Agenda item

Cabinet were asked to consider the recommendations of the Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group which was formed to scrutinise the Draft Revenue Budget 2022/23 and Capital Programme 2022-2026 that Cabinet approved on 6 January 2022.

RESOLVED –

(1)          That the Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group, as well as the supporting Officers, be thanked for their work and subsequent recommendations.

(2)          That Cabinet’s responses to the Budget Scrutiny report 2022 and recommendations, as detailed at the meeting, be noted.

Note: a complete breakdown of the scrutiny recommendations and Cabinet’s responses can be found here.

Councillor R Bagge, Chairman of the Finance and Resources Select Committee (Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group) was unable to attend the meeting. The Leader referred to the recommendations following the intensive budget scrutiny process that had taken place over 3 days in January 2022.  The Inquiry had scrutinised the Draft Revenue Budget 2022/23 to 2025/26 and Capital Programme 2022-2026 which had been approved by Cabinet on 6 January 2022.

The Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group had met in public and questioned each Portfolio Holder on their revenue budget and capital programme proposals with a view to making recommendations to Cabinet for consideration prior to submitting the final budget to Full Council for approval on 23 February 2022.  The public had been able to submit questions via email or social media channels. 

The Inquiry Group had recognised the hard work of members and officers in preparing a balanced budget in light of a number of ongoing uncertainties. Members were aware that issues outside of the Council’s control could change key assumptions significantly, particularly if inflation was higher than 5%, Government funding changes, White Papers came forward significantly changing policy, Covid restrictions were re-introduced at any point, or further lockdowns were enforced. However, having recognised this, the Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group acknowledged that the Council must move forward with the ‘new normal as business as usual’.

The Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group recommendations had been developed from studying the proposed budget and capital programme, and through questioning of each Portfolio Holder.  The report also made a number of observations.  The Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group’s key findings and recommendations were set out in Appendix 1 to the Cabinet report.

The Leader and relevant Cabinet Members summarised their responses to the recommendations. The full detailed responses are available to view on the Council website.

https://buckinghamshire.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=337&MId=16785&Ver=4

1.      The Corporate Plan was currently under review, and the intention was to take a refresh of the Plan to Council later this Spring.

2.      A list of strategies were in development and would be shared with Members on a regular basis. This would include key milestones, although recognising these were subject to change. All strategies would also be included on the Forward Plan which set out the anticipated timing for decision making.

3.      Beyond the Better Buckinghamshire Programme all services should be reviewed and challenged - Cabinet Members would consider the potential of outsourcing on a case by case basis where this could deliver better value and improved customer service, but this was not necessarily always the most appropriate means to secure best value for the Council. The Leader referred to the Council’s waste collection in the North of the County and reported that this was in-house and a very successful service.

4.      Greater visibility to Corporate Contingencies - these would be presented to Cabinet in February to ensure visibility. Furthermore, in 2022/23 quarterly budget monitoring reports to Cabinet would include the status of the contingencies, including details of any that have been released to Portfolio areas.

5.      Running the Social Worker Academy with a smaller cohort - the ASYE Academy would expand to a cohort of 60 in the financial year 2022/23. The size of the Academy in future years would be determined by need, recruitment strategy and budget priorities. The Cabinet Member reported that the Council still had to employ some agency staff so increasing the intakes to three per year would be extremely helpful including having a retention measure at month 24 after leaving the academy. The Leader reported the other Service area that might want to look at this recommendation was the Planning Department.

6.      The Council’s property rationalisation strategy should have a clear vision of future ways of working and be delivered at a greater pace - The Cabinet fully supported the ambition to downsize the Council’s estate in order to deliver efficiency savings as early as possible. There were a number of complexities to manage with this, including the uncertainties about future working patterns and space requirements arising from the pandemic, as well as the interdependencies with town centre redevelopment plans. That said, considerable work had already taken place to establish how the revenue saving of £2.4m from accommodation might be achieved in the medium term financial plan period, with the full saving due to be achieved by 2026. The Council has had significant success in letting out surplus operational buildings over the past 18 months and reference was made to the letting out of offices at Amersham to the NHS.

7.      Additional funding should be set aside for the development of the Local Plan as £750k p.a. over the next three years was likely to be inadequate, particularly in light of possible changes arising when the Planning White Paper was taken forward – Cabinet were confident that the current budget for preparing the Buckinghamshire Local Plan was adequate to make good progress. However, this would be kept under review, so that the Council could respond to any changes as a result of the Planning White Paper.

8.      Cabinet should agree a clear strategy which included a delivery target for affordable homes - The Housing Service was working with other teams in the authority to prepare an Overarching Housing Strategy in 2022/23. This overarching strategy would sit above the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy which was currently in draft form and being consulted on. The Overarching Housing Strategy would cover the Council’s ambition for the provision of affordable, key worker, socially rented and specialist housing, amongst other issues. The Cabinet Member reported that there was a shortage of land in Buckinghamshire, which was also expensive so it was important to identify any opportunities in the Councils’ estate and to convert properties to residential use. They were also working closely with Children’s Services with care leavers so they could bid on properties.

9.      Cabinet should consider increasing the levels of investment for rights of way repairs to recognise the increased usage and their importance, particularly to rural and semi-rural communities - The revenue and capital budgets that have been proposed were consistent with previous years’ allocations with the significant exception that, for 2022/23 the capital budget had been increased by £442k to fund the replacement of Berryhill footbridge and the Denham Bridleway bridge. This extra funding, and these works, enable the Council to fulfil their statutory duty to keep the Rights of Way (RoW) network open.

10.  That the Cabinet Member for Transport develop a strategy in 2022 for the £800k (£200k p.a.) investment into EV charging points to assess the current and future need, the number and type of charging points that could be obtained within the budget allocated, the potential income streams and to ensure there was a consistent approach to deliver these in the most cost effective way - The Transport Strategy team have been undertaking research into the most effective way to support the exponential increase in electric vehicles in Buckinghamshire, focusing on the provision of electric vehicle charging points now and in the future. A draft EV Study and Action Plan have been developed. The Action Plan had gone out to all members for their comments, with a supporting presentation, using the platform YourVoice. A finalised draft would be bought back to Cabinet later in 2022. Suppliers would be able to put forward match funding.

11.  That the Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change should work with officers to develop an offer to improve education for members and residents on climate change and to provide incentives to promote individual action- A package of climate change support for Members would be developed with input from the Member Development Working Group to ensure its suitability. A long term communications campaign had been launched (the Bucks Climate Challenge) and further content to educate and inform residents on how to reduce their impacts on the climate was being drafted. This campaign would also inform residents of the work the Council had undertaken to address climate change.

12.  A review of legacy Council special expenses should be undertaken in the coming financial year. Whilst this might be complicated due to varying arrangements with town and parish councils and recognising one of the special expenses was in an unparished area whilst the other was not, the Committee believed that the term ‘special expenses’ should only be used in the budget to denote a one-off financial commitment - A review of special expenses arrangements in Aylesbury and High Wycombe would be undertaken in 2022/23.

Cabinet thanked Budget Scrutiny Members and the Officer for the work undertaken in putting forward their recommendations.

RESOLVED –

(1)          That the Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group, as well as the supporting Officers, be thanked for their work and subsequent recommendations.

(2)          That Cabinet’s responses to the Budget Scrutiny report 2022 and recommendations, as detailed at the meeting, be noted.