The Strategic Director Corporate Services will submit a report (Document “Q”) which provides Members with an overview of the forecast financial position of the Council for 2017-18 and a mid-year performance report.

It examines the latest spend against revenue and capital budgets and forecasts the financial position at the year end. It states the Council’s current balances and reserves and forecasts school balances for the year. 

The report was considered by the Executive at its meeting held on 7 November 2017.

Recommended –

That the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee review and comment on the Mid Year Finance and Performance Statement for 2017-18.

The Strategic Director Corporate Services submitted a report (Document “Q”) which provided Members with an overview of the forecast financial position of the Council for 2017-18 and a mid-year performance report.

It examined the latest spend against revenue and capital budgets and forecasted the financial position at the year end. It stated the Council’s current balances and reserves and forecasted school balances for the year. 

The report was considered by the Executive at its meeting held on 7 November 2017.

In relation to performance, in many key areas performance was improving and remained on target, although there continued to be areas where the district faced significant challenges, and where performance was either deteriorating or was not improving quickly enough in order to meet the Council Plan targets.

In relation to Finance, at the mid year point, a £3.8m projected overspend was being predicted above the approved budget of £375.2m, a significant improvement since the last quarter reporting stage.  Areas of projected overspend principally related to adult and children social care, reasons which had been linked to increase demand in those service area and savings not being delivered as planned.

During the discussion, Members asked a number of questions, the questions together with the responses are detailed below:

The Chair stated that in previous performance report red, amber and green ratings gave a flavour of how the Council was performing, however this report did not adequately set out a direction of travel.  In response the Assistant Director stated that this could be added in future reporting of performance data.

A Member highlighted that a number of service areas were performing below target, such as the number of looked after children, and ascertained the reasons for this underperformance.  In response the Strategic Director Children’s Services stressed that in comparison to other local authorities, Bradford’s performance was good, acknowledging that some areas did require improvement.  He acknowledged that the number of children in care had increased, however weekly performance management meetings were held with the Portfolio Holder and plans were in place to closely monitor the situation.

In relation to a question regarding comparisons with other local authorities, the Health and Wellbeing Portfolio Holder stated that more work was needed to achieve stability in placements, as evidence showed that children flourished in a stable environment.

A Member raised a number of issues; in relation to fly tipping in Keighley West, she commended officers for the work they had done to tackle the problem, however more work was need to encourage people to recycle more.  In relation to the Council’s sickness absence figures, the Member ascertained what measures were being put in place to address the issue of stress and mental health.  In response the Strategic Director Place confirmed a lot of effort had gone in to address the issue around fly tipping across the district, which had yielded some very positive results as well as successful prosecutions,  in relation to the issue of stress, the Strategic Director Children’s Services alluded to the work being done with frontline staff and how they can be better supported to reduce incidents of stress.

The Chair stated that the issue of sickness absence needed further investigation, as sickness absence resulted in a significance cost to the Authority, and he suggested that this Committee could undertake a detailed scrutiny in how the Council managed sickness absence.

A Member stated that the Council’s performance had to be seen in the context of Local Authority cuts.  In response the Strategic Director Corporate Services acknowledged that this was a key issue and that Authorities were trying to balance performance and diminishing resources in a challenging fiscal environment.  In this context a recent star chamber session was held to hold departments accountable and bring the budget back on track.

The Strategic Director also highlighted that in the area of Children’s Services, a small increase in the number of looked after children had a huge financial implication on the budget, however overall the Council was managing the budget well.

A Member stated that many services were no longer being provided and this was the reality of the situation, and there had to be an acceptance of this reality.

Resolved –

(1)       That all future performance reports include all the performance             indicators with the Red, Amber and Green rating and year on year        comparisons.

(2)       That this Committee undertakes a detailed scrutiny review into how sickness absence is managed throughout the Council.

ACTION:       Assistant Director Office of the Chief Executive

                        (Resolution 1)

                        Overview and Scrutiny Lead (Resolution 2)