Agenda item

To consider Item 6

The Deputy Director of Finance and Assets advised Members that the report sets out the Authority's revenue and capital spending position as at 30 September 2022, together with the projected outturn position for the financial year. The Authority was currently projecting an overall underspend of £847k, an increase of £713k compared to Quarter 1. The key events that had resulted in the increase in underspend were the announcement of the energy price cap for non-domestic customers, this had reduced the forecast spend for the year on gas and electricity by £400k.  The Authority was previously forecasting utilities to cost in the region of £1.2m prior to the energy price cap being announced.  The price cap was only for six months but was likely to stay in place for vulnerable industries beyond this point.

The Authority had also seen a sharp increase in investment returns from treasury activities.  At the start of the financial year, the projected return was £30k with the base rate being under 1%. The recent increases in the Bank of England base rate had increased the forecast income from treasury management investments to £250k. The remainder of the increase was predominantly due to higher operational leavers than originally forecast, as well as some new support staff vacancies.

The Deputy Director of Finance and Assets advised Members that with regard to the Capital Section, key property works related to refurbishments works on several stations across the estate.  Fire appliance and equipment predominantly related to the purchase of red fleet appliances and associated equipment. The current forecasts assumed a 2% pay award and as Members would be aware, the 5% offer was rejected by the Fire Brigades Union.  Every additional 1% pay award would cost the Authority in the region of around £200k and therefore a significant amount of the current underspend would need to be utilised to cover the pay awards.

The Chairman asked about the progress towards the establishment figures for Wholetime firefighters currently showing 288 for the end of March 2023, and what action was being taken to get it back on track.

The Head of Human Resources advised Members that the Workforce Planning Group were meeting on a monthly basis. There were 18 firefighter recruits due to join the Service in March 2023. The Service was continuing on the trajectory aiming for 300 wholetime firefighters. Also, looking forward, another 18 firefighter recruits would be joining the Service in October 2023.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised Members that there had been some issues around the transferees. There were a number of transferees who had applied to join the Service, but looking at the skills gap analysis, some did not meet the standard required. This put pressure on getting the training scheduled with the Service’s trainers and the Fire Service College. As a result, there were six transferees that would be joining an open firefighter development programme at the Fire Service College in January 2023. These six were not on the plan. Officers had also looked at the graph being extended out for another year. This would mean the numbers would be met in October 2023.

The Chairman asked if Members could see the longer term profile of the Wholetime Establishment Road Map in future reports and was advised that it would be included in the next report.

The Chairman asked if the next Budget Monitoring update could include the impacts of some of the scenarios at year end.

The Chairman asked regarding the in-year growth bids, was there an update on progress of the Digital Marketing and ICT apprentices, and also the cost of the stands and marketing material seemed high, was they going through a competitive procurement process.

The Head of Technology, Transformation and PMO advised that in terms of the Digital Marketing Apprentice, the person was now in position. With regard to the ICT Apprentice, there were only three people that were due to come for interview, and only one turned up and they unfortunately were not successful. This role had now been advertised again.

The Head of Human Resources advised Members that in terms of recruitment, they had been working really hard with the Marketing Communications Team and had got quotes for stands that would be taken out for recruitment, apprenticeship shows etc. A suitable stand had not been found as yet, as it needed to be light enough to carry and transport easily.

The Deputy Director of Finance and Assets advised Members that everything purchased had to meet the procurement rules before it would get approved from the Finance system.

A Member asked how many ex police officers had been employed or had come forward to apply and did they need the same training as other recruits.

The Head of Human Resources would come back to Members on the numbers who had applied but advised they would need to the undertake exactly the same training as all recruits.

A Member asked if Members could be sent a briefing note following the budget statement due the following day.

The Deputy Director of Finance and Assets would ensure all Members received this by the end of the week.

RESOLVED –

That the provisional outturn forecast for the Authority as of 30 September 2022 be noted.