Agenda item

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 cases were closed too early, generally it had been found that re-referrals were for a different reason than the original referral

·        Rates of persistent absence from school were falling and were less than the national average.  Exclusions were a matter for school headteachers, however the council did work with schools in supporting children who had been excluded

·        When Allerton Park was shut down for maintenance the council worked to ensure waste was diverted to other waste treatment plants rather than going to landfill

·        Local government reorganisation had had a negligible impact on the amounts of garden waste collected

·        The apparent increase in fly-tipping was considered to be a statistical anomaly due to some under-reporting in Q3

·        The number of vacant dwellings was due to lack of proactive maintenance in the past and provision had been made in the HRA budget to commission a programme of proactive maintenance

·        Whilst there were more virtual visits to libraries there had been an increase in the number of books physically loaned by children and young people and there was a strong future for physical libraries

Revenue Budget, Treasury Management and Capital Plan

Councillor Gareth Dadd, Executive Member for Finance and Resources, introduced each section of the report, which was the first outturn report for the new authority.  Initially a £30m deficit had been predicted, however by year end the deficit was £19m, which had been taken from reserves.  Children’s and adult services to vulnerable people were experiencing many pressures, which had been offset by £11m of windfalls and one off savings.  Since local government reorganisation £5m had been saved through moving to one energy supplier from eight separate procurements.  There had been a £2m saving in insurance through moving to a single policy and having a larger excess.

Attention was drawn to proposals to create a £10m reserve to mitigate risks in relation to capital projects. 

The Corporate Director of Resources reminded Members of the following

·        the budget strategy for the first year of the new council acknowledged the high level of change and the need to develop a new plan for savings going forwards

·        the budget for the current financial year was broadly break even

·        all councils were required to produce a productivity plan by July; in the context of LGR productivity had been at the heart of what the council had been doing in recent years and the information set out in the budget plan satisfied the requirements as set out by the government.

Having considered the report and the information provided at the meeting, Executive members were referred to the recommendations in the report and it was

Resolved (unanimously) – that:

i)       the outturn position against the 2023/24 Revenue Budget, as summarised in paragraph 2.2.2 be noted

ii)      the outturn position for the Housing Revenue Account as set out in paragraph 2.3.1 be noted

iii)    the creation of a £10m reserve to provide for capital cost over-runs as described in paragraph 2.1.6 be approved

iv)    the draft Productivity Plan set out in Appendix I be approvedand authority be delegated to the Corporate Director Resources, in consultation with the Executive Member for Finance, to make any relevant changes prior tofore final submission to DLUHC

v)     the performance of the Treasury Management operation during 2023/24 and the outturn position on Prudential Indicators be noted

vi)    the position on capital outturn as detailed in Appendices A to D be noted

vii)   the allocation of £2m from the Strategic Capacity Reserve to complete the Ripon Leisure Centre project (paragraph 4.3.5) be approved

viii) 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

ix)    the financing of capital expenditure as detailed in paragraph 4.5.1 be approved