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The committee looked at the Council's Change Programme, the set of projects the Council launched to find savings and change how services work. It agreed to recommend that the Lead Member for Finance and Performance receive a further update in October 2025, including a model for embedding the culture change needed for transformation. It also agreed its work programme, moving the planning governance update to October 2025 and adding a hybrid working progress report for March 2026.
Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors William Baldwin and Jeremy Newton.
AGREED – To sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 10 April 2025.
Decision as recorded
AGREED – That Agenda Item 5 - Change Programme Update – be brought forward and taken at this time.
AGREED – That Agenda Item 5 - Change Programme Update – be brought forward and taken at this time.
Decision as recorded
AGREED: To recommend to the Lead Member for Finance & Performance:- i. That a further update report be submitted to Committee in October 2025 when more detail is available on the projects which sit beneath each of the programme themes. ii. That a model for embedding the culture change required for transformation is included in the update report.
The Lead Member for Finance and Performance submitted a report COFI/14/25 which provided the Committee with an update on the Council’s Change Programme arrangements, and the progress made by the Change Programme so far. The Lead Member introduced his report and responded to questions accordingly thereafter, with input from the Chief Officer Finance and ICT and Lead Officer Change Programme. During the ensuing debate, a number of issues were highlighted, including: · Acknowledgment that the VR/VER process had not brought about the level of savings originally anticipated. · Query as to whether the VR/VER process would be repeated. Officers advised that this process was unlikely to be repeated. · The need to monitor the impact of the previous VR/VER approvals on teams and staff members. · It was suggested that compulsory redundancy was the likely future reality. · It was noted that some applications for VR/VER which had been unsuccessful due to the workforce structure at that time, could be re-visited as the Local Authority approached transformation work. · The savings in Appendix 1 listed as ‘Utilise council workforce to undertake work for other departments’ related primarily to increased use of staff in the Environment Department and the reduction in the cost of external resources. · Going forward there would be a clear set of themes and an intention to deliver options for change that would have a positive impact on the budget · It was expected that there would be a greater link to service transformation going forward rather than efficiency savings. A number of Member workshops in respect of this would be arranged. · Officers advised that there would still be a requirement for some measure of efficiency savings within some services. · The consultation responses in relation to libraries were being assessed currently and a progress report was being prepared. · Scoping and mapping work on the theme of ‘Working with our Communities and Partners’ included community councils. · Up to March 2025, 90% of the change programme savings identified for 2024/25 in Appendix 1 were on track to be delivered. · Impact of the savings from ceasing Bank Holiday collections for waste and recycling collections would be monitored during Q2 budget monitoring. · There continued to be external challenge on the Change Programme which included sharing examples of actions being developed in other authorities and technical expertise in areas of school transport, social care and prioritisation of projects. · Concern around the strategic alignment within the priority matrix to key strategic policies which were not yet developed (eg Economic Prosperity Strategy, Anti-poverty Strategy). · Empowering the workforce would be crucial in taking forward transformational change and it was important to have a flexible Hybrid Working Policy to support this. · Confirmation that the staff and Member parking scheme would be revisited as part of the 2025/26 savings proposals listed in Appendix 1. · The temporary change in the capital receipts policy for no assumed ring-fencing of capital receipts, unless required by statute or regulation or specifically approved by Executive Board, had been continued for 2025/26 as agreed at the meeting of the Executive Board in March 2025. AGREED: To recommend to the Lead Member for Finance & Performance:- i. That a further update report be submitted to Committee in October 2025 when more detail is available on the projects which sit beneath each of the programme themes. ii. That a model for embedding the culture change required for transformation is included in the update report.
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Decision as recorded
AGREED – That the work programme as attached at Appendix 1 to the report COGC/31/25 be agreed, subject to the aforementioned changes.
The Chief Officer Governance and Customer submitted a report COGC/31/25 which allowed Members to consider the work programme of the Customers, Performance, Resources & Governance Scrutiny Committee attached at Appendix 1. The Scrutiny Facilitator referred the Committee to the changes that had been made to the work programme since the last meeting. The following proposals were put forward and subsequently agreed: · Planning Governance Update – to be scheduled for the meeting in October 2025 · Hybrid Working – progress on the implementation of the new policy to be scheduled for the meeting in March 2026. Details of the costs associated with the implementation of the policy to be included in the next update report on the Change Programme (October 2025). AGREED – That the work programme as attached at Appendix 1 to the report COGC/31/25 be agreed, subject to the aforementioned changes.