Agenda item

1.    To accept the information in the report and note the progress towards realising the savings schemes for 2023/24 and previous years.

2.    It was acknowledged that the situation had now changed so much that historical savings schemes totalling £2,056,430 could not be achieved, and they were removed from the budget.

3.    To use the £1,956,430 savings provision to fund the removal of savings schemes, together with using a £100,000 Council Tax premium for the savings scheme relating to Homelessness.

The report was submitted by Cllr Ioan Thomas.

DECISION

1.    To accept the information in the report and note the progress towards realising the savings schemes for 2023/24 and previous years.

2.    It was acknowledged that the situation had now changed so much that historical savings schemes totalling £2,056,430 could not be achieved, and they were removed from the budget.

3.    To use the £1,956,430 savings provision to fund the removal of savings schemes, together with using a £100,000 Council Tax premium for the savings scheme relating to Homelessness.

DISCUSSION

Members were reminded that savings totalling £7.6 million needed to be achieved during 2023/24 to close the financial deficit this year. It was detailed that this was a combination of approximately one million that had previously been approved, savings of £1.1 million for schools, £3 million for Council departments and £2.4 million by reviewing the Council's capital debt repayment policy.

It was recognised that there were difficulties in realising savings in some fields. It was noted that this was most prominent within the Adults, Health and Well-being Department and in the field of Waste. It was reported that reviews of all historical schemes had been undertaken in July 2023, which formulated a programme to delete a total of £2 million worth of schemes where there were substantial risks that they would not be achieved as they were now unattainable. It was detailed that these included:

·       £1.5 million in the Adults, Health and Well-being Department

·       £335k in the Environment Department

·       £133k in the Highways, Engineering and YGC Department

·       £100k in the field of Housing.

It was reported that 98% of all historical savings schemes between the 2015/16 and 2023/24 financial years had been realised – this equated to £33.7 million.

Reference was made to the new savings schemes that had been planned for the current financial year. It was confirmed that 81% of those savings had already been realised and a further 6% were on track to be achieved on time. It was recognised that there had been a slight delay in realising a total of £700k of the savings schemes but no problem was anticipated to realise them. It was detailed that £539k of this figure included savings by schools and it was noted that this saving was slipping as schools worked within an academic year and, therefore, the savings would be realised in the next financial year.

The value of the savings schemes approved for 2024/25 was discussed. It was emphasised that further schemes for the 2024/25 financial year were under consideration by the Council and a report would be submitted soon.

It was reported that the report had been submitted to the Governance and Audit Committee on 12 October and a summary of the Committee's observations was provided, which included:

·       Success in delivering 96% of the savings was noted. It was recognised that focus was placed on schemes that had not been realised.

·       There was concern about a consistent historical pattern of overspending in the Adults, Health and Well-being Department. It was detailed that there had been failure to realise savings in 10 schemes within the Department and no reasons had been submitted to explain this overspend. A suggestion was made to appoint a Project Manager for some of the savings schemes and to ensure that arrangements were tightened in the future.

·       A suggestion was made that external attention should be given to the savings schemes, identifying an expert to take a closer look at the Council's situation.

·       It was felt that the Committee had not received sufficient information when the proposals had originally been submitted. It was noted that the Committee would benefit from additional information in light of the duty to challenge decisions thoroughly.

·       The officers were congratulated for succeeding to realise 95.6% of savings.

The Governance and Audit Committee were thanked for their observations and attention was drawn to the right of any Councillor attending the Departments' performance challenge meetings, to challenge the department's financial position. It was noted that it was essential for Councillors to do this on a regular basis.