Agenda item

The Panel received a finance update relating to Commercial and Commissioning and Community Services for Quarter 2 2019/20 (July -September 2019).

The Director of Commercial and Commissioning (COaCH) advised that it was anticipated that there would be an underspend for COaCH of £556k at year end, which was a £417k improvement since Quarter 1. This positive performance was largely as a result of a clear focus on contract spend and management of vacancies, along with some elements of additional income being obtained. In terms of the Communities budget, the Panel was informed that it was well managed and forecasted to meet budget, as predicted, with no significant issues.

Members raised a number of issues as follows:

·       Concern was expressed in respect of the reduction in funding for the Talent Programme, which was an area that some Members felt was of great value in providing skills training for young people. The Director explained that as part of the need to find budget savings last year, a decision was made to scale back this Programme, and that a scaled back position was being continued in the current year. The Head of Finance highlighted, that the level of savings had been halved for this current year. She also advised that the budget for the Talent Programme (£400K) was not held solely within the COaCH Directorate and that it topped up a range of other activities in other Directorates, for instance relating to apprenticeships and graduate training.

·       In terms of the future position of the Talent Programme the Panel was informed that there were no plans to reduce the budget for next year, although this would depend on the Council’s performance at that stage. In response to a question about succession planning, the Director advised that there wasn’t a specific programme being actively promoted at the moment, but a key aspect of the Organisational Redesign Programme, would be to ensure that the right people were in place according to required skill sets for each post. 

·       A Member queried what the additional £60k registration fees income related to and was advised that the income had largely arisen as a result of an increase in the fees for statutory certificates from £4 to £11. Whilst the overall numbers of certificates requested had declined, the increase in fee levels had resulted in an overall net gain in income. The Panel were further advised that the ‘Tell us Once’ initiative, which residents can choose to make use of and enabled the Council to inform a number of other statutory agencies of a death on behalf of relatives, also had an impact on reducing the number of copies of a death certificate required by relatives.

·       It was clarified that the Corporate Information Management Unit (CIMU) dealt with issues such as data protection, record storage and the governance aspects of data sharing. The budget for this Unit was currently showing at a £30k underspend.

·       Further details about the £250k reduction in Property Services contract costs were requested. The Director advised that the contracts relating to every Directorate had been closely looked at, to establish whether there was scope for savings, for instance, by way of combining services and contracts at the procurement stage. He highlighted that a lot of early thinking work on the 0-19 Prevention and Early Intervention Service for Children and Young People contract meant that changes would be initiated to ensure that new contracts were best suited to the current needs of the Council. He also referred to one large contract identified in the COaCH Directorate, due to become liquid this month, of which it had been decided the service would no longer be required. A Member queried whether all contracts were being looked at, to which the Cabinet Member with Responsibility (CMR) for Transformation and Commissioning advised that the current focus was on the first £277m of contract value due to become liquid, as this was the point at which the savings could be made.

·       A Member asked about the savings in Legal Services. The Director advised that the increase in income from Legal Services was very marginal, but that the savings had arisen from the timings of staff vacancies being filled. The question was raised as to whether there was scope for greater income generation opportunities for Legal Services. The Director advised that the Legal Services Officers were focussed internally on the Council’s needs and didn’t have sufficient capacity to focus on income generation

·       In terms of the Communities budget, a Member asked for an explanation on the 7.8% variance on the Countryside Greenspace and Gypsies. The Head of Finance advised that this was a one-off issue relating to water services, which had arisen during the Quarter 2, and which was currently being investigated. The Panel would be provided with a report back when clarification was obtained.

·       It was confirmed that the County Council had a statutory responsibility for the provision of gypsy sites and the welfare of the residents. There were currently 100 berths available, with the possibility of more, if funding was made available.