Issue - meetings

Recommendations

That the Executive

a.     notes the outturn position against the 2023/24 Revenue Budget, as summarised in paragraph 2.2.2.

b.     notes the outturn position for the Housing Revenue Account as set out in paragraph 2.3.1.

c.      approves the creation of a £10m reserve to provide for capital cost over-runs as described in paragraph 2.1.6.

d.     endorses the draft Productivity Plan set out in Appendix I and delegates authority to the Corporate Director Resources, in consultation with the Executive member for Finance, to make any relevant changes prior tofore final submission to DLUHC.

e.     Note the performance of the Treasury Management operation during 2023/24 and the outturn position on Prudential Indicators.

f.       to note the position on capital outturn as detailed in Appendices A to D

g.     to approve the allocation of £2m from the Strategic Capacity Reserve to complete the Ripon Leisure Centre project (paragraph 4.3.5).

h.     to recommend to the Council, the proposed carry forward to 2023/24 of the   net capital underspend totalling £12.4m as set out in paragraph 4.4.2

i.       to approve the financing of capital expenditure as detailed in paragraph 4.5.1

Considered – A joint report of the Chief Executive and Corporate Director – Resources, bringing together key aspects of the Council’s performance on a quarterly basis. 

Councillor Heather Phillips, Executive Member for Corporate Services, introduced the report which covered the period 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2024 and concluded the first year of performance reporting for North Yorkshire Council.  The first year of operation had been characterised by the convergence of systems from the former borough and district councils and work was continuing to bring systems together.  This was the last time the report would be in its current format as future reports would be amended to meet the requirements of OFLOG and the emerging needs of the new authority

The Executive Member drew Members’ attention to a number of highlights from the Executive Performance Report including:

·        HAS was able to meet the demands of an increase in hospital discharges to 16.1 per day compared with 15.8 per day in Q3, whilst localised surges in demand quickly used up local capacity

·        CYPS had experienced the highest number of contacts recorded by the Multi Agency Screening Team which had recorded an increase of 12% since 31 March 2023

·        The Environment directorate reported that for Q3 no waste went into landfill, and this was assisted by the fact that Allerton Park operated at 100% capacity

·        For Community Services rent recovery continued to do well and the Council was in the top quarter for this

·        For Corporate Services there were 329 active apprenticeships active for this quarter, a 54% increase from the same period last year

In response to questions from Scrutiny Chairs and Member Champions to Executive Members the following was confirmed:

·        There were now fewer than 10 unresolved homecare packages on a regular basis, and the council was working jointly with the NHS to prevent care home closures and the prevention of exploitation due to international recruitment

·        There had been changes in public attitudes to smoking and vaping was now as much of an issue, although smoking was still the number one public health cause of death and cancer.  The focus of smoking cessation services was now on more difficult to reach groups and those with other issues or addictive behaviours

·        Different ways of providing health checks were being explored such as at libraries or in workplaces, travel time had not been found to have an impact on take up and further work was required to understand the reasons for the low take up

·        The number of children being home educated had increased to over 1000 pupils; where the Council was notified that a child was to be educated a home a meeting was offered to look at how any issues that had led to home education might be addressed.  Annual checks were undertaken to ensure that provision was right for each child in line with national legislation

·        Demand for children’s social care was rising with an increase of 46% in initial contacts.  Re-referrals were audited regularly to understand if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 460