To consider the update.

Andrew Vallance, Head of Finance, said that the report had been to Cabinet last week. It covered month 10, which was January 2022, and showed an underspend of £239,000 which was an increase of £138,000 from the month 8 report. The main changes had been the increase in wedding income, reduction in the estimate of library staff used and finance staff interims. There had been a recovery of parking income of £250,000 but across the year this figure was still way down due to the pandemic. The contingency sum in the budget of nearly £2 million was now not required, this had been put into the reserves.

Councillor L Jones said that there was a shortfall on the savings tracker of £2.29 million forecast across the year. The report stated that this should be mitigated within the service, she asked what the likelihood was of this happening and the saving being mitigated, where the funds were coming from within those services and if it would affect anything that the council did.

Adele Taylor said that she was confident that a number of the amber savings would move to green. Improvements needed to be made on the savings tracker, where there were alternatives these should be shown and a more sophisticated format of showing this could be needed. Alternatives should not affect the quality or level of services, the total number of savings outlined would be delivered.

Councillor L Jones commented on property and the Covid pressure on the budget of £1.2 million that was not needed, what would happen to this. On vacancy savings, was this because the council could not recruit and whether services were resourced effectively. Councillor L Jones continued on adult social care, the council had received £1.3 million more income than budgeted but despite this the area was £769,000 overspent and she would like to understand why this had happened. Councillor L Jones concluded by asking about the COMF (Contain Outbreak Management Fund) grant which was £4.5 million, less spend, which took it down to £4 million, she suggested taking this point offline as she wanted to know what this had been spent on.

In response, Adele Taylor explained that on property, this had been picked up and reported throughout the year. During Covid, some of that funding had been rolled forward that was not needed to help close the gap on some of the one-off Covid costs. This had already been included in the budget for the next financial year. On vacancy savings, there had been a number of new posts created, some of which had been vacant for a period of time. Vacancy savings were not something that was aimed for. Considering social care income, there was more income but there was also increased service costs. There would always be pressures on adult social care and the service was good at making savings from transformation. A demographic reserve was set aside of £750,000 for demographic pressures in next years budget. On hospital discharges, there had been an estimate in the budget in 21/22. Officers worked closely with CCG on hospital discharge funding and the council worked in close partnership with health colleagues. Adele Taylor concluded her response by commenting on COMF funding, there was a specific, set criteria which laid out what this funding could be used for. There would still be some responsibilities and costs for RBWM around Covid, it was heavily audited.

The Chairman noted on the savings tracker, the red numbers were fairly small. On amber, there were a number of delayed deliverables which was understandable when the narrative was read. He asked if either the Executive Director of Resources, the Head of Finance or the relevant Cabinet Member would be able to comment on the budget virements.

Andrew Vallance said that the first item was the replacement of the Idox system which was used by the Planning team. This would be funded from capital which did not need to be spent in various other capital pots, either £225,000 from the neighbourhood plans, Joint Minerals and Waste and the IT strategy. The IT strategy was the HR system but this would be in for the following financial year. The replacement of school boilers with gas would be done using government grants.

Councillor Werner said that adults, health and housing would mostly come from transformation savings, with a savings forecast of 45%. He raised concerns about setting savings targets against the transformation programme before the transformation had taken place. Councillor Werner asked if any of the new savings that had been found would be transferrable into next years budget and would they be used again to sure up the transformation budget. He asked if the transformation programme should be monitored closely by the Panel over the next year. Councillor Werner commented on the savings tracker, he felt that the adult social care spend was certain to not make the target of the full year forecast yet the target was highlighted as green, Councillor Werner felt that it should be red.

Adele Taylor clarified that this was an error, it should not say 0%. Officers would look at the format of the savings tracker. Any alternatives found would be a consideration for next years budget, any savings had already been included. In a different format, this would be clearer for the Panel to see.

Councillor L Jones asked if the number of older people with learning disabilities had started to stabilise, she asked if the trend had continued to stabilise or if it had gone up further. Councillor L Jones noted some comments in the report on fly tipping, where there was increased pressure in this area. She thought that the waste contract should be lowering that cost to the council and wanted to know if there had been any successful prosecutions as a result of fly tipping. Councillor L Jones continued by discussing car parking, the council was 28% down against the budget, she asked if RBWM would hit the budget which had been forecast. Councillor L Jones asked what the ‘first three months of the year’ was referring to. On virements, there was £65,000 there for neighbourhood plans but there were still neighbourhood plans going through. She asked why money had been taken out of this area.

Adele Taylor said that she believed the figure on older people with learning disabilities was stabilised but she would confirm this after the meeting. Fly tipping was also something that would need to be taken away from the meeting and a response would be provided after the meeting. On car parking, it would be hitting the forecast outturn. Adele Taylor said that there was a sales, fees and charges scheme, the council was able to claim for the first three months which was why it had been mentioned in the report. All virements went through the Capital Review Board, they checked what was required along with what was left in the budget and this had been approved by the Board.

ACTION – Adele Taylor to provide responses on the questions asked around older people with learning disabilities and any successful prosecutions from fly tipping.

The Chairman said that the relevant Cabinet Member and the Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel were currently investigating the waste contract and this was the best place for that contract to be scrutinised and probed.

Councillor L Jones said that her question was based around finance in relation to the contract.

Councillor Werner mentioned the low borrowing rate, he asked if the council would be sticking with short-term borrowing and what the plan was. The other factor was inflation, with some contracts the council had a duty to cover inflation. Councillor Werner asked what assurances officers could give him that showed that inflation and interest rate rises were being taken seriously.

Adele Taylor said that borrowing rates were closely monitored by officers. It was a balancing act, it was important to not borrow too early as this could cost more to the council. The council worked closely with financial advisors Arlingclose who were experts in the field. All contracts had inflation included which was standard practise and this had been factored into the budget.

Councillor Werner asked if officers were confident that inflation could be coped with. He asked what officers were most concerned about in terms of risk.

Adele Taylor said there could be risks which was why reserves were set aside, this was based on inflation at the time. The Section 25 report highlighted the areas of risk, however the Ukraine situation was not included as this had not taken place at the time of the report.

Councillor Hilton referred to Councillor L Jones question on the stability of the number of older people, there was a table included in the report which covered the period between April and December.

Councillor Werner requested that the Panel would look at the detail of the transformation programme over the coming year.