Agenda and minutes

Scrutiny Management Board - Monday 16 December 2024 1.00 pm

Venue: Conference Room 1 - Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane Offices, Hereford, HR4 0LE. View directions

Contact: Danial Webb, Statutory Scrutiny Officer 

Link: Watch this meeting live on the Herefordshire Council Youtube Channel

Items
No. Item

95.

Apologies for absence

To receive apologies for absence.

 

Minutes:

Apologies had been received from Councillor Bruce Baker and Councillor Harry Bramer.

96.

Named substitutes

To receive details of members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the board.

Minutes:

Councillor David Davies had been named as the substitute for Councillor Bruce Baker.

97.

Declarations of interest

To receive declarations of interests from members of the board in respect of items on the agenda.

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were made.

98.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 315 KB

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 28 October 2024.

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous meeting were received.

 

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 October 2024 be confirmed as a correct record and be signed by the Chairperson.

99.

Questions from members of the public pdf icon PDF 446 KB

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Two supplementary questions had been received by the committee and are published, along with responses, at Appendix 1 of the minutes.

100.

Questions from councillors

To receive any written questions from councillors.

Minutes:

No questions had been received from members of the council.

101.

Financial Monitoring pdf icon PDF 216 KB

To present the forecast position for 2024/25 at quarter 2 (September 2024), including explanation and analysis of the drivers for the material budget variances, and to outline current and planned recovery activity to reduce the forecast overspend. To provide assurance that progress has been made towards delivery of the agreed revenue budget and service delivery targets, and that the reasons for major variances are understood and are being addressed, as reported to Cabinet at its meeting on 28 November 2024.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director of Finance introduced and provided an overview of the report, the key points made included:

 

The report presented results up to 30 September 2024 and included six months of actual transactions and six months of estimated transactions to give a forecast outturn position for the year of, which was an overspend of £10.2 million.

 

The report identified management recovery action, which was currently due to reduce the overspend by £8.2 million to £2 million.

 

The report identified that of the £19.5 million savings target for 2024/25 £8.9 million worth of savings had been delivered to date, with a further £5.6 million being forecast as ‘in progress’ or ‘on target’.

 

There were £5 million pounds of savings currently assessed as ‘at risk’, with mitigating actions identified and work being underway to deliver those savings as a priority.

 

The Chair provided an outline of how the committee intended to address the report by considering the relationship between: revenue outturn, capital outturn, delivery and performance across the directorates and then looking at the overall picture.

 

 

Children and Young People

 

  1. The committee asked what plan the council had in place to address rising cost pressures in relation to SEN transport.

 

  • The Director of Finance explained that in terms of cost pressure there had been an increase in student passengers between September 2023 and September 2024 from 465 to 511 and an overall 23% increase in costs.

 

  • The council was carrying out work to address costs pressures including: reviewing options to lease minibuses, reviewing personal transport budgets, accelerating the travel training scheme to encourage students to become more independent and looking at policies to increase the efficiency of local transport options.

 

  • The area of SEN transport was recognised as a significant cost pressure in 2024/25 and would potentially continue to be a problem in 2025/26 unless action was taken.

 

  1. The committee asked if the mileage scheme for parents had been considered as an option.

 

  • The Director of Finance confirmed the mileage scheme was one of the options being considered as part of the council’s review of that area of cost pressure.

 

  1. The committee asked if there was a specific plan in place to address the SEN transport costs issue and whether it would be possible to see it.

 

  • The Director of Finance explained that the transformation team was working through the available options and would be able to bring details back to the committee once something more formal had been developed.

 

  1. The committee asked for more detail in relation to areas of underspend within the directorate and enquired as to whether funds were being reallocated and what impact the underspends were having on service delivery.

 

  • The Director of Finance explained that in relation to the £0.7 million underspend on ‘Looked After Children – Agency and in-house Foster Care’, this related to reduced headcount in staffing budgets, although it was offset by increased costs in the agency budget.

 

102.

Herefordshire Council Plan - Delivery Plan Working Group pdf icon PDF 220 KB

To agree terms of reference for the Herefordshire Council Plan delivery plan working group.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received the terms of reference for the Herefordshire Council Plan delivery plan working group.

 

Resolved

 

That:

 

The committee approve the terms of reference for the Herefordshire Council Plan delivery plan working group.

 

103.

The delivery and management of Herefordshire Council's capital projects - response from Scrutiny Management Board pdf icon PDF 211 KB

To agree a response and recommendations following Scrutiny Management Board’s scrutiny of the management of Herefordshire Council's capital projects.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee received the response from Scrutiny Management Board around Herefordshire Council’s capital projects.

 

The committee noted the administrative issues that had delayed the publication of the response and it was decided that the traditional process of formulating and sending out recommendations would be used for future committee meetings.

 

The committee agreed that even though the response had been published at short notice, it would not be beneficial to defer the item until the next meeting.

 

Resolved

 

That:

 

The committee approve the response and for it to be directed to the CEO of Herefordshire Council.

104.

Work programme pdf icon PDF 216 KB

To consider the work programme for the board.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee received the Scrutiny Management Board work programme 2024-2025. The Statutory Scrutiny Officer pointed out that there was a Scrutiny Management Board work programme planning session scheduled for January.

 

Resolved

 

That:

 

a) The committee agree the draft work programme attached at appendix 1

 

b) The committee note the work programme for the other scrutiny committees, and identify any opportunities for collaboration or alignment of work.

105.

Date of the next meeting

Tuesday 14 January 2025, 1pm

Minutes:

Tuesday 14 January 2025, 2pm

106.

Appendix 1 - Supplementary questions from members of the public and responses.

Minutes:

Supplementary questions from members of the public – Scrutiny Management Board, 16 December 2024

 

 

Question

Number

Questioner

Supplementary Question (received via email)

Question to

PQ 1

Ms Reid

Hereford

Per LAIT as at 31 March 2024, the rate of children in care per 10,000 children was:

 

  • Herefordshire: 114
  • Statistical Neighbours’ average: 66.78
  • The Statistical Neighbours’ rates are:
  • Wiltshire: 46
  • Somerset: 53
  • Devon: 59
  • Cornwall: 59
  • Suffolk: 62
  • Gloucestershire: 65
  • Dorset: 68
  • Norfolk: 68
  • Shropshire: 121
  • England: 70
  • West Midlands region: 90

 

Per LAIT, the number of children in care in Herefordshire on 31 March 2024 was 387. 

Per the Placement Sufficiency Strategy, there should be 350 at 31 March 2024, 300 at 31 March 2025 and 280 at 31 March 2026.

 

“average annual cost for each child that returns back into care is £61,614 compared with an average annual cost of supporting a child to return home of £5,627 [www.leeds.gov.uk].”

 

Should extra resources (e.g. staff) be invested in reunification to reduce the cost and number of children in care?

 

Scrutiny Management Board

Response:

 

We are currently meeting the demand for care prevention and rehabilitation in the services provided. We need to ensure staffing is proportionate across the whole of children social care services within the budget allocation provided. We keep an overview on demand pressure in each part of the service areas and we have responded to move funding and staffing to respond to changing demand and we will continue to do this as part of our strategic and budget management.     

 

 

Question

Number

Questioner

Supplementary Question (delivered verbally by Mr Milln during the meeting)

Question to

PQ 2

Mr Jeremy Milln

Hereford

Simply excusing failure to keep minuted records of its regular meetings with Active Travel England over the considerable funding the Council receives for ATMs, as we heard in response to the questions from Mssrs Protherough and Martin on 6th December, is unhelpful.

 

I therefore ask plainly for a full account of how the various external moneys for active travel (DfT Access & Capability, LUF, ATF4, HCCI, STF, Supercycle, HCCTP, S.106 etc) are proposed to be applied to the various projects (Aylestone Hill, Barton Road, GWW, Cathedral Quarter, Quiet Routes, Safer to School, LCWIP, Commercial Road, Blueschool Street, Three Elms area etc) with an assurance that scheme development and design is transparent and openly consulted to ensure they are fit for purpose and value for money before decisions are made?

 

Scrutiny Management Board

Response:

 

Dear Mr Milln

 

Thank you for your supplementary question regarding the governance around the delivery of Active Travel Fund schemes. Hopefully the following bullet points will assist you in understanding the processes we have in place for approvals of ATF spend.

  • We are delivering a number of schemes which have active travel measures in them. These are being delivered mostly with Levelling Up Fund monies but also include elements of ATF in the funding mix. 
  • All of our highways capital schemes are carefully developed in line with current walking and cycling guidance such as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 106.