Agenda item

Question Time

Meeting of Cabinet, Tuesday, 11th July, 2023 10.00 am (Item 5.)

Question from Councillor Stuart Wilson to Councillor John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Accessible Housing and Resources

The Q1 Budget Monitoring Report reviewed by Cabinet today rightly notes the significant financial challenges of this Council against a backdrop of persistent high inflation and continued increase in demand and complexity of key services, notably in Adult and Children’s Social Care. As an aside, and somewhat strangely, high energy costs are impacting certain portfolios but not delivering the benefits anticipated in Energy from Waste which raises some questions about energy procurement and trading. As such, this reports projects an adverse forecast of £8.3m for the 2023-24 year compared to £3.8m adverse in the same quarter last year. This reflects 2% of Portfolio Spend this year rather than 1% of Portfolio Spend last year. Savings are projected to deliver a shortfall of £6.6m in 2023-24 compared to a projection of £0.2m shortfall this time last year.

The Report asks Cabinet to note its contents and the risks and opportunities within it. It also asks Cabinet to approve the actions set out in the Report to address the pressures. I have been through the Report several times and I am unable to locate any specific opportunities or actions that have been scoped and costed to address the pressures. However, I do note the following comments in paragraph 1.4:

“Detailed Portfolio Action Plans are already in development to address the pressures, with a view to urgently bringing budgets back into line. These will consider the acceleration of savings plans from future years. In addition, a member led Strategic Property and Finance Review will be initiated to examine opportunities for additional savings, income, or capital receipt. The delivery of the action plans will be managed by the Portfolio Holders.”

Sections 8, 9 and 10 of the Report deal with consultation, communication, engagement, next steps, and review which concludes there is no further public reporting action required until the Q2 Report in November, at which point the financial year is half-way through.

Given the severity of the Council’s financial position versus Budget at Q1, can the Cabinet Member please confirm that:

· the year-to-date (Q1) and year-to-go (Q2-4) trends versus Budget and prior year confirm the full year projection with a suitable data table shown by portfolio and corporate line;

· Cabinet Members are actually able to approve the actions set out in the Report to address the pressures if those Detailed Portfolio Action Plans are still in development;

· the acceleration of savings plans from future years is feasible given a projected miss on savings of £6.6m this year, given the existing pressure on statutory services in particular;

· the Detailed Portfolio Action Plans and details of the proposed member led Strategic Property & Financial Review will be presented to the Finance & Resources Select Committee on July 20^th alongside the Q1 Report to demonstrate how they will urgently bring budgets back into line?

Question from Councillor Robin Stuchbury to Councillor Steven Broadbent, Cabinet Member for Transport

I believe it is important that we gain a full understanding of the use of section 106 funding for transport on the Lace Hill development in Buckingham. The Schedule of Payments within the Section 106 agreement clauses refers to the timing of delivery of bus and transport links and in relation to London Road there is a £95,000? Public Transport contribution payable in five annual tranches after the 50^th dwelling is occupied and before the 300^th dwelling is occupied, to provide a twice per hour bus service between Buckingham and Aylesbury, and 4 bus stops with shelters and real-time information within the development. The Section 106 quarterly update in 2015 also referred to the £250,000 footway/cycleway contribution “Contribution received and awaiting ASB approval for 2015/16 programme”, £380,000 Bus/public transport subsidy “Ongoing revenue support for Line 60 extension to Moreton Road and £125,000 Lace Hill service X60 enhancements which was awaiting ASB approval for 2015/16 programme.” Therefore, as it appears that the estate roads are nearing adoption, I am seeking reassurance that this money is still being programmed to deliver the additional transport services the section 106 agreements indicated to improve transport connections/conductivity for the community of Buckingham and reduce vehicle journeys.

Minutes:

Question from Councillor Stuart Wilson to Councillor John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Accessible Housing and Resources

Given the severity of the Council’s financial position versus Budget at Q1, can the Cabinet Member please confirm that:

· the year-to-date (Q1) and year-to-go (Q2-4) trends versus Budget and prior year confirm the full year projection with a suitable data table shown by portfolio and corporate line;

· Cabinet Members are actually able to approve the actions set out in the Report to address the pressures if those Detailed Portfolio Action Plans are still in development;

· the acceleration of savings plans from future years is feasible given a projected miss on savings of £6.6m this year, given the existing pressure on statutory services in particular;

RESPONSE from Councillor Chilver on the following question which has been put:-

Given the severity of the Council’s financial position versus Budget at Q1, can the Cabinet Member please confirm that:

· the year-to-date (Q1) and year-to-go (Q2-4) trends versus Budget and prior year confirm the full year projection with a suitable data table shown by portfolio and corporate line;

The report presented to Cabinet includes a data table which shows the Council approved Budget, the forecast outturn and the variance from budget. The key information that drives financial performance is the level of activity (volume/number of clients) and price for that activity. The actuals for Q1 are not included in the report as this information does not provide any further insight for Members. The Council does not do monthly or quarterly accruals, this means that unmatched accruals from year-end distorts the financial position in particular in Q1.

In estimating the forecast outturn position, budget holders and finance staff consider all activity and price movement ‘year-to-date’, which in key demand areas builds in the prior year activity levels, and the full year impact of that activity, plus how the trend in activity impacts on the rest of the year.

A deep dive has been undertaken into the four key areas to ensure that forecasts are robust, covering:

· Children’s Placements

· Adult Social Care

· Temporary Accommodation

· Energy

The specific issues for each of these is included in Cabinet Report Appendix 1 and provides detailed commentary and proposed actions across the main demand led areas.

· Cabinet Members are actually able to approve the actions set out in the Report to address the pressures if those Detailed Portfolio Action Plans are still in development;

The key action that Cabinet Members are being asked to agree is the development and ownership of the Portfolio Action Plan. This is a fast and emerging situation, officers and members are not waiting for the Cabinet meeting (on 11 July) to start developing the action plans, as a result many of the actions are included in the report (as listed above) and are already in place; whilst further actions and mitigations are being considered. The Portfolio Action Plan will bring these actions into a single place to facilitate ownership, monitoring and scrutiny of delivery.

The detailed action plans will come back to Cabinet for review and formal approval.

· the acceleration of savings plans from future years is feasible given a projected miss on savings of £6.6m this year, given the existing pressure on statutory services in particular;

The report sets out the forecast shortfall of £6.6m on income and savings. The shortfall relates only to income and two Portfolios, Climate Change & Environment and Transportation. For ease this is repeated below alongside the mitigation:

Income shortfall

a) £1.1m Off-Street parking income – the recovery towards pre-Covid levels of income is slower than budgeted

b) £5.0m Energy from Waste Income – due to the reduction in market energy prices both contract based and spill market (daily based). The in-year impact of this is being mitigated by a proposed drawdown from the waste reserve to manage this risk. The amount will be monitored over the course of the year and will reflect prevalent market conditions, with the final amount determined for the outturn position.

c) £0.3m Streetworks Income – expenditure allocated to the permit scheme has increased but volumes are forecast to be similar to last year. Therefore, the forecast increase is not achievable.

d) £0.2m External contract savings in Waste services - Volatility in market price fluctuations relating to dry mixed recycling materials.

All portfolios are currently reporting on track for delivery of in-year savings and, although challenging, it is appropriate and feasible to look at whether any future year’s savings could also be brought forward.

The detailed portfolio action plans and the Strategic Property & Financial review will be presented to F&R Select Committee at an appropriate date following their review and agreement by Cabinet.

Examples of the deep dives undertaken into the four key areas previously referred to:-

Example 1: Health & Wellbeing £3.9m adverse variance

“This adverse variance mainly relates to care packages carried forward from 22/23. There were 252 more clients at the start of the year (than anticipated in the budget) at an average weekly cost of £667. However, this variance has been partly offset by additional income associated with these clients. In April demand for services continued to outstrip budget however, the following mitigations have been put in place and data from May suggests that spend is reducing.”

These are the specific actions that will feed into the Portfolio Action Plan that the Cabinet Member is being asked to agree:

“i. Weekly monitoring of spend – reports are sent to Service Directors and Heads of Service to show how the number of clients and the cost of packages is changing week on week. This enables managers to identify emerging issues and take appropriate management action.

ii. Biweekly tracking of management action – Service Directors meet with the Corporate Director to review management actions to deliver savings and identify further mitigations. Mitigations include reviews of clients with two carers, clients with multiple services and the highest cost clients.

iii. Scheme of Delegation – thresholds for authorisation have been lowered to provide greater management oversight when agreeing packages of care.

iv. Other budget scrutiny – all budgets are being scrutinised by managers to identify any additional savings.

v. Further work on funding sources for staffing should release additional underspends going forward.”

Example 2: Children’s Placements £3.9m adverse variance

“The key pressures identified to date include:

i. Placements for children looked after £3.5m – this forecast is based on current activity, and known forward activity, and includes adoption and SGO allowances. As yet no forecast of future activity through the year has been included in the forecast and therefore there is significant risk that this overspend will increase further. The projected overspend relates to placement mix rather than placement volume. Projected numbers of unregulated placements are higher than budget and the projected number of foster care and residential placements are lower than budget.

There is a significant risk that expenditure on placement costs for children looked after will increase during the year if the numbers of unregistered placements continue to increase.”

These are the specific actions that will feed into the Portfolio Action Plan that the Cabinet Member is being asked to agree.

“Mitigations include the release of existing capital budget in the current year for the development of further in house residential capacity and urgent work to review and accelerate priority actions within the Sufficiency Strategy to focus on reducing the number of unregistered placements.”

Example 3: Temporary Accommodation £1.6m adverse variance

“Housing & Homelessness & Regulatory Revenue is reporting an adverse variance of £1.6m due to increased pressures on temporary accommodation. Demand has increased from the budgeted 179 households in nightly paid accommodation to 218 households, as at the end of May. There has been a steady increase in households presenting as homeless throughout the winter and early spring and, whilst the trend is starting to plateau as we enter the summer, the underlying lack of cheaper, Council-owned temporary accommodation units, and short supply of affordable housing units to move clients on to, means we are not seeing households leave expensive nightly paid accommodation as quickly as expected.”

These are some of the initial specific actions that will feed into the Portfolio Action Plan that the Cabinet Member is being asked to agree.

“The forecast variance includes the savings from mitigating actions to move the most expensive households into cheaper accommodation and improving our processes around preventing homelessness.”

Question from Councillor Robin Stuchbury to Councillor Broadbent, Cabinet Member for Transport

“I believe it is important that we gain a full understanding of the use of section 106 funding for transport on the Lace Hill development in Buckingham. The Schedule of Payments within the Section 106 agreement clauses refers to the timing of delivery of bus and transport links and in relation to London Road there is a £95,000 Public Transport contribution payable in five annual tranches after the 50^th dwelling is occupied and before the 300^th dwelling is occupied, to provide a twice per hour bus service between Buckingham and Aylesbury, and 4 bus stops with shelters and real-time information within the development. The Section 106 quarterly update in 2015 also referred to the £250,000 footway/cycleway contribution “Contribution received and awaiting ASB approval for 2015/16 programme”, £380,000 Bus/public transport subsidy “Ongoing revenue support for Line 60 extension to Moreton Road and £125,000 Lace Hill service X60 enhancements which was awaiting ASB approval for 2015/16 programme.” Therefore, as it appears that the estate roads are nearing adoption, I am seeking reassurance that this money is still being programmed to deliver the additional transport services the section 106 agreements indicated to improve transport connections/conductivity for the community of Buckingham and reduce vehicle journeys.”

RESPONSE from Councillor Broadbent

As you are aware, Council Officers and I are meeting with local Members on Tuesday 18th to discuss progress on sustainable transport improvements in Buckingham. So we can explain any of the points that have been here in more detail during this meeting, if necessary.

To confirm, the s106 agreement associated with the Lace Hill development was completed in 2009. Planning obligations included:

· £475,000 towards the cost of providing an improved bus service and public transport infrastructure

· A Footway/Cycleway Contribution of £300,000 towards the cost of improving the footpaths and cycle paths in Buckingham

I can confirm that these contributions were all received and were indexed for inflation, so the actual amounts secured were somewhat more.

The Council used these funds to improve the X60 bus service to two buses an hour between Aylesbury and Buckingham; provided bus stop infrastructure on the A413 London Road; and helped fund the Buckingham-Winslow cycle route project. As intended, these improvements all benefited residents of the development and other users. Unfortunately the increased frequency of the X60 bus came to an end in March 2020 when the developer funding came to an end, also coinciding with the COVID pandemic. Unfortunately this has had a lasting impact on bus usage generally and the X60 now runs every 60 mins.

In line with the S106 agreement wording for the footway/cycleway contribution, this was used to fund the Buckingham-Winslow cycle route project. It is worth adding that - as Local Members already know - we were recently successful in our Active Travel 4 Funding bid to DfT for further active travel improvements within Buckingham Town Centre. This work will inform the use of future S106 funding and will ultimately help deliver a wider active travel network for the town.

The s106 agreement associated with the Lace Hill development (planning permission 09/01035/AOP) was completed 28 October 2009. Planning obligations within this included requirements for:

· A contribution of £475,000 (plus indexation) “towards the cost of providing a twice per hour bus service operating between the Land Buckingham and Aylesbury town centre” and public transport infrastructure.

· A Footway/Cycleway Contribution of £300,000 (plus indexation) “towards the cost of improving the footpaths and cycle paths on that part of London Road which lies to the north of the A421 and the footpath and cycle path network in Buckingham”.

These contributions were all received by November 2017, and both contributions were indexed for inflation so the actual amounts secured were somewhat more. The total amounts received were:

· £475,000 + £90,815 (indexation) = £565,815

· £300,000 + £26,166 (indexation) = £326,166

More detail on the use of the funding from the Lace Hill site is set out below:

Bus services

The public transport contribution was used to increase the Aylesbury to Buckingham from one bus an hour to a bus every 30 minutes between Aylesbury and Buckingham between November 2014 and March 2020. Initially, the increased bus service alternated between an express service via the A413 and also via villages south of Winslow. In 2019 the twice per hour service was revised to be all express services, with none via the villages.

The S106 funding from the Lace Hill development came to an end in early 2020. Unfortunately, since that time the COVID pandemic has had a lasting impact on bus usage and it has not been possible to continue the X60 as a service every 30 minutes; it now runs every 60 mins. It’s not possible to be certain but our Passenger Transport teams judgement is that without the pandemic the 30 mins service may well have been able to continue as a commercial service at certain times of day.

Public Transport Infrastructure

The X60 service never went through the Lace Hill development itself so a southbound bus shelter was installed on the A413 at Benthill Farm in 2014 in order to serve residents from the development site. Three Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) displays were also installed at the Tesco stops and at Benthill Farm.

Footway/Cycleway Contribution

The Foot & Cycleway s106 contribution from the Lace Hill development was put towards the cost of the Buckingham-Winslow cycle route project, which runs adjacent to the development along the A413 London Road. As Local Members have already been informed, we were recently successful in our Active Travel Fund Tranche 4 bid (DfT) for funding to carry out feasibility work for active travel improvements within Buckingham Town Centre. Our new term consultants, Atkins, have already been commissioned to commence this work and officers will shortly be engaging with local Members and the Town Council at appropriate stages of the programme in order to understand local priorities. It is envisaged that this work could help to appropriately inform the use of both existing funding and to secure future S106 funding from development sites in Buckingham to enable delivery of the measures that are identified in this work. This work will ultimately help to contribute to delivering the wider active travel network for the town as identified in the Interim Buckingham Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan.