Agenda item

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

The report was submitted by Cllr Ioan Thomas. ⁠

DECISION

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

DISCUSSION

The report, which summarised the situation with the Council's savings, was submitted.  It was noted that to close the funding gap this year £7.6m worth of savings needed to be implemented during 2023/24. It was a combination of almost one million previously approved, savings for Schools of £1.1m, £3m for Council departments and a further £2.4m by reviewing the Council's capital debt repayment policy.

Recent years had highlighted difficulties in realising savings in some of these areas most prominently in the Adults, Health and Well-being Department and in the Waste field. It was expressed that £2m worth of schemes with significant risks for delivery were scrapped as part of the End of August Review.

⁠It was explained that 98% of the schemes from 2015/16 up to the 2023/24 financial year had now been realised namely £33.7m of the £34.3m. In the context of new schemes in the current financial year, it was noted that 81% had already been realised and a further 6% were on track to be realised on time. ⁠It was clarified that there was a slight delay to the realisation of £694k worth of savings schemes, but the Departments did not anticipate a problem to realise these. It was emphasised that the majority of this amount consisted of £539k savings from schools as they worked in line with the academic year and therefore realisation would slip into the next financial year.

It was emphasised that £39m of savings had been realised from the required £41m over the period.  It was anticipated that an additional 1% would be realised by the end of the financial year.

The Head of Finance highlighted the comments and points raised in the Governance and Audit Committee as follows. It had been asked how one could choose between financial propriety and the performance of a statutory duty, and what would need to be done once the money ran out. It had been explained that it was essential that the Council did everything to ensure that it did not get to this point. It had been noted that there was a need to ensure the Council received value for money and made the most of every pound. It had been expressed that failure to do this gave rise to a need to make a s114 statement, and that everything needed to be done to avoid getting to this point.  It had been acknowledged that there was concern about a lack of resources to get things done but that this was the current reality.

It had been noted that there was an application to undertake modelling to predict future demand, and it had been explained that the Research and Information Team was at the forefront of this area.  It had been highlighted that members had indicated that they were rapidly reaching the point where there was a need for the Council to re-examine the way it delivered services.

Observations arising from the discussion

·         It was noted amid the narrative of increasing cuts and pressure on staff, the need to think of the impact it was having on staff was highlighted. It was expressed that the Council’s main area of expenditure was employing staff and cutting back would lead to increased pressure on staff.  It was emphasised that a staff well-being programme had been placed at the top of the agenda.   

·         It was challenged what “statutory” was and it was clarified that were areas where the Council was statutorily required to implement, such as planning and safeguarding children.  It was explained that with the financial situation as it was that it was a challenge to determine where the boundaries were in terms of carrying out statutory duties and to cut anything above this.