Agenda item

To consider a report from the Head of Finance and Audit (copy attached) which seeks the Committee’s feedback on matters relating to the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy and Plan for the period 2025/26 to 2027/28, as well as on the Authority’s assessment of its financial resilience and sustainability.

10.45am – 11.30am

The Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Assets and Head of Finance and Audit presented the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and Plan (MTFP) report (previously circulated).    They advised members that the Committee would have a key role going forward in the budget and medium-term financial strategy/plan monitoring processes and that its views would be feedback to Cabinet.  The Lead Member provided an overview of what each appendix presented and invited questions from Committee members.

Responding to the questions raised the Lead Member and Head of Finance and Audit advised:

·   that in relation to how up to date the data presented was and whether real time data was available to elected members - embedding the new T1 finance management system would be a priority over the summer in order to ensuring it was working efficiently and effectively.  The Finance department were constantly looking at the balance sheets. There would be a further update on the savings made to date to the July Cabinet meeting. Unfortunately, there would always be a slight time lag in data due to time  required for preparing reports prior to publication deadlines.

·   that whilst Adult Social Care and Homelessness spend and savings figures were grouped together, because they were both under the same Head of Service, the Finance Service did hold individual figures for the separate service areas which could be shared with members. Individual service area figure would be shared during the upcoming workshops.  It was emphasised that Adult Social Care was the Council’s biggest area of spend because it was based on demand and the area had a large older people demographic profile, people were living longer therefore the demand on service increased.

·   that, in relation to the number of fora that discussed the contents of this particular report, this was a significant report which contained the details of the main barrier to the Council delivering its services and ambitions for the foreseeable future.  It was therefore imperative that all the Council’s main decision-making committees and operational groups had sight of it and fed-into the scrutiny of it.  The report was in the first instance presented to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), then Cabinet prior to Full Council approving it.  The Governance and Audit Committee had a role to play in ensuring that the Council had an adequate budget setting process in place, whilst Performance Scrutiny Committee’s role centred around budget and savings monitoring, early identification of slippages in order to formulate recommendations with a view to addressing those slippages.  As each committee/group had a different role to fulfil in relation the MTFS and MTFP its presentation to each one did not equate to the duplication of work

·   that arrangements were underway to hold a meeting with City, Town and Community Councils (CTCC) to update them on the budget position 

·   that with regards to the staff voluntary exit schemes and their impact on service delivery, vacancy controls were still in place.  Under the vacancy control policy any requests from managers/heads of services for staff recruitment were presented to the Corporate Executive Team (CET) for endorsement prior to advertising the posts.  Members registered concerns on whether these schemes had prompted other officers to leave the Authority’s employment in parallel but not via these schemes, as they felt that a lot of well-known officers within Denbighshire County Council were leaving in the near future which would result in a loss of knowledge and experience.  Members were concerned that the perceived high number of experienced staff leaving for a variety of reasons was an unintended negative consequence of the voluntary exit schemes.

·   that enquires would be made in relation to whether the estimated prediction of £700,000 from car parking fees was on target to be realised.

To conclude the discussion the Committee discussed what mitigating steps were being taken to make sure the Council set and delivered a balanced budget for the current year and in forthcoming years.  The Lead Members drew the Committee’s attention to Appendix 4, the MTFP, which outlined the process being followed.  Each service within the Council had been required to make savings, and in some instances some services have had to be cut, however this in the long term would not be a viable approach and this was the reason why the Budget and Transformation Board had been established with a view to exploring other budget saving options for the future, including alternative service delivery models.

Following an in-depth discussion, the Committee:

Resolved: 

(i)   that the above observations on the matters listed in paragraph 2.1 of the report be conveyed to Cabinet by the Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Assets along with the Head of Finance and Audit; and

(ii)  acknowledged its future role in the budget setting and Medium-Term Financial Strategy and Plan monitoring processes.

At this juncture the Committee adjourned for a 10-minute break.