Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Thursday, 12th September, 2024 7.00 pm - Agenda and minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 1st August, 2024 (copy attached).

The minutes of the meeting held on 1st August, 2024 were agreed as a correct record, subject to the following amendment at paragraph two on page 7 of the report;

AGREED – that the Cabinet be informed that the Committee considered grounds maintenance (i.e. weeding, grass cutting etc.) an important service for residents.

In relation to the meeting held on 13 June 2024, a number of issues were raised for clarity, these were as set out below:

·       At the meeting, it was noted that Cllr Tennant had emphasised the importance of the CIPFA report being considered by the Committee. He asked that it was made clear if the Council was indeed bankrupt or not. In response to the comment, Mr Harrison advised that the Council was not bankrupt and that a meeting would be scheduled for the CIPFA report to be presented to the Committee for scrutiny.

·       At the meeting, Cllr Trussler had requested to raise further questions outside of the meeting relating to the item on the Housing and Homelessness Prevention Strategy, due to time restrictions on the evening. These questions had been raised via email and shared with relevant officers for response.

·       The membership of the Committee’s Progress Group had been recorded incorrectly in the minutes. It was noted that the membership should include Cllr Nadia Martin and not Cllr C.P. Grattan.

To receive a report on the recently published Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Report (copy attached) for the Council.

Simon Allsop, Managing Consultant - Financial Management at CIPFA will be joining the meeting via MS Teams to provide an independent overview of the report and address any questions raised by the Committee. The Council’s Executive Head of Finance, Peter Vickers will also be in attendance.

The Chairman welcomed Simon Allsop, Managing Consultant – Financial Management, at the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), who was in attendance to provide an independent overview of the CIPFA Financial Resilience Review of the Council, published in June 2024. The Council’s Executive Head of Finance, Peter Vickers, was also in attendance.

It was advised that the Leader of the Council had been invited to the meeting but had been unable to attend. However, should Members have any questions, for him specifically, it was requested that these were made in writing via email to the Leader for him to respond to accordingly. It was also noted that he would be happy to attend a future meeting to address the Committee and update in regard to the Council’s progress in delivering it’s Financial Recovery Plan .

It was noted that the Council had commissioned CIPFA to undertake a review of its financial position and proposed response, as a result of concerns over emerging potential financial issues as set out in the General Fund Budget 2024-25 and the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2024-25 to 2027-28 and advice from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), that their focus had been on Councils that had or were unlikely to set a balanced budget in 2024/25 and were therefore currently not eligible for Exceptional Financial Support (EFS). The review had taken account of:

·       Financial Management and Sustainability – an assessment of the Council’s financial management and management risk, financial pressures, deliverability of savings plans and services and, any potential capital flexibilities

·       Debt/Commercial Assets – an assessment of the Council’s assets and investments taking account of commercial income, debt costs and other risks

·       Capital Programme/Companies – an assessment of the Council’s capital programme and management of related risk including the two Council owned companies, Rushmoor Homes Limited (RHL) and Rushmoor Development Partnership (RDP)

·       Governance and Culture – an assessment of the Council’s governance arrangements, leadership, operational culture and whether there had been appropriate governance procedures in place with the capability and capacity to make necessary transformation

The Report also set out improvement proposals and recommendations.

The Committee discussed the report and raised a number of issues, these included:

·       Disposal of assets – clarity was requested on the disposal on assets that generated revenue, it was noted that should the Council ever be considered for EFS or were looking to avoid a S114 notice, all assets would need to be considered for disposal on their individual merits

·       Implementation of a “golden triangle” – It was advised that a “golden triangle” referred to the three statutory officer roles within a local authority (Head of Paid Service, Monitoring Officer and S151 Officer). The CIPFA Report indicated that having the S151 Officer reporting to the Monitoring Officer and not directly to the Head of Paid Service potentially weakened governance and independence. It was advised that the implementation of a “golden triangle” was a matter for the Head of Paid Service who should also consider  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

To consider the Work Plan for the 2024/25 Municipal Year (copy attached).

The Chairman deferred discussion on the Work Plan to the next meeting of the Committee on 19 September, 2024.