Councillor Dan Hurcomb was welcomed as a cabinet member.

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were apologies from Councillor Biggs. 

To receive declarations of interests in respect of Table A, Table B or Other Interests from members of the committee in respect of items on the agenda.

None.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 1 May 2025. 

Resolved:       That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 May, subject to the amendment below, be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairperson.

Food Waste Collection Service

Page 12 if the agenda pack matter of accuracy point the minutes should read:

It was confirmed that more than 1million mega watt hours of electricity energy had been generated from the total waste stream and not just from the food waste food waste collected since 2017.

To receive questions from members of the public.

Questions received and responses given are attached as appendix 1 to the minutes.

To receive questions from councillors.

Questions received and responses given are attached as appendix 2 to the minutes.

To receive reports from the Council’s scrutiny committees on any recommendations to the Cabinet arising from recent scrutiny committee meetings.

There are no reports from Scrutiny.

There were no reports from scrutiny committees for consideration at this meeting.

To review performance for Quarter 4 (Q4) 2024/25 and to report the performance position across all Directorates for this period.

The member for finance and corporate services introduced the report.  It was highlighted that 78% or 146 out of 187 milestones had been completed this year, 9% or 17 were red and would be carried over into the 2025/26 Delivery Plan. It was confirmed that the details for each of these red milestones were set out in Appendix A.  It was noted that 12% or 23 milestones were categorised as purple, these would also be carried over to the 2025/26 Delivery Plan, this was due to the time skills changing due to inter dependent activity.  There was one milestone which was awaiting an out turn of CO2 emissions to be available for 2024/25 to assess whether the target had been met.

 Whilst it was noted to be disappointing that not all 187 milestones were met the council had been transparent with the reasons why they had not been completed.

It was highlighted that beyond the Delivery Plan the council had achieved many other successes in quarter 4 of 2024/25.  Notably, it had continued to deliver on its capital investment programme which comprised of over 100 projects.  These included Peterchurch Primary School £10.8m new build, planned to commence in September 2025. The expansion of Aylestone School funded by £13.1m of Department for Education money, due to commence construction in September 2025.  Two projects under the school’s capital maintenance programme and five projects under the estate's capital investment programme were completed in quarter four.  Six projects as part of the S106 delivery programme, were completed which included a bus shelter at St Martins Way, Ledbury and the extension to the offices and reception area at Ashfield Park Primary School in Ross. Two projects were completed as part of the school accessibility improved programme which include internal adaptation and remodelling at Sutton St. Nicholas Primary School to improve accessibility for disabled pupils.  

It was highlighted that £15m of roads resurfacing was completed across the county.  The legal agreements with Network Rail and Transport for Wales were completed and the Hereford Transport Hub contract was selected, with construction work beginning in quarter 1 of 2025/26.  Construction was also due to start soon for the Holme Lacy active travel improvements following the design and road safety audits being completed.  The detailed design was completed for the Tarrington wetland ahead of its planned construction in quarter 1 of 2025/26. The listed building consent was secured and a two-stage procurement process for construction delivery commenced regarding the Shirehall restoration and Library Learning Centre.  In addition, the stage one contractor procurement was concluded for the Hereford Museum and Art Gallery.  The Home Upgrade Grant concluded in quarter 4 and delivered thermal and energy upgrades to 220 off means Herefordshire households against a target of 200.  Lastly, design consultants were appointed as part of the Western Bypass Phase 1.

The Council Plan theme of People, 55 out of 60 milestones were completed with 3 red which would be rolled forward to next year’s Delivery Plan and 2 purple. It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To report the provisional financial outturn position for 2024/25 for revenue and capital budgets.

ChildrenCHTHE MEMBER the The member for finance and corporate services introduced the report.  It was noted that the financial position the current administration had inherited was dire with quarter 1 forecast of £13.8m on a revenue budget of £193.3m.  However, today the final outturn position for 2024/25 showed an underspend of £0.5m on a budget of £212.8m.  It was also highlighted that the draft statement of accounts had been published, one month earlier than the statutory requirements, which put the council in the top 3% of councils in the country. 

It was noted that this year’s multi year settlement will not be kind to this council given the Labour Government’s removal of the Rural Services Grant and reduction in the central government grant.  On that basis, it was confirmed, to place £0.5m underspend in the general reserve fund which increased it to £10.1m. 

It was noted that in November 2024 cabinet approved a transfer of £11m from business rates risk reserve to establish a budget resilience reserve to mitigate against in-year cost pressures.  At this outturn position it was confirmed that a planned transfer of £4m from the budget resilience reservice would be applied to cost pressures in adult social care and temporary accommodation budgets in the community well-being directorate in 2024/25.    

It was confirmed that the earmarked reserves and general balances policy statement for 2025/26 would be carried forward on 31 March 2025 to manage future emerging risks and in-year budgetary pressures over the medium-term period.

It was highlighted that the Children Young People directorate budget delivered an underspend of £2.8m in 2025/26 and the planned savings of £2.3m had been delivered in full. It was confirmed that the additional budget of £2.3m, following the budget amendment in February 2024, was never given to the directorate from reserves in 2024/25.  The reserves were not used by the directorate in the year but had been used as part of the year end close down process to manage the whole council position.  It was also noted that the £2.3m had always been reported separately and transparently throughout the year in the quarterly reports and was presented as an underspend in Table 1 of the 2024/25 revenue outturn. 

It was noted that the Community and Wellbeing directorate had faced some significant challenges this year with increased demand and included a transfer from the budget resilience reserve of £4m, which still left a £1.5m overspend.

It was confirmed that Appendix A showed the details of the outturn position by directorate which totalled a £0.5m underspend. 

Regarding deliver of savings, the council approved £19.5m of savings for 2024/25 which comprised of directorate savings of £11.6m and £7.9m of council wide savings. It was noted that £10.9m of savings had been delivered and where savings had not been recurrently delivered in 2024/25 a focused review of the original proposals and planned activity had been undertaken and revised saving plans had been developed where appropriate.  The individual savings plans were included in Appendix D of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To approve the Risk Management Strategy and Corporate Risk Register.

ChildrenCHTHE MEMBER the The member for finance and corporate services introduced the report.  It was highlighted that the Audit and Governance committee had been engaged in the development of this strategy throughout 2024/25 and the draft strategy was reviewed by the committee in March 2025. 

The risks and context were set out, strategic delivery included those risks that would prevent the timely delivery of priorities and objectives of the Council Plan 2024 -2028 and supporting annual delivery plans across the themes of people, place, growth and transformation.

Legal and compliance included those risks arising from a defective transaction. Financial risks were ones that arose from not managing risks and finances in accordance with requirements, and financial constraints. Governance risks were those arising from unclear plans, priorities, authorities and accountabilities.

Data and technology risks arose from a failure to produce robust suitable and appropriate data in information. Security risks arose from a failure to prevent unauthorised and/or inappropriate access to the estate and information.

Finally, reputational risks arose from adverse events including ethical violations, lack of sustainability, systematic or repeated failures, or poor quality or lack of innovation leading to damages to the council’s reputation and or destruction of trust and relations.

 It was noted that the roles and responsibilities section clearly specified what was required for specific roles and highlighted that a strong risk management culture was demonstrated.   

The importance of the thrive core values were emphasised as the guiding principles.  It was noted that all elected members had a responsibility in respect to risk, and risk training would be provided.  The officers section also specified individuals and all staff indicating their responsibilities regarding risk.

It was highlighted that the risk management framework and processes section broke down the coordinated activities and processes into 5 clear steps. (1) Establish objectives, (2) Identify the risks, (3) Analyse and evaluate the risk, (4) Manage through mitigation or treatment of the risks, (5) Record and report.

It was confirmed that activities would continue in 2025/26 to ensure that this strategy translated to the management of risk across all services and projects and that risk drove decision-making and service delivery.  

It was noted there would be 3 levels of risk registers, (1) Corporate risk register would include those of significant strategic and cross cutting importance requiring the attention of senior management and elected members.  (2) Directorate risk registers would require the attention of the respective director, directorate leadership team and heads of service or senior managers.  (3) Directorate risks would be local versions of those on the corporate risk register e.g. directorate budget or information management and governance.  Service risk registers included programmes and projects at an operational nature and would be reported to the respective service management team, programme or project board.   

It was noted that the risk and insurance manager was responsible for ensuring consistency in the approach across the three levels of risk register.

It was confirmed that the Risk Management Strategy supported compliance with statutory requirements of the Accounts and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.