Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Val Evans and Cllr Simon Bennett.

Cllr Gillian Wildman was substituting for Cllr Val Evans. 

[To receive any declarations of interest]. 

Cllr Phil Bateman MBE declared a non-pecuniary interest in relation to Ashmore Park and Phoenix Nursery Schools Federation, as it was referred to in the paper on the item Performance and Budget Outturn 2022-2023. 

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.]

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2023 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

[To consider the Cabinet report outlining the Council’s outturn position for 2022-2023 compared with approved budgets and targets and performance update against the Relighting Our City priorities].

The Director of Finance and the Director of Strategy introduced the Performance and Budget Outturn 2022-2023 report. 

The Director of Finance stated that the Council continued to demonstrate effective budget management and delivered within the budget last year, despite hugely challenging circumstances.  The Council had responded to in year emerging pressures, particularly on inflation and pay.  They were able to implement the agreed strategy to contribute to essential earmarked reserves.  The outturn for last year was in line with the budget strategy.  The Housing Revenue account for last year was also balanced overall but this was after in year adjustments which were made to reflect emerging pressures, largely due to inflation.

The Director of Strategy commented that the report integrated the financial information with the wider performance reporting.  Assessment of performance took a variety of means.  It was not just indicators but also assessment of external bodies such as Ofsted as well as vigorous assessment through internal and external audit functions.  Risk management had been integrated into the report, with the Strategic Risk Register included.  There were 49 indicators in the report, of which 40 were showing sustained or improved performance.  A summary of those areas was included in paragraph 3.9 of the report, with the detail included in Appendix 1.

The Vice-Chair referred to the overspend in the Homeless Budget.  He stated that the report had referred to an increase in referrals and asked where the pressure was coming from.  He asked what was being done to mitigate the increase.  The Director of Finance responded that there were low levels of homelessness in the City, but there were significant referrals for accommodation and temporary accommodation.  This is what was leading to the pressure.  The Chief Operating Officer referred to a breakdown in relationships and people not being able to afford the accommodation they were previously in as some of the reasons why accommodation had to be found.  Officers agreed to send a further written response in answer to the question.  A Panel Member referred to the fact that homelessness and rough sleeping were two different categories. 

A Panel Member asked a question about the Council principle of, Driven by Digital and the need to think of those were not adept in the use of digital technology.  The Director of Strategy gave a detailed response on the Council’s Digital Strategy and reassured the Panel Member that people would still be able to access Council services in a non-digital way. 

The Vice-Chair raised a concern that a savings target in the Regeneration Directorate of £152,000 had not been achieved.  The Regeneration Directorate had a 9% overspend.  Communications had a 6% overspend.  This ultimately meant there was less money for resident services.  Savings need to made so the money could be reinvested, he felt the Council needed to increase its efforts. 

A Panel Member raised a concern that when footage had been provided of fly tippers it had not always been followed up by the Council.  The Chief Operating Officer stated that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

[To consider the latest Forward Plan of Key Decisions]. 

The Vice-Chair asked why there was no reference to hotels on the Forward Plan of Key Decisions. The Chief Operating Officer stated the application by Wetherspoons did not involve any Council funding and so therefore the matter would go to Planning Committee in the normal way.  Hotels as a general item was listed on the Economy and Growth Scrutiny Panel Work Plan for November.  If there was to be a Cabinet decision in relation to hotels, it would first come as a pre-decision scrutiny item. 

A Panel Member asked for Officers to consider how the Scrutiny Work Programme could be communicated to all Members.  The Scrutiny Officer suggested it could be sent out as part of the weekly Councillor email, when there had been significant changes made. 

[To consider the latest Scrutiny Work Programme]. 

The Vice-Chair commented that he was hoping to see more pre-decision Scrutiny in the Municipal year.  He added that he thought the five years Event Strategy was an item he felt should come before Scrutiny.  The Creation Day Festival was another item he suggested be added to the Work Programme.  He was very concerned with some of the elements he had read about in the local newspaper.  The Chief Operating Officer stated that the Creation Festival could be added to the Economy and Growth Scrutiny Panel Work Programme, it was not able to be added at the present time due to legal discussions.  The Five-year Event Strategy had not been received at Cabinet due to the passing of the Leader.  It would come before the Economy and Growth Scrutiny Panel in September.

The Vice-Chair stressed the importance of Scrutiny and how it had been an important feature of the most recent 3 day Local Government Association (LGA) Conference.  Scrutiny led to better decision making in the long-term. 

The Chair stated that he had asked for proposals on a Scrutiny Review Group on the Night-time economy and a second one on Flooding to be brought to Scrutiny Board in the future.  He referred to previous scrutiny work on the Night-time economy and considered that this would be good to review as part of the remit of the group. 

A Panel Member referred to a group she had Chaired on the lower sector of private housing.  She felt standards still needed to be improved and was unsure of the impact the Scrutiny Group had ultimately had in their recommendations.  She agreed with the Chair that it was important to review progress when Scrutiny Review Groups had made recommendations.  She acknowledged that licensing was now being introduced to Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMOs).  

The Chair of the Climate Change, Housing and Communities Scrutiny Panel commented that Private Sector Housing had been received at the last meeting of the Panel.  Licensing had been discussed and a further report would be brought in the future. 

The meeting closed at 5:52pm.