Agenda item

Recommendations:

That the Executive

a.       notes the forecast outturn position against the 2024/25 Revenue Budget, as summarised in paragraph 2.2.1.

b.       approve a £1,060k reduction to the HRA rental income budget in 24/25 and the resulting impact on the HRA business plan which will be reflected in the next refresh of the business plan as set out in paragraph 2.3.1.

c.       delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Resources in consultation with the Chief Executive, Deputy Leader and Leader to award the contract and approve funds from the LGR Reserve for one-off external and internal implementation and associated costs of the new finance system, following conclusion of the procurement process at the end of August 2024 (paragraph 2.5.2).

d.       notes the position on the Council’s Treasury Management activities during the first quarter of 2024/25.

e.       refers this report to the Audit Committee for their consideration as part of the overall monitoring arrangements for Treasury Management.

f.        Approve the refreshed Capital Plan summarised at paragraph 4.2.3;

g.       Agree delegation to Corporate Director Resources, in consultation with the Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Democratic Services and the Executive Member, Finance to draw down on the totality of the Capital Supply Chain Reserve to fund some potential cost overruns on existing capital schemes with the detail included in confidential Appendix E (paragraph 4.3.2);

h.       Approve the addition of £350k to undertake a feasibility study into the proposed redevelopment of the Brunswick Centre in Scarborough from retail to leisure led with a drawdown of up to £350k from the Strategic Capacity Reserve. (paragraph 4.4.1).

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.

The Executive Member for Corporate Services, Councillor Heather Phillips, introduced the report which covered the period 1 April 2024 to 30 June 2024.  The Executive Member drew Member’s attention to the following:

·        Spend on agency staff had reduced over the last quarter

·        Hospital discharges and children’s social care were causes of concern

·        The North Yorkshire Local Assistance Fund supporting the most vulnerable was going well with an 89% approval rate

·        The Homes for Ukraine Scheme and the UK Resettlement Scheme continued to support new arrivals

The Leader welcomed members of the Scrutiny Board to the meeting.  In response to questions to Executive Members from Scrutiny Chairs and Member Champions the following was confirmed:

·        The Council was working more closely with the Police to identify families needing social care support, and this was feeding through into an increase in referrals.

·        The targeted reading project was improving attainment within schools, and the gap from the national average was closing.  If successful it was hoping the project could be replicated for maths.

·        Work was underway to move the eight legacy authorities onto a single planning software system, which should improve the time it was taking to process planning applications.

·        North Yorkshire Highways were developing a carbon capture tool which would enable improved reporting on carbon emissions.

·        A refuse collection vehicle strategy was being implemented to resolve issues around vehicle breakdowns.  18 new vehicles were on order and the ability to move vehicles around the county would provide improved resilience.

·        Work was underway to improve how missed bin collections were defined, recorded and dealt with to facilitate comparisons and benchmarking.

·        Figures on vacant shops were not collected routinely with the exception of Scarborough; Ripon BID was working towards this.  The Council was looking to support Scarborough to obtain footfall figures; Whitby had been collecting footfall figures which showed an improvement.

·        The contract with Allerton Park Waste Recovery Centre required 70% of waste to be diverted away from landfill.  However, this did not apply when it was closed.  As tax was paid on waste to landfill the decision to send material to landfill was a commercial one for the operator.

·        Local authorities had no statutory duties to monitor home education, or powers to bring home educated children back into mainstream education.  The King’s Speech contained measures to introduce a register of home educated children, however the Council already maintained a list.

·        Work was underway to prevent people going into hospital where they could be treated in the community.  However a key element for this (and reducing demand on social care) would be for more national investment in community health services such as increasing the numbers of nurses and therapists as this would impact positively.

·        Proactive maintenance was undertaken to ensure housing void times were reduced and this year they had reduced from 198 in January to 89 at present.  Some void times were inevitable whilst homes were being upgraded.  178 projects costing £2.3m had been completed under the Home Upgrade Grant 2 (HUG2).  The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero had singled out the Council as a model of best practice in programme delivery, and NYC was the only Council to apply for further funding.

·        The Council was working to fill in the gaps in electrical certificates as they hadn’t always been documented when they had taken place in the past.

·        The Corporate Director Health and Adult Services agreed to provide written responses in relation to the numbers of children admitted to hospital with mental health conditions, the reasons for people not completing courses of treatment for alcohol issues and the reasons for below average levels of STI diagnoses.

Revenue Budget, Treasury Management and Capital Plan

Councillor Gareth Dadd, Executive Member for Finance and Resources, introduced each section of the report.  Whilst expenditure was 0.1% or £800k below that expected, this masked pressures of £8.5m in Health and Adult Services and Childrens and Young People’s Services, which were currently offset by savings in corporate budgets such as utilities where the authority had bigger buying power since local government reorganisation.

The Corporate Director Resources reported that the current finance system was now at the end of life and a new system was required to support the organisation in managing its finances for the next 10 years. In response to a question the Corporate Director confirmed that one-off savings were not built into the budget for future years.

Members welcomed the proposals to undertake a feasibility study into the proposed redevelopment of the Brunswick Centre in Scarborough.  If progressed redevelopment could provide an opportunity to improve facilities for local residents and encourage more people to visit the town.

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 forecast outturn position against the 2024/25 Revenue Budget, as summarised in paragraph 2.2.1 be noted.

ii)           a £1,060k reduction to the HRA rental income budget in 24/25 be approved, and the resulting impact on the HRA business plan which will be reflected in the next refresh of the business plan as set out in paragraph 2.3.1.

iii)          authority be delegated to the Corporate Director of Resources in consultation with the Chief Executive, Deputy Leader and Leader to award the contract and approve funds from the LGR Reserve for one-off external and internal implementation and associated costs of the new finance system, following conclusion of the procurement process at the end of August 2024 (paragraph 2.5.2).

iv)          the position on the Council’s Treasury Management activities during the first quarter of 2024/25 be noted.

v)           this report be referred to the Audit Committee for their consideration as part of the overall monitoring arrangements for Treasury Management.

vi)          the refreshed Capital Plan summarised at paragraph 4.2.3 be approved.

vii)        authority be delegated to Corporate Director Resources, in consultation with the Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Democratic Services and the Executive Member, Finance to draw down on the totality of the Capital Supply Chain Reserve to fund some potential cost overruns on existing capital schemes with the detail included in confidential Appendix E (paragraph 4.3.2).

viii)       the addition of £350k to undertake a feasibility study into the proposed redevelopment of the Brunswick Centre in Scarborough from retail to leisure be approved, led with a drawdown of up to £350k from the Strategic Capacity Reserve. (paragraph 4.4.1).