Agenda item

To receive an update on finance, corporate resources and organisational scrutiny.

The Chairman introduced a report within the Agenda Pack which provided an update on the changes to Overview and Scrutiny’s approach to engaging with financial, corporate, and organisational matters. This followed on from discussions held by the Committee in May, where a number of changes were agreed with it noted that the Committee would review the arrangements in six months’ time.

Democracy and Complaints Manager, Henry Powell provided an introduction to the report, which was structured around the following 6 resolutions which had been agreed in May:

1.     OS Management Committee to receive the following key financial reports, after review and commentary by the Financial Planning Task Group (FPTG):

·     Draft Financial Plan

·     Medium-Term Financial Strategy

·     Revenue and capital budget monitoring

·     Treasury Management Strategy

2. Select Committees to retain their ability to query and flag any significant financial concerns relating to any proposals they consider, with concerns referred to OS Management Committee for further discussion as appropriate.

3. Proposals for greater OS engagement on other corporate and organisational matters to be developed, following discussion between the OS Management Committee Chairman, Vice-chairman, appropriate Cabinet Members and directors.

4. The Chairman and Vice-chairman of OS Management Committee to develop proposals for the Committee’s scrutiny of corporate performance and risk, following discussion with the appropriate Cabinet Members, directors and Select Committee Chairmen.

5. The Financial Planning Task Group’s responsibilities to be clarified by amending its terms of reference as set out under paragraph 21, with a definition of “major” contracts to be agreed following further discussion.

6. Appropriate learning and development be arranged to support members to undertake effective finance scrutiny.

An update was provided on the progress of each of the resolutions set in May 2022, which could be found within the respective report.

The following comments were received by Cllr Pip Ridout, Chair of the Financial Planning Task Group, which included but were not limited to that some contracts would include savings and that would therefore require monitoring. This would therefore be broader work than setting a limit for consideration; especially when the budget is being considered with savings targets included. Cllr Ridout stated that it would be better to approach such a transfer slowly.

The following comments were received by Members of the Committee:

·       In reference to resolution 4, a point was raised that a member would not want a limit to be set when considering contracts as this could cause details to be missed out. For example, contracts for Children’s Services would be financially worth less than those of Highways, however though they would cost less they would still have a significant impact to that service. It was clarified that the proposal related to the financial scrutiny of contracts rather than proposing a limit to what Select Committees would look at.

·       Reassurance was provided that the proposal in relation to resolution 4 would not remove the ability of Select Committees to be involved with contracts at an early stage and that this would be down to the Select Committees and their work plans.

The following comments were received by Cllr Gavin Grant, Vice-Chair of the Financial Planning Task Group, which included but were not limited to:

·       Cllr Grant joined the Chairman in the welcoming back the physical return of Cllr Pip Ridout, though she had remained to contribute significantly by virtual means.

·       The proposals would be a significant change for the agendas of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee as well as the Select Committees.

·       It was noted that with the responsibility of looking at service performance and adding in finances would be a significant piece of work and it would therefore be important that committee members were armed for such discussions.

·       The Financial Planning Task Group therefore had organised a Quarter One run through to demonstrate the levels of activity likely to happen and to identify where the emphasis would lie for scrutiny to be conducted.

·       It was suggested that the changes would be a major cultural shift for the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee in comparison to the Select Committees, with a need to understand corporate finances and the objectives of corporate teams and plans.

At the conclusion of discussion, it was,

Resolved:

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee agreed:

1. To note the update on implementation of the changes to Overview and Scrutiny’s (OS) approach to engaging with financial, corporate and organisational matters agreed in May 2022.

2. To note that all OS Management Committee members are invited to the next meeting of the Financial Planning Task Group on 25^th November, where the revenue and capital budget updates will be discussed prior to the Cabinet meeting on 29^th November.