Issue - meetings

The purpose of the report is to present the Financial Management Strategy and its Executive Summary for consideration and approval. This strategy will remain under review (including post vesting day) as other key documents are developed to ensure consistency.

RESOLVED:  To consider and approve the Financial Management Strategy, including the Executive Summary.

Richard Ambrose, Section 151 Officer, introduced the report which was an overarching financial strategy for the new authority and was underpinned by the other finance policies and strategies that were on the agenda or had already been approved; this included the Medium Term Financial Plan which aimed to ensure that the new council had strong financial management in place by ensuring that there was financial governance clarity around the roles and responsibilities, including how finance interacted with the rest of the organisation and that value for money was demonstrated as well as ensuring that resources were properly aligned to the organisational priorities.  R Ambrose recommended that the strategy be reviewed over the following year to ensure that it was still relevant once the new authority was clearer around the transformational activity it would undertake.

Martin Tett added that the Council was under very unusual circumstances and was having to fund mitigation of the impact of Covid-19 with a reduced income.  Decisions needed to be taken quickly and many of the rules that normally applied were different.  The Government had assured that the Council would be able to recover costs; M Tett stressed the importance of a record of all the expenses for sharing with Members and that all costs were reported.   

Members of the Shadow Executive raised the following points in discussion:

• In response to a question on how all Covid-19 mitigation expenses would be monitored; R Ambrose explained that there was a financial representative on each of the Cells. All the costs were being captured and estimates made for likely future costs / loss of income; decisions were referred to the Corporate Management Team who held daily meetings with the Leader.
• The Leader stated he was conscious that this was public taxpayer’s money.  The Council needed to be able to react quickly as circumstances dictated but he was aware that the Council had to be accountable and were putting controls in place.
• A member of the Shadow Executive asked if the Leadership behaviour pillar of the table entitled ‘The ‘Seven pillars of Strong Financial Management’ at Buckinghamshire Council’ referred to Members as well as officers.  R Ambrose confirmed that this was generally the case although some boxes were specific.
• It was also queried as to whether the Council would receive a ‘holiday’ from loan repayments.  R Ambrose advised that the Council would not be in receipt of a payment holiday and stated that the Council had not yet had to borrow specifically related to Covid-19 but he was aware of the cash flow implications and was having discussions with MHCLG to ensure that the Council received funding and grants up front due to the costs being incurred in the current situation.

RESOLVED:  The Shadow Executive CONSIDERED and APPROVED the Financial Management Strategy, including the Executive Summary.