Agenda item

Report by the Chief Executive and Director of Finance and Support Services.

Each of the Scrutiny Committee Chairman will be invited to speak for up to three minutes to provide the views of their Committee on respective parts of the Quarter 4 Performance and Resources Report.

Each of the main Minority Group Leaders will be invited to speak for up to three minutes on the Quarter 4 Performance and Resources Report.

The Cabinet will then discuss the report prior to taking any decision.

Following consideration of the report, the Cabinet resolved to:

1.   Agree the allocation of £3.406m from Contingency Budgets to fund the 2021/22 staffing pay award as set out in paragraph 2.1.

2.   Agree the allocation of the unused £4.969m Contingency Budget and £0.597m revenue underspend as set out in paragraph 2.2.

3.   Agree the proposed changes to the Key Performance Indicator measures detailed in Annex C.

The call-in deadline is 29 July 2022.

8.1         Cabinet considered a report by the Chief Executive and Director of Finance and Support Services. The report was introduced by Cllr Jeremy Hunt, Cabinet Member for Finance and Property who outlined the outturn for 2021/22, pressures, capital projects and other expenditure. Katharine Eberhart, Director of Finance and Support Services said that the year had ended in a positive position and, whilst there is uncertainty, the council is in a good financial position to deal with challenges. Sarah Sturrock, Assistant Chief Executive advised of the achievements in relation to performance with 70% of measures reaching their targets achieved through an integrated planning and budget approach to deliver the council plan.

8.2         Cllr Garry Wall, Chairman of the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee advised of concerns about cost pressures in meeting the ‘front door’ demand for care services, inflationary pressures and the future impact of the social care levy. Issues around health inequality and childhood obesity were raised, but the report and work across all departments were well received by the Committee.

8.3         Cllr Andrew Baldwin, Vice-Chairman of the Children and Young Peoples Services Scrutiny Committee noted that, whilst the indicator for young people not in education, employment or training was improving, there is still work to do, as is the case for children in need and child protection plans. The challenges with recruiting social workers and residential staff were raised, as was the level of support for schools with children with Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs).

8.4         Cllr Kevin Boram, Chairman of the Fire and Rescue Service Scrutiny Committee highlighted the improved performance in the service although there were concerns about the number of safe and well visits completed. The Committee will continue to monitor the function of the joint fire control centre, as well as establishing a Task and Finish Group to look at the retained Firefighter role. Pressure on staff availability was raised by the Committee.

8.5         Cllr David Britton, Chairman of the Communities, Highways and Environment Scrutiny Committee raised the benefits of the Community Hub and suggested that these positive outcomes were recorded in the PRR going forward. The committee acknowledged pressures on service delivery and procurement, the reduction of income across the bus network post-Covid and the staff recruitment issues in registration services particularly. The increase in investment in Highways and Transport was welcomed.

8.6         Cllr Richard Burrett, Vice-Chairman of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee said the Committee was pleased with the level of performance across the key indicators given the financial limitations faced by the council. The Committee recognised the challenge with staff recruitment. The committee requested variance information be included in the PRR to show the impact on Capital Programme projects in view of the level of inflation and also asked the Cabinet Member for Support Services and Economic Development to consider whether care leavers should be prioritised for apprenticeships with the council.

8.7         Cllr Caroline Baxter, Leader of the Labour Group welcomed the significant improvements but saw risks through lack of investment. Cllr Baxter highlighted the disparity between the pay award for staff and the rate of inflation and was concerned about staff morale. She said that some KPIs in the highways and transport portfolio had shown little sign of improvement and the Dedicated Schools Grant deficit was a concern. Cllr Baxter requested further lobbying of Government for additional funding to support services and increase their resilience.

8.8         The following points were made by Cabinet Members in discussion:

Ø  Cllr Jacquie Russell, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People advised the service was undertaking some benchmarking with good and outstanding authorities in relation to Child Protection Plans to see where targets should be set and encouraged dual-hatted councillors to promote apprenticeships for care leavers. Placement costs is the biggest pressure for the service and the recruitment and retention of social workers remained a challenge nationally.

Ø  Cllr Steve Waight, Cabinet Member for Support Services and Economic Development advised the indicators contained in the workforce information did not show demotivation of staff or signal low morale and he paid tribute to staff for their continuing hard work and dedication throughout challenging circumstances.

Ø  Cllr Bob Lanzer, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing advised pay negotiations were made at a national level. Emerging census data and a review of the Health and Wellbeing strategy made a case for reviewing KPIs.

Ø  Cllr Nigel Jupp, Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills thanked schools and staff for their dedication in achieving improvement. Home to school transport remained a pressure for the service

Ø  Cllr Joy Dennis, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport highlighted that over 95% of work in the service delivery programme had been achieved and within the budget envelope. More work is required to improve highways defects and a Task and Finish Group is looking at road safety to reduce the number of road traffic accidents. Inflation and supply issues are a growing challenge.

Ø  Cllr Amanda Jupp, Cabinet Member for Adults Services thanked teams for their performance throughout a period of unprecedented demand. Pressures on the service will increase into 2022/23 and adequate funding will be crucial.  

Ø  Cllr Paul Marshall, Leader of the Council advised that, throughout a challenging backdrop, the council has worked collectively with partners, improved in many areas, including governance and working arrangements, and been able to invest whilst retaining financial resilience which is a big achievement.

8.9         Cllr Jeremy Hunt summarised it had been a challenging year, but that the council had increased investment in frontline services for residents year on year. The next step would be to consider savings options for the difficulties ahead and there will shortly be a budget update at an all-member briefing.

8.10            Resolved – that Cabinet has now:

1.   Considered the Q4 Performance and Resources Report including: 

·       The 2021/22 Our Council Plan- performance indicators, risk register summary and workforce key performance indicators.

·       The continued impact the Covid-19 emergency situation has on the Council’s performance and financial resilience.

·        The impact of increasing inflationary pressures and the general downbeat economic forecast over the short-to-medium term.

·       Review the effectiveness of measures taken to manage the Council’s financial position and any non-delivery of identified savings.

2.   Agreed the allocation of £3.406m from Contingency Budgets to fund the 2021/22 staffing pay award as set out in paragraph 2.1.

3.   Agreed the allocation of the unused £4.969m Contingency Budget and £0.597m revenue underspend as set out in paragraph 2.2.

4.   Agreed the proposed changes to the Key Performance Indicator measures detailed in Annex C.