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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED that County Councillor Aled Davies be elected Chair for the ensuing year. (Proposed by Cllr Pete and seconded by Cllr Chris)
RESOLVED that County Councillor Pete Lewington be elected Vice-Chair for the ensuing year. (proposed by Cllr Aled and Seconded by Cllr Chris) Acknowledged the re-appointment of Gareth Hall as the Governance and Audit Committee Representative to Finance Panel for the ensuing year. Chair, on behalf of the Panel, congratulated Jane Thomas on appointment as Director of Corporate Services.
Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs: A Jones, J Pugh, G Ratcliffe. Officer Catherine James Head of Transformation and Democratic Services.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that County Councillor Aled Davies be elected Chair for the ensuing year. (Proposed by Cllr Pete and seconded by Cllr Chris)
RESOLVED that County Councillor Aled Davies be elected Chair for the ensuing year. (Proposed by Cllr Pete and seconded by Cllr Chris)
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that County Councillor Pete Lewington be elected Vice-Chair for the ensuing year. (proposed by Cllr Aled and Seconded by Cllr Chris) Acknowledged the re-appointment of Gareth Hall as the Governance and Audit Committee Representative to Finance Panel for the ensuing year. Chair, on behalf of the Panel, congratulated Jane Thomas on appointment as Director of Corporate Services.
RESOLVED that County Councillor Pete Lewington be elected Vice-Chair for the ensuing year. (proposed by Cllr Aled and Seconded by Cllr Chris) Acknowledged the re-appointment of Gareth Hall as the Governance and Audit Committee Representative to Finance Panel for the ensuing year. Chair, on behalf of the Panel, congratulated Jane Thomas on appointment as Director of Corporate Services.
There were no Declarations of Interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda.
Points raised by the Panel: Responses received from Officers or Cabinet Members. Bespoke Finance Training to be organised for Panel and the various Committees by Finance Team. Lead Officer Jane Thomas / Anne Phillips Terms of Reference for Finance Panel to be reviewed. Lead Officer Jane Thomas / Anne Phillips
Background The Portfolio Holder gave a brief overview as follows: · Information held within the report includes that of the additional funding streams received, delivery of approved costs reductions during the year and the explanation of the variances against the budget. · The report sets out the position for each Service with detailed narrative from Heads of Service in Appendix A. · High inflation and pay awards have continued to impact costs across all services. · Final outturn reports a net underspend after contributions to specific reserves of £1.8m against the £242.1m budget a 0.7% variance excluding schools and the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). · Savings of £15.4m had been delivered as planned. · Additional income, effective use of grant funding and a continued focus on reducing spend, created opportunities to release one-off funding to support increasing pressures in 24/25 and future years. · Funds have been set aside to support the Forward Capital Programme investing in schools, social services and climate change activities as well as projects that would transform the way we work preparing for the financial challenges ahead. The Director of Corporate Services and S151 Officer added: · Section 3 showed the changes at year end relating to Adult Social Care where additional income, not predicted, came through credit notes, changes to provider and auditing of the account, which at the close saw benefit also across Direct Payments. These benefits prevented drawing on the Risk Budget to the extent predicted earlier in the year. · Governing Bodies had expected to draw significantly on their reserves in terms of the schools budget plans and the outturn position was almost in line with the forecast, with a very small reduction against that draw on reserves. · Table 1 showed specific transfers to ringfenced reserves totalling just over £0.5m. · As in previous years there were some settings that were independent to the Council, transferring those balances together with the licensing budget and the Section 33 agreements, leaves an underspend as reported of £1.793m. · The proposal in terms of the underspend was to be transferred to 3 reserves. o £750k to Capital Reserves to support future borrowing costs or limit borrowing costs. o £750k to Invest to Save reserves to support Council projects in delivering Sustainable Powys and make reductions across the cost base. o The remainder £293k was proposed to transfer to the General Reserve. · The HRA and the Schools Delegated budget are ringfenced reserves, the net effect is a transfer of £146k. · Section 4 showed the cost reductions of £16.5m approved as part of the Council Budget 2023/24, in addition to undelivered savings from the previous year. · The Council looked to deliver savings of £17.4m in 2023/24 with £15.4m or 88% delivered in year, an improvement against previous years. · Of the remaining £2m, £1.7m would be rolled forward for delivery in 2024/25 as deemed achievable. · The £353k within Highways Transport and Recycling (HTR) was written out of the budget, as approved by Council in February. · Section 5 focussed on reserves and the yearend balance as well as agreed specific movements that had been built into the outturn position and some proposed virements. · There was an increase in the usable reserves, a substantial amount of which was in relation to grants paid that still required spend or were reflected in the cost for the current financial year. £9m out of the £11m transferred into reserves. · Table 4 showed the significant draw on the School reserves of £5.8m which supported increased costs i.e., higher inflation and pay awards. · The impact reported was that the Schools reserves held across all sectors was at £891k. · Section 6 related to transformation and what had been delivered through that budget with a spend of £2.5m on transformational activities. · The Transformation budget also supported some of the redundancies delivered across the organisations, including schools where falling pupil numbers and management of budgets were noted and required. · Section 7 set out the proposed virements and any additional grant funding received within the last period of the year. · The Capital budget impact on the Revenue Budget, noted the outturn position was reasonable, with reduced and managed costs during the year as the Council looked to limit expenditure. · The Council was moving into a period where the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) was predicted to be cash flat, with the expectation of significant challenge to be faced over the next few years. Chair expressed the Panels gratitude to Officers on a very informative and useful summary report of the budget and how money was spent by the Council. Points raised by the Panel: Responses received from Officers or Cabinet Members. Clarification sought on the Council Tax collection rates, was the percentage quoted in relation to monetary value or the number of households. How much was not collected and how could Powys achieve a 100% collection rate. The percentage was in monetary terms. The in-year Council Tax collection rate is usually improved over the next few months as the collection and debt recovery continues. It was expected that the total collected would be nearer the 100% by the end of that particular collection period. Powys collection rate is still quite high, despite the national trend of collection rates being slightly down on previous years. The Debt Recovery Team has had additional resource and through grant funding via the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) additional Money Advice Officers have been funded to support residents who have difficulty in managing budgets and assist to consider appropriate allowances and benefits. The Council Tax Reduction Scheme also supported residents where eligible, which was at a significant cost to the council but necessary support. The Portfolio Holder added that the slight reduction in Council Tax collection rate should not be a surprise due to the cost-of-living crisis that residents have had to endure over the last few years. However emphasis must be given to the support offered to residents by the Money Advice Service and through the Council Tax Reduction Scheme. If collection rate targets were not achieved, would funds have to be drawn from the Risk Management Budget to cover any deficit. If the outstanding Council Tax were not collected, there would be a hit on the overall Council budget, any under recovery would have to be managed within the overall budget position. How many Monetary Advice officers were there currently, aware these were not statutory roles, but the impact made was positive. There are 6 officers in post with 4 funded from the SPF. 2 posts are noted on the FRM for future years once grant funding drops off at the end of April 2025, with the 2 remaining posts grant funded until the end of December. Co-opted Panel Member echoed the Chairs sentiments on an informative and pleasing report, however the sting is in the tail as reminded of the challenges set out in the MTFS. It would appear that a lot of store was held with Sustainable Powys, with proposals to date being the art of the possible. However would these proposals eliminate the budget shortfall over the medium term. What were the timescales for achievement, if proposals were accepted, what funds would need to be invested to make these savings. The Council has to bridge the £16m gap for 25/26, identify appropriate cost reductions that can be delivered for April 2025. There has to be a balanced budget for next February for Council to consider. Over the MTFS 5-year period, the projected gap was over £50m, which means we could not look at 2025/26 in isolation. It was important that the financial model becomes far more populated, with more work undertaken by Heads of Service across the organisation. A refreshed MTFS would be discussed by Cabinet on the 30th July, whilst the level of inflation was reduced, costs were still increasing but at a lower rate. Proposals and some delivery estimates of the cost reductions over the next 5 years would be included in the MTFS report. Further work would be undertaken in the early Autumn to finalise the budget position. The Portfolio Holder commented that Sustainable Powys was about ensuring the LA could meet future demands having taken into consideration the pressures that were still present, the population demographic, the geo-political arena, increased inflation, national debt sitting at 100% of GDP, all result with the LA having to generate growth to change and meet demands of the economy through the Sustainable Powys programme. The report mentioned receipt of additional funding streams have helped manage budget positions, were these funding streams likely to continue or cease from the end of 2024/25, if so, how would that impact on PCC’s risk and management moving forward The question had been raised on numerous occasions in relation to the Council’s dependency on grants, how vulnerable would the authority be if these ceased. With the 750k Spend to Save what was the anticipated return and would some be re-invested in other Spend to Save projects. The focus on investing in schools, social services and climate change was welcomed. However did the School reserves reduction to £0.9m leave the Authority vulnerable and what actions were in place to address this. Additional funding received towards the end of the year, some of which were one-offs, would not be replicated but would be built into the base budget going forward to help bridge the gap. Similarly the use of grants, does cause concern. We are reviewing workforce plans for each service, to understand which posts were reliant on grant funding to establish and mitigate the risks of those funding streams ceasing. The Council would continue to utilise grants where the criteria aligns with what we were looking to do. Spend to Save it was expected that more projects would be proposed and progressed where there was investment up front, with a payback period to replenish the reserve prior to releasing savings on a permanent basis into the base budget, an example was the recent Children’s Services Foster Carer Business Case Each proposal must have a robust business case to support providing 1. The level of investment in terms of savings. 2. Risks have been considered and mitigated. Projects would be reviewed against the achieved delivery and expectation. Schools budgets would be an important factor in the budget plan for 2025/26 and beyond. A report would be considered by Cabinet which would note the impact that continued inflation was having. It was clear that school could not rely on reserves to fund baseline budgets on an ongoing basis. In terms of the £3m reduction in the Schools Delegated Budget plus increased costs and significant pay award costs what were the expected consequences for schools. There remained a number of unanswered questions the Transformation Programme had been seen as the solution for last 5-8years, with no clear pathway to the final framework of schools across the county being formalised. Last year’s in-year budget virtually every school had a negative balance. The Transformation programme needs to be accelerated as the curriculum offer made to high school pupils, particularly for those along the Powys border at Post 16 where there was a significant outflow seeking education in neighbouring Counties. The teachers pay award was yet to be finalised, due in September, which would be a key factor for school budgets over this next year. There were historic deficits across some schools, the Service and schools continued working to bring budgets back to the baseline funding received. Two elements to this work were: 1. Effective management of school budgets. 2. Review of funding moving forward. To assure the Panel, deep dive reviews were being undertaken in High Schools and some Primary Schools to highlight potential areas that could be managed more efficiently around the curriculum and contact time, to inform how to move forward. The Transformation Programme needed to be escalated and difficult decisions would have to be made by the Cabinet. The reality was that there were too many schools to maintain and keep operational. There are currently surplus places across all sectors, however on a school-by-school basis particularly in the Primary sector these is a need to invest. If schools were to be reorganised there would be a need to invest in additional places. The Portfolio Holder added that Transformation was key to resolving this issue. When the pace of transformation is raised there must be recognition of the incredibly high interest rates and level of inflation that had impacted the whole programme. The outturn reports note that 75% of schools were managing within the funding envelopes provided with the remaining 25% experiencing varying degrees of issues, and therefore credit must go to the Finance, Team around the School and School Improvement teams who have carried out the deep dives, where all schools are delivering a balanced budget. Request made for the breakdown and movement changes in the reserves over the last 12 months, to be forwarded to Panel Members. Request would be actioned, and information provided to Panel. Clarification sought on Redundancy costs and whether these were capitalised or not. Capital receipts were not used to fund redundancy costs as these were funded from the revenue-based budget. For local government staff, the pension strain was capitalised as a one-off calculation. This would not include teachers, who have a different pension scheme where the ongoing costs of releasing a teacher was met annually from the education budget. Business cases for the release of teachers must be robust and sets out the benefits to meet the ongoing cost reduction. Point 2.5 of the Cabinet report was a really good summary of the function of the Council, clarification sought on whether there was any crossover between the Adult Social Care (ASC) figures quoted. There was no crossover between the long-term community-based care and those with mental health issues cohorts. However, would provide information to Panel, if found crossover between the preventative and the community support cohorts. The Children Looked After (CLA) numbers, despite significant investment a few years ago, remained around 240 and the budget has more than doubled over the last 5 years. With Sustainable Powys work were those numbers to remain or would investment see the numbers reduce. Were there any Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) on performance, staffing numbers and benchmarking to other LA’s could context be provided for future reports. CLA numbers were benchmarked across Wales, was provided monthly and compared both regionally and nationally. Wherever possible, taking into each child’s needs, the service looks to reduce the CLA figure by returning children home safely. The business proposal of invest to save opportunity of building and recruiting more foster carers meaning more children could be looked after closer to families and communities would be presented to Full Council this week. Placements remained a significant pressure and the national shortage of provision, due in part to providers being able to charge what they deem appropriate for the provision required. The rise from a placement of £3k per week previously was now anything from £8k to £15k per week for children with complex needs. Welsh Government were proposing a not-for-profit agenda and were committed to reducing profit for any child that was in care. The Care Inspectorate Wales reviewed trends, to ensure reductions in the noted upward trajectory. Early intervention prevention arena has grown over the last couple of years and further investment was required in order to get the right help at the right time prior to reaching a crisis point. National and regional data as well as ASC KPI’s were compared relating to numbers of individuals in receipt of domiciliary care, reablement, residential and nursing care. The service reviewed early help, and prevention to allow service users to remain at home longer where possible and were analysing data around the prevention agenda and the need to invest further. The transformation programme has redesigned support through Assessments and the Front Door to divert individuals into community provision rather than receiving statutory services. Work continued in community service, domiciliary care and direct payments with an increase in the number of providers joining the Direct Payment Service. However the projected demand given Powys’ demographic meant that the hours of domiciliary care provided by PCC was still increasing. The performance data was benchmarked and compared across the region and nationally was this the same for financial data. Financial data was received in terms of costs for CLA, which allowed LA’s to see how capacity could meet demand whilst the provider dictated the market. Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) continued on an upward trajectory. For Kent LA the pressure was considerable. The expectation was that there would be an increase in numbers across the UK’s LA’s over the summer period. However the small amount of funding that comes with the UASC did not meet need costs What were the current Delayed Transfers of Care (D-TOC) figures as a result of care packages not in place. The figures have improved from those returning from DGH (District General Hospital) There were significant numbers of delays due to winter pressures and the industrial actions. Additional resource had been put into the Discharge Team and were just below the average of delays, due to assessments Partnership work with PTHB to reduce long stay in community hospitals to below 90- days. An Unscheduled Care Board has been established to review pinch points, and how to be as efficient as possible within resources available and exploring the Trusted Assessor Model.
Background: The Portfolio Holder gave a brief overview as follows: · The Capital programme approved by Council in February 2023 included schemes totalling £93.29m of which £23.48m related to the HRA. · Following re-profiling of projects and additional grants received from Welsh Government the programme as at 31st March 2024 was budgeted at £80.12m. · Actual spend amounted to £63.72m representing 79% of the total budget an increase of £13.84m since that reported at the end of February 2024. · Additional Capital Receipts were in hand and a contribution from the Capital Financing Reserve was used to replace borrowing to reduce interest and MRP costs charged to the Revenue Budget in future years. · A list of budgets being carried forward into 2024/25 was being completed. · Section 3 gave details of projects delivered across the Service Areas. · Section 4 focussed on grants received notably a Welsh Government Transitional Accommodation Capital Programme toward the purchase of 4 properties to be retained by the Councils housing stock. · Reprofiling across financial years for Capital Programmes continued into 2024/25, with capital receipts totalling £2.41m received in 2023/24. The Director of Corporate Services and S151 Officer added: · Capital investment was aligned with the Schools Transformation programme and key projects. Also highlighted were HTR, and other Service Areas where the Council was continuing to invest. · Significant investment was required across the estate to ensure the Council holds the appropriate assets to enable the delivery of services effectively, whilst reducing costs as we move through the next few years. · Key fundamental decisions would be required of the Council over the next few months. Points raised by the Panel: Responses received from Officers or Cabinet Members. The figures within the report at Section 3, particularly around Highways, would it be possible to for more context to be provided i.e., the previous year’s spend, and total mileage or area resurfaced or dressed which would show the inflationary costs. In addition further context required on School projects, whilst good to emphasise the achievements, to acknowledge the challenge, in particular on the maintenance backlog, would have been helpful. Explanation requested in relation to Capital Receipts, and the progress of sales made during the year which had not yet hit the ledger. Request noted by Officers, would review to include information in future reports. The sale should be completed in this financial year. Chair of Governance and Audit was invited to comment: Given the particular Capital receipt transaction and the concerns that had been raised, it would be helpful for the Governance and Audit Committee to be briefed on the governance. Action to be completed outside this forum. The Director of Corporate Services would lead on this request. Have any Service Areas been instructed to delay investment on capital projects to assist saving on revenue. The Portfolio Holder responded that no specific instruction had been given, however, caution was required due to the current economic environment and inflationary cost pressures. Any delays incurred, would be through Services regard to responsible investment and spend. Were delays on investment and maintenance backlog, impacting on learners, health and safety or the delivery of education, and could the above all be due to inflation tenders exceeding estimates. Tenders were being progressed following cost increases on large school projects. Retendering had been undertaken, awaiting the outcome of the current market position if higher than the funding budgeted. It has been difficult to remain within the estimated budget set at Strategic Outline Case (SOC) over the last couple of years. Once the retenders were received, discussions with CLT/ Cabinet and WG would be held if costs have exceeded those outlined. WG grants were set at Final Business Case stage after the tenders had been received. At this point, the percentage would be split between PCC and WG. On receipt of tenders as a Council we have to be assured, as do WG prior to supporting funding of programmes, that projects remained within the threshold of expected costs. Clarification requested on the plans to close Treowen CP School and the expansion of Ysgol Calon y Dderwen, which forms part of the North Powys Well-being Programme campus. Was funding set aside within the budget to scope for any expansion or would further funding have to be sought for the project to proceed. To clarify the current position consultation on the proposal to expand the Ysgol Calon y Dderwen project which included the Treowen site had taken place. Should a new build go ahead on the Ysgol Calon y Dderwen site this would be built to accommodate both Treowen Calon y Dderwen on one site. The recommendation, as described above, has been put to Cabinet for a decision tomorrow. Should Cabinet support the recommendation, the service would move into the design stage for the new build. There was an allocation within the Capital programme for Ysgol Calon y Dderwen, however this was based on the previous SOC for a 270-place school. If the recommendation proceeds there was a difference between the SOC of 2020 and now, therefore a revised SOC would have to be submitted to Cabinet and then to WG with an expected update on costs, if required. There continues to be frustration across the Council with the lack of pace of the North Powys Well-being programme, were any updates forthcoming. The programme was moving forward in terms of looking at the different workstreams of the campus development. In terms of the SOC had been submitted to WG and PCC should be advised of outcome towards the end of summer 2024.
Terms of Reference was already noted above, and Sustainable Powys Update was a standard agenda item when information was available.
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