year.

·         Rising costs of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) presented challenges to progress.

·         The Procurement Act changes had been brought into the Corporate Improvement Programme as the timescales were challenging.

·         The workforce programme aimed to cut £1million annually from spending on agency workers. It was expected that £1.5million savings would be realised this year, with £0.4million cash savings by moving agency staff to permanent positions.

·         The consultation approach to this year’s budget would continue to focus on resident involvement and prioritising plain English when talking about the budget.

Following a discussion the points below were noted:

·         It was important to inform residents about how their Council Tax was spent and what the big pressures were for the Council.

·         The six Berkshire councils’ Section 151 officers, and cabinet members for finance, had sent a signed letter to MPs regarding what they felt could be done differently at a local level.

·         It was acknowledged that, as a new town, a number of the Council’s assets were coming to the end of their life.

·         It was agreed Cllr Neil would provide a written response to the question about the impact of changes to the dispersal of business rates in the future.

·         Borrowing was not a preferred option but would need to be considered dependent on the funding settlement.

·         Figures against the change programme would need to be realised to keep within budget.

The following recommendations to Cabinet were agreed:

·         That the Council measures the impact of early intervention and prevention as a priority.

·         That the Council identifies whether there is an option to speak to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) about the implications of new town asset degradation.

·         That the Council fully engages with the white paper consultation on local government reorganisation.

Overview and Scrutiny Panel Chairs to provide verbal updates on the work programme and highlight any proposed changes such as scope, scheduling or duration.

Updates were provided by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel chairs/vice chairs and the following points were noted:

Education, Skills and Growth Overview and Scrutiny Panel

The chair of the ES&G panel, Councillor Watts, updated the Commission about progress on the transition from education to employment review, which was on track.

Environment and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel

The vice chair of the E&C panel, Councillor Forster, informed the Commission that the scope for the panel’s next review on housing had been drafted and would be brought to a meeting of the panel for approval.

Health and Care Panel Overview and Scrutiny Panel

The vice chair of the H&C panel, Councillor Webb, provided a comprehensive update about health provision affecting the residents of Bracknell Forest. This included an update on the agenda for the next Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Frimley Park Hospital taking place on  22^nd November and the fact the rebuild of Royal Berkshire Hospital had been put on hold.

The Chair of the Commission, Cllr Pickering requested a change to the work programme as set out below:

·         RESOLVED that the Health and Care O&S Panel carry out a review into Ringmead GP Surgery in six months’ time to monitor progress against their actions, following their CQC report.