Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the Meeting held on the 20 December 2018 were held as a true and accurate record subject to the amendment of the attendance record to reflect Councillor Kate Thomas’ apologies as she was in attendance of the meeting.

The Head of Finance introduced a brief overview of the budget process and advised that the budget was built upon the Medium Term Financial Plan, using key assumptions to update the MTFP where needed. The Officer informed the Committee that there was a growing demand in the Social Care and Education service areas, which required adjustments to be made.  A cash limit budget had been drafted in summer 2018 for the 2019/2020 financial year. The Strategic Directors and Heads of Service were then given a specific total budget target for the year and Officers were required to provide their service within that specific budget. The Senior Officers were made aware of the cash budgets in early autumn and conversations were held with Cabinet Members to establish areas where savings might be made. The business cases were then decided upon and the formal processes for Cabinet Member decisions and public consultations begun.

This was the same process the Authority had used over the previous few years, and was a process that ran year round. The main challenge faced by the finance team was the medium term view, but officers were constantly engaged in conversations with service areas to add clarity and understanding to the assumptions and plans for the future.

The Head of Finance explained that it was difficult but not impossible to plan for the future. To be able to accurately understand the impact of pressures and savings on the budget, the Council was constantly reviewing and refining its assumptions. This was made more difficult by one off payments and grants that were made available throughout the year. In the previous year a one off payment was made available for schools, and during the next financial year a one off payment would be made available for Social Care. This allowed the Council to expedite some of the savings needed, but also made it difficult to plan.

The Head of Finance explained that when creating the budget proposals and business cases the Officers had to make certain assumptions, based on the most detailed information available to them. The finance team were also involved in any discussions around income generation if that would be an intended outcome of the business case.

The Members asked the following questions and received the following responses from the Officers:

• The Committee were concerned at the level of detail in the business cases. The Head of Finance explained that they needed to be selective with what information made it to the business cases to ensure that it was only the most essential information being used in the business case for consultation. There had always been information that was used in creating and writing the business cases that was deemed unnecessary, but that did not mean it was not important to the Officers. Business cases were designed to be as concise as possible. 

The Committee felt that this was unacceptable and stated that for the public to make an informed decision on an issue they would need as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

a)      Forward Work Programme Update (Appendix 1)

b)      Actions Arising (Appendix 2)

c)      Referral letter (Appendix 3)

Scrutiny Adviser Reports

Attendees:

• Daniel Cooke – Scrutiny Adviser

a)            Forward Work Programme

The Scrutiny Adviser presented the forward work programme, and informed the Committee of the topics due to be discussed at the next two meetings:

7 March 2019

18 April 2019

b) Actions Arising

The Committee requested that the action sheet is included alongside the minutes in future agendas.

The Committee noted the action sheet provided containing one action from the previous meeting which is still outstanding. Scrutiny Adviser will chase an update before the meeting.

c) Scrutiny Topic Referral Letter

The Scrutiny Adviser presented the Scrutiny Topic Referral Letter from the Regulatory Services Manager – Environment and Community. The Committee requested that the final draft report is brought to the Committee, post consultation, to allow the Committee to make any recommendations or comments that they feel are necessary.