Agenda item

To present the report of the Scrutiny Manager.

The report of the Scrutiny Manager setting out the work of the Finance Scrutiny Panel for the period from June to September, 2023 was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

Councillor Geraint Bebb, Chair of the Finance Scrutiny Panel provided an overview of the issues considered by the Panel at its meetings held on 8 June, 2023 and 7 September 2023. At the former meeting the Panel scrutinised the Quarter 4 2022/23 Revenue Budget Monitoring report specifically the demand on Social Services and Housing Services and the pressures on Social Services budgets. A development session on debt management was held and the Panel’s work programme for the subsequent six-month period was discussed. At the September meeting the Panel received a budget monitoring report in respect of all Council budgets for Quarter 1 2023/24 and areas of emerging risks were discussed. Detailed consideration was given to Homelessness Services in a separate item and the Panel’s Work Programme for September to April 2024 was confirmed. No matters had been escalated for the Corporate Scrunty Committee’s attention.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer advised that the Panel was established to scrutinise financial performance in more depth and detail than the work programme and commitments of the parent Committee allow, the purpose being to provide assurance about the Council’s financial management and to enable the Panel’s members to develop a greater understanding of service budgets. The Panel’s discussions are focused on specific areas and topics and the Panel will form part of the 2024/25 budget development process over the coming months.

In considering the feedback from the Finance Scrutiny Panel, the Committee raised the following matters –

·                     Ways in which the work of the Panel could be further strengthened.

Councillor Geraint Bebb confirmed that the Panel would continue to scrutinise budget performance with the receipt of Quarter 2 data at its next meeting. It is important that the Panel ensures that it is asking the right questions and the right time to obtain the information it needs and to highlight any emerging issues and/or risks.

·      In terms of the direction of the Panel’s work, whether the work being delivered by the Panel should be more accessible to the public.

The Scrutiny Manager advised that the Council has an established structure of public meetings and that the three scrutiny panels are convened in private by design to allow the panels’ members to delve in detail into matters that involve information of a confidential nature that is not publicly available in order to enable the panels to provide the level of assurance required by the two parent scrutiny committees. Any matters identified by the scrutiny panels as areas of concern can be escalated to the attention of the parent scrutiny committee and the parent scrutiny committee is also provided with regular progress reports on the work of the panels. It is considered therefore that the Council is transparent in the way it conveys the work of the scrutiny panels and its outcomes via the quarterly reporting arrangements.

·      Whether the Panel should be scrutinising any other areas in addition to those on its work programme

Councillor Geraint Bebb confirmed that the Panel will be targeting its attention on the areas facing the greatest financial challenges with Children and Families’ Services and Adults’ Services being the foremost among those areas. Other areas will be scrutinised as any issues/risks are identified.

It was resolved to note –

·           The progress made during the last period in terms of the work of the Finance Scrutiny Panel and,

·           The significant progress made in terms of developing a self-evaluation and questioning strategy as a basis for the work of the Finance Scrutiny Panel.