Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence from Members on this occasion.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

Councillor K. May declared an Other Disclosable Interest in respect of Minute Item 84 – UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) 2025 – 2026, on the basis that, as Leader of the Council, she would be required to sign off the final allocations of the UK Shared Prosperity Funding. Councillor May remained present for the consideration of the report and took part in the vote thereon.

There were no other Declarations of Interest.

The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 19^th February 2025 were submitted for Members’ consideration.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 19^th February 2025 be approved and signed as a true and accurate record.

The Business Improvement Manager – Business Transformation, presented the Data Strategy (including Data Standards Policy) report for Members’ consideration.

During the presentation of the report, it was highlighted that this Policy provided the foundation and guidance for effective data governance to help safeguard the Council’s data assets. It would ensure that data was high quality, accurate and consistent across the organisation. It also provided guidance in respect of legal and regulatory requirements to ensure compliance with the relevant legislation such as UK General Data Protection Regulation (UKGDPR). The following areas were also included in the policy to help provide a robust framework in the future:

1. Data Security
2. Efficiency
3. Interoperability
4. Trust and Transparency

The Governance structure of this Policy consisted of the System and Data (SAD) Governance Group, which met on a regular basis. This Group reported back to the SAD Governance Board, led by the Deputy Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer, who met on a quarterly basis. There were also regular updates provided to the Senior Leadership and Corporate Leadership Teams.

An assessment had been carried out using the Local Government Association (LGA) assessment tool in respect of Data Maturity. This was undertaken by a group of fourth tier managers across the organisation. The results of this assessment indicated a Data Maturity score of 2.7, which meant that the Council was currently working at Level Three and were ‘developing their capacity and capabilities in terms of their data’. Ideally, the Council would be at least at Level Four. This Policy would provide the framework in order to attain this level.

There were three projects currently underway that would increase the Data Maturity level the Council was working at. These were as follows:

1. Data Standards – there were five systems across the Organisation that held ninety percent of the Council’s data. These systems needed to be reviewed, and organisational rules implemented on how to input consistent and accurate data. A Data Dictionary would also be developed as part of this project. In order for this project to progress successfully, there would need to be £50,000 allocated to look at the systems more closely by system providers. This allocation equated to £10,000 per system.
2. Data Stewards – Data Stewards would have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of data collected and contained within the systems. They would be responsible for the quality of the data and undertake regular audits in order to ensure that the data contained within the systems remained accurate and of a high quality.
3. Systems Procurement – This project would ensure regulation around the procurement of new systems and due diligence in respect of the numbers of system procured.

These were long term projects and would be carried out over two years.

Following the presentation of the Data Strategy (including Data Standards Policy), the Deputy Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer explained that this Policy provided useful preparatory work prior to the Local Government Reorganisation, currently taking place. It would result in standardisation of the data contained within the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83/24

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund Manager presented the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) 2025 – 2026 report for the consideration of Cabinet.

In doing so, the background to the UKSPF was explained to Members and that previously the funding had been for three years from 2022 to 2025. The scheme had been extended for one year (2025 to 2026) and the funding allocated to the Council for this period was £917,878.

The UKSPF would continue to focus on three investment priorities of Communities and Place, Supporting Local Businesses and People and Skills. Previously there had been more than fifty interventions which described the intention of the investment priorities. These interventions had been replaced with five themes and twelve sub-themes. Any scheme that had previously been eligible for funding would remain so under the new guidelines.

Potential areas of investment had been discussed by Members at the Cabinet Advisory Group (CAG) meeting held in December 2024. The Investment Plan was then developed with these discussions in mind. It was also reported that the Investment Plan aligned with the Council’s priorities as detailed within the Bromsgrove District Council Plan approved in July 2024. The results of the recent Community Survey had also been considered when shaping the Investment Plan.

The areas included within the Investment Plan included infrastructure, buildings, open spaces, cost of living (including fuel poverty) and local centres. There was also support for local businesses and for the upskilling of young people and provision of support in order for them to enter the workforce.

The Bromsgrove Partnership, in its role as Local Partnership Group, for the UKSPF had been consulted on the strategic fit and deliverability of the Investment Plan. For the most part, the Partnership was supportive of the Plan, however there had been some recommendations made following discussions at a meeting held on 12^th March 2025.

The Partnership expressed some concern in respect of the allocation of funding for the subtheme ‘bringing communities together'. They recommended that the funding should be a forty to fifty per cent revenue allocation rather than a capital allocation. However, it was noted by Officers that there was some flexibility for revenue funding to be used as capital funding under the grant conditions, however capital must be spent on capital expenditure. This meant that the funding as detailed within the Investment Plan for this sub theme could be varied depending on demand and who was likely to need it.

A further recommendation was suggested by the Partnership that capital funding for high streets and town centre improvements should not include Bromsgrove Town Centre as there was already funding available for this location. Officers were not supportive of this recommendation.

The third recommendation was in respect of the funding of County wide projects to avoid a ‘postcode lottery’ of support. It was confirmed that this was already the approach taken as part of the Investment Plan. However, Members were assured that in taking this approach value for money for Bromsgrove residents had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84/24

The Deputy Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer presented the Finance Recovery report for the consideration of Members.

It was explained that this report was presented to Members on a regular basis, following the issuing of the Section 24 Notice in November 2023. A version of this report was also considered at the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee meetings throughout the municipal year. 

The report included any Key Deliverables, Treasury Indicators and updates on the VAT returns.

Members were informed that the Statement of Accounts for the financial years 2020 – 2021, 2021 – 2022, 2022 – 2023 had been completed and Disclaimer Opinions received and approved. The draft accounts for financial year 2023 – 2024 were out for consultation with some public consultation comments being received, which was positive. It was reported that there were potential difficulties likely to arise in terms of the Disclaimer Options that had been issued to Councils nationally and the effect these would have on external audits in the future. It was felt that there was a disconnect between the understanding of Disclaimer Opinions between Central Government and auditors and whether time should be spent on ‘old’ accounts. It was suggested that as long as the opening balances, amount of reserves and grant funding were known this was hopefully sufficient to provide accurate accounts in future years. Furthermore, there was a level of assurance around these balances in that returns were checked and submitted on a yearly basis.

Ernst & Young had been confirmed as the Council’s External Auditors. The Deputy Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer thanked Members for their speedy return of the disclosure information that had been provided to the auditors. This was usually a process that might take six to eight months. However, the Council had completed their disclosure information within four months. Due diligence was currently being undertaken by Ernst & Young including looking at Council press releases. It was thought that this process would be completed within four weeks from the time of the meeting. Members were interested to learn that this was part of the due diligence process, and it highlighted the necessity and importance to continue to make decisions in a robust manner following complete analysis.

The Key Deliverables included within the report were as follows:

1. The Accounting Policies report was now considered at each Audit, Standards and Governance Committee.
2. The TechOne system had been upgraded to version 24B in February 2025
3. The approval of the Medium-Term Financial Plan 2025 – 2026 to 2027 – 2028 on 19^th February 2025
4. The consultation on the Medium-Term Financial Plan 2025 – 2026 to 2027 – 2028
5. Changes implemented to the Procurement processes
6. Updated Prudential Indicators had been completed.

It was reported that Central Government had announced that capital receipts could be used to fund redundancies as part of the Local Government Reorganisation. Information in respect of this would be circulated to Members following the meeting.

Members queried what the allocation would be from Central Government in order to carry  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85/24

The Deputy Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer presented the Quarter Three Revenue and Performance Monitoring 24-25 for Members’ consideration.

It was noted that this report along with the Finance Recovery report, also considered at this Cabinet meeting, had been pre-scrutinised by the Finance and Budget Working Group (FBWG) at its meeting that took place on 21^st March 2025.

During consideration of this report, Members were informed of the following:

• Currently the Council was forecasting an underspend of £53,000 at Quarter Three which was an improvement of £397,000 reported at Quarter Two. Details of variations of any underspend and overspends were provided and the reasons for these variations were highlighted for Members.
• As of 31^st December 2024, the Council had no long-term borrowing and £6million worth of investments.
• The spend on the Capital Programme was currently £2.284million versus a budget of £7million. There was no debt as a result of the Capital Programme as it was funded solely by the Council.
• The Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) funding could not be accessed until the 2026 – 2027 financial year. These funds would be utilised for the Market Hall project.
• There had been an increase in costs at the Windsor Street site due to further remediation works being identified. This increase had been covered within the contingency budget. It was noted that this site would be ready for development very soon.
• There were £12.8million in General Fund Reserves and £9.534million in earmarked Reserves (this included the £40,000 which had previously been allocated to the Poverty Truth Commission).
• Members Wards Budget allocations continued to be monitored and currently there had been £46,700 spent of this budget which meant that £15,300 was still to be allocated prior to the end of the financial year.
• The impact of the Local Government Reorganisation and the impact this increase of workload would have on the workload of Senior Officers within the Council.
• The Procurement Pipeline which included details of contracts expected to be reprocured and procured in the future. It was noted that there were currently seventeen contracts between the old key decision threshold of £50,000 and the new key threshold of £200,000, ten contracts over the key decision threshold of £2000,000 and four contracts procured by Redditch Borough Council on behalf of Bromsgrove. Any contracts over the new key decision threshold would be included in the Forward Plan.

The Policy Manager presented the performance monitoring information contained within the Quarter Three Revenue and Performance Monitoring 2024 – 2025. It was reported that the suite of measures were aligned with the Council Plan. The information looked different to previous reports as there had been a change to the format following requests received from Members. There were some measures still to be included such as Freedom of Information and Subject Access Request data. This was a result of projects currently being carried out in these areas. They would however appear in future versions of these reports.

Members access to these measures would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86/24

(a)      To receive and note the minutes

There are no outstanding recommendations contained within these minutes for consideration by the Cabinet.

The minutes of the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 11th February 2025 and 17th February 2025 were submitted for the Cabinet’s consideration. It was noted that there were no outstanding recommendations contained within these minutes.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 11th February 2025 and 17th February 2025 be noted.

There was no Urgent Business on this occasion.