Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from those Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

All Members of the Panel were in attendance.

The Chair explained that Councillors Hussain and Ramsay had ceased to be members of the Committee as a result of taking places within the Cabinet. Thanks were expressed to both Councillors for their contribution to the work of the Committee.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 1^st August 2023.

Resolved –

That the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 1^st August 2023 be agreed as a correct record.

Members will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have any disclosable pecuniary interests or any other interests, which may prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items.

All Members of the Committee were in attendance.

Most agenda items take place in public. This only changes where there is a need to consider exempt information, as contained at Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. You will be informed at this point which items are to be recommended for exclusion and to be resolved by the Committee.

All items were considered in public session.

The Committee will receive any petitions and/or deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also submit a petition at the meeting relating to a matter on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Members of the Public must submit a deputation in writing, at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting and shall subsequently be notified if the deputation shall be heard. A maximum of four deputations shall be heard at any one meeting.

No deputations or petitions were received.

To receive any public questions.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, the period for the asking and answering of public questions shall not exceed 15 minutes.

Any questions must be submitted in writing at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting.

Please note that in line with pre-election rules, questions relating to the Batley East Ward and By-Election issues will not be heard.

No questions were submitted.

The Committee will a report in respect of the Corporate Financial Monitoring Report for Quarter 1, 2023/24 and a verbal update in respect of the Medium Term Financial Statement.

Contact: Service Director, Finance/Section 151 Officer.

The Committee received a report in respect of the Corporate Financial Monitoring Report for Quarter 1, 2023/24 and a verbal update in respect of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy.

Councillor Graham Turner, the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Regeneration, Rachel Spencer-Henshall, the Strategic Director for Corporate Strategy, Commissioning and Public Health and Isabel Brittain, the Interim Service Director, Finance were in attendance and a presentation was given which highlighted the following:

·       The headlines from the Quarter 1 Monitoring Position Report.

·       An overview by directorate and a breakdown of the key service variances.

·       The mitigations and actions that had been put in place.

·       The Medium-Term Financial Strategy established a financial planning framework, with the aim of ensuring delivery against savings and supporting budget planning, aligned to the objectives within the Council Plan. This would be considered at Cabinet the following day and would be the subject of a key discussion debate at Council on 13^th September.

·       Activity was ongoing to resolve the immediate issue of the forecast budget gap and to ensure a balanced budget by February 2024, alongside the development of robust proposals for future years.

Questions and comments were invited from Committee Members, with the following issues being covered:

·       One of the Council’s priorities was transforming services to be more effective and the potential of investing to save, such as in respect of transport costs, would be a consideration, although it was noted that the cost-benefit analysis of such proposals could be complex. It was confirmed that there was a budget associated with the transformation work.

·       More detail could be provided to Members about partnership working on tree planting.

·       The Authority would be cognisant of the potential financial impact of challenges in respect of changes to care packages and placements.  The approach would be to work within a framework to ensure that an individual solution was reached in each case.

·       An undertaking was given to provide more detailed information, after the meeting, in respect of re-profiling and variances between the current figures and the figures submitted to Council in February.

·       In terms of the achievability of the forecast savings, and when the authority would be in a position to have more certainty on this, the Service Director explained that she was undertaking a robust review of the saving plans and their effect to provide assurance that they could be achieved.

·       It was important that the issue of capacity was considered within decisions relating to recruitment, to ensure that the Council would still be able to take advantage of opportunities. Assurance was given that that the panel responsible for managing vacancies would take into account the importance of avoiding a negative impact on income and would also consider capacity to ensure that resources were utilised in the best possible way.

·       It was believed that there should be systematic approach to identifying opportunities for funding; including by/through partners and through working with the community and voluntary sector who would have access to funding that was not available to the Council. It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

The end of year, 2022/23, Corporate Performance and Impact Report will be submitted.

Contact:

Andy Simcox – Service Director for Strategy and Innovation

Rachel Spencer-Henshall – Strategic Director of Corporate Strategy, Commissioning and Public Health.

The end of year, Corporate Performance and Impact Report 2022/23 was submitted.

Councillor Paul Davies, the Corporate Portfolio Holder, Andy Simcox, Service Director for Strategy and Innovation and Mike Henry, Head of Data and Insight attended the meeting. A brief presentation highlighted the following:

·       The background to the current approach to performance monitoring, which focussed upon impact and achievement of shared outcomes.

·       The report included outcomes, key measures and delivery of the priorities contained within the Council Plan.

·       Detailed operational performance management information was collated within each service and was presented to the Council’s Executive Team.

·       The approach to performance was being reviewed.

·       Demand and capacity indicators were provided to the Members of this Committee on a regular basis.

·       The new Council Plan was expected to be approved in January 2024, and consideration would be given to the revision of performance indicators and the schedule for corporate performance reporting.

·       Members were invited to identify any issues that they considered would benefit from scrutiny.

Questions and comments were invited from Committee Members, with the following issues being covered:

·       It was anticipated that the future format of performance reports would include more tangible indicators and measurement of outcomes against targets. Financial data and activity data would also be integrated.

·       Further detail on the issues and the context affecting the outcomes would be useful in assessing performance.

·       The importance of the provision of ‘real-time’ data to assist Cabinet in decision-making was recognised. The demand and capacity indicators were shared with Cabinet on a monthly basis.

·       The importance of the transparency of information was acknowledged and this point would be taken on board in revising the approach.

·       It was suggested that consideration should be given to the potential for using land in the Council’s ownership for energy generation using wind which would generate revenue, and this was taken on board as a potential item for the relevant Scrutiny Panel.

·       The importance of the place standard funding, associated action plans and ward/community-based budgets and the benefits in terms of early intervention and prevention was recognised but there was significant financial pressure, particularly looking forward to 2024/25. The position was being reviewed, with a view to doing everything possible to maintain the investment, and this would be progressed as quickly as possible to inform the budget in February 2024.

·       The aim was to support the move towards resilience and self-reliance within communities and using funding to foster and build independence and sustainability.

·       The area of care provision was being extensively reviewed, the aim being to create efficiencies whilst retaining the necessary support; it was not possible to say whether the Council’s role would change at this stage. It was noted that this may be an issue that the relevant Scrutiny Panel might wish to look at in more detail.

·       The government had given assurances in respect of the funding to deal with any problems with concrete structures. Limited numbers had been identified, to date, in the district. The Asset Management Team already had a rigorous  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

The report will seek approval from the Committee for the process to be followed for the appointment of Kirklees representatives to a Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) with Calderdale and Wakefield Councils in respect of the Older People’s Inpatient Mental Health Services Transformation Programme.

Contact:

Yolande Myers – Principal Governance Officer

Approval was sought to the process to be followed in relation to the appointment of Kirklees representatives to a Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC), with Calderdale and Wakefield Councils, in respect of the Older People’s Inpatient Mental Health Services Transformation Programme.

It was noted that the draft Terms of Reference contained within the report would be submitted to the JHOSC for approval.

Resolved -

That it be agreed that the nominations for Kirklees representation on the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, with Calderdale and Wakefield Councils, should be sought from the main political groups (Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Green) on the basis of 1:1:1:1.

The Lead Members for the Children’s Scrutiny Panel and the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel will update the Committee on the work being undertaken by their panels.

Contact:

Sheila Dykes – Principal Governance Officer.

The Lead Members for the Children’s Scrutiny Panel and the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel updated the Committee on the work being undertaken by their Panels.

The latest version of the Committee’s Work Programme for 2023/24 will be considered.

Contact:

Sheila Dykes – Principal Governance Officer

The latest version of the Committee’s Work Programme for 2023/24 was submitted for consideration.