To receive any apologies for absence from Panel Members.

There were no apologies for absence received.

To receive any declarations of interest from Panel Members.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To consider and approve the minutes of the meeting held on 29^th January 2024.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 29^th January 2024 were approved as a true and accurate record.

This report shares the new Council Plan, 2024-28, which sets out the council’s strategic aims and priorities for the next four years. The Council Plan includes a Technical Appendix, which includes key deliverables for 2024-25 and a revised set of performance metrics, by which to monitor performance and progress against the Plan.

The report is being shared with the Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Panel, ahead of Cabinet on 27^th March. Recommendations made by the Panel will be published as a supplementary document to the Cabinet Report, so that the recommendations can be considered as part of the Cabinet discussion. Where recommendations are accepted, they will be reflected in the final version of the Council Plan, which is intended to go to Full Council on 16^th April for agreement and adoption.

The Council Plan provides a framework for all council decision-making, including resource allocation. The Strategic Aims and Priorities were shared in draft as part of the November and February Cabinet reports on the 2024-25 Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy and were developed in consultation with staff, Members, parishes and key stakeholders.

Stephen Evans, Chief Executive, introduced the council plan which was the most strategic document for the council and was designed to set out the aims and goals of the organisation. The plan covered performance metrics which could be used by residents to determine how well the council was performing. It was important to note that not everything was included in the council plan but it was designed to give a strong sense of what the council would be aiming to achieve. The plan was designed in coordination with the budget which had recently been agreed by Full Council. Any recommendations made by Corporate would be considered by Cabinet on Wednesday 27^th March, where Cabinet would be asked to agree the council plan. This final document would then go to Full Council in April for final approval and adoption. Engagement events had been held with staff and Councillors, with feedback reflected in the document. Following adoption, there would be a series of all staff briefings. The plan would be kept up to date with an annual review while progress on targets would be reported to Cabinet and the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel on a quarterly basis.

The Chair suggested that the Panel should consider any overall questions and comments about the council plan, before considering each overarching aim in chronological order.

Councillor Price felt that it was disappointing that there had not been much engagement from employers at the engagement events and considered what lessons could be learnt.

Rebecca Hatch, Assistant Director of Strategy and Communications, explained that the team had tried to organise two engagement events with businesses which did not have a huge take up and a survey had also been sent out. There were ongoing successful engagement events with businesses and as part of these sessions the team had been able to understand their priorities and these had been incorporated. However, having a separate session on the council plan struggled to gain interest.

Councillor Price commented that there was a role for the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel in adapting the council plan as circumstances changed.

Stephen Evans commended the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel on the level of scrutiny which had taken place on Quarterly Assurance Reports over the past six months. He anticipated the Panel being involved in the review for the council plan each year, in advance of the Cabinet and Full Council discussion.

Councillor Reeves mentioned the key implications table which was part of the cover report, it would be useful for these implications to be quantified so the Panel could scrutinise this in a more effective way. The ‘unmet’ implication had been quantified so he questioned why other levels of implication could not also be linked to the number of KPIs achieved.

Rebecca Hatch responded by explaining that it was difficult to set a number, for example a certain number of KPIs being achieved meant the council had exceeded because the council wanted to set challenging targets. She could look into  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88.

In accordance with C25 of Part 2 of the RBWM Constitution, the Panel needed to vote on whether to continue with the meeting.

A named vote was taken.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY: That the meeting would continue until all agenda items had been considered.

For the Panel to receive a presentation on the progress of the ‘Think Family’ project.

Rebecca Hatch introduced the item and explained that the Panel had requested an update on the inequalities project, with ‘Think Family’ being the main piece of work in the research phase. There were clusters of deprivation in the borough, with around 5-10% of households currently financially struggling. The key themes of the project were:

• Poverty and low income – lack of resource and households in debt.
• Housing – access to affordable, quality homes.
• Life skills – struggling to navigate daily life.
• Health – mental and physical illness.
• Relationships – negative relationships or relationship breakdowns.

George Holder, Policy and Projects Officer, outlined the approach taken to the Think Family project. Research and pilot design had taken place over the past six months, with pilot delivery due to start shortly. The pilot would be a cross council escalation pathway for households who required support from three or more services. This would be overseen by the children and families transformation board and their own project board. Early deliverables for the wider programme were anticipated to be training, workshop opportunities, toolkits and communications across services.

The Chair suggested that questions from the Panel could sent through to officers by email after the meeting.

This report details the forecast outturn against budget for the 2023/24 financial year. It includes the revenue and capital budgets along with the financial reserve position at year end.

The report will be considered by Cabinet on 27th March 2024 and the Panel are provided with an opportunity to further scrutinise the current financial position of the council.

John Baldwin had registered as a public speaker and addressed the Panel for three minutes.

Councillor Hunt said that she had watched back the meeting where the Executive Director of Adult Services, Health and Communities explained that there would be a significant increase in costs by the adult social care providers, of over 15%. This was more than was in the budget and left a big gap, which was a concern.

Councillor Wilson noted the points made by Mr Baldwin but pointed out that officers could not be criticised on every specific word used during a live public meeting.

Elizabeth Griffiths explained that any contractual increases which were known had been factored into the budget and any which were yet to be negotiated were an informed estimated. Each contract was considered separately and each increase was negotiated separately too. The comments made by the Executive Director of Adult Services, Health and Communities were designed to show the pressure the council was coming under from providers from increased market prices. There was a big difference between the budget monitoring reports for the 2023/24 budget and the budget which had been set for the next financial year 2024/25. Growth had been added to the budget for next year to cover some of these additional costs from adult social care providers. The budget set for next year had the support of the Executive Director of Adult Services, Health and Communities.

Stephen Evans added that the adult social care budget was increasing by over £5 million which reflected that the current budget was not adequate in this area. The council did not just accept the higher fees offered by providers, these were negotiated downwards.

Councillor Hunt argued that in 2023/24 there had been an increase of 7% but in 2024/25 the increase was 5% and expressed concern that the budget was not balanced. The forecast overspend was significant and she felt that Cabinet needed to consider this issue urgently.

Elizabeth Griffiths reminded the Panel that the council was currently still in the 2023/24 financial year and so the budget monitoring report was based off of last year’s budget. It was a contract uplift rather than a budget uplift.

Councillor Hunt asked for assurance that the estimate which had been included for 2024/25 would be adequate and would not see the council overspend.

Elizabeth Griffiths said that it was a demand led service and was the best estimate for the year ahead. The council had re-baselined to cover all of the people who were currently in the adult social care system.

Councillor Wilson asked if there had been any events which had taken place since the budget was approved which could jeopardise the assumptions which had been made.

Elizabeth Griffiths responded by saying that there had been nothing specific but it was a constantly changing environment.

Councillor J Tisi commented that there was always uncertainty on the budget, outturn could not be guaranteed. The 2023/24 budget had underbudgeted the cost of adult social care but  ...  view the full minutes text for item 91.

Each year, Overview and Scrutiny is required to submit an annual report to Full Council highlighting the progress and achievements over the course of the past municipal year.

The report is currently being drafted and the final report will be submitted to Full Council for consideration in July 2024. The Panel are asked to consider what they would like to include on the annual report for this year. The Annual Scrutiny Report for 2022/23 has been included as Appendix A to this report.

It was agreed that information on this agenda item could be sent out to the Panel after the meeting.

To consider upcoming agenda items for future meetings of the Panel.

The Chair suggested that any items or suggestions for inclusion in the work programme could be sent to him after the meeting.