Agenda item

The Chairman introduced the item and welcomed Chris Mayo, Assistant Director of Financial Management, and Andy Goodwin, Head of Strategic Finance, to the meeting for this item. Officers gave a summary of the report highlighting that this was the first of two budget reports that would be coming to the Select Committee in the 2023/24 municipal year. The scope of this report was to give strategic context to the budget setting process; later in the municipal year, the Committee would be receiving the detailed budget proposals for 2024/25. Following which, their feedback would be presented to Cabinet where Cabinet would be asked to approve the budget proposals to full Council.

Officers ran through the headlines in terms of the Council’s in-year monitoring position and set out the context of the Council’s approved budget strategy. Overall, for 2023/24 the Council was reporting a net underspend of £23k, however services within the remit of the Property, Highways & Transport portfolio were forecast to overspend by £51k with the overspend being driven by a slight pressure on recharge income against capital schemes. It was also noted that, overall, the single largest factor driving savings requirements was the exceptional inflation environment. However, it was also noted that, within the remit of the Property, Highways & Transport portfolio, there was only one exceptional inflation item being housing stock development and construction.

The Committee thanked officers for their hard work in monitoring the Council’s budgetary position and budget planning. It was commended that there were no items within the red category of the savings tracker under the Cabinet Member for Property, Highways & Transport’s portfolio; and the £303k in the amber two category were noted as being related to the reduction in the Civic Centre’s operating costs. The £736k within the amber one category was highlighted as being primarily linked to fees and charges income. Members praised officers in their sound financial management and doing exceptional work to protect frontline services. The Committee expressed their interest in receiving the in-depth budget setting report for 2024/25 at their January 2024 meeting.

Members also discussed the depth of efficiency savings that could be achieved whilst protecting frontline services and delivering services to the level expected by residents. Officers noted that the capacity of efficiency savings were difficult to determine through any snapshot of the Council’s financial position due to the progressive nature of efficiency savings. Efficiencies could be discovered and implemented at a point in the future where they could be applied without any detriment to services due to improvements in technologies, where those efficiencies would not currently be achieved without impacting services. It was highlighted that efficiencies were generally targeted in back office functions to protect those frontline services. The Committee noted the fluid nature of achieving efficiency savings and highlighted the difficult environment that all local authorities were facing in the drive to achieve efficiency savings.

RESOLVED: That the Property, Highways & Transport Select Committee noted the financial context in which the 2024/25 budget setting process will take place in advance of detailed savings proposals being developed and approved at Cabinet in December 2023.