Agenda item

The Deputy Chief Executive provided an overview of the purpose of the Finance and Budget Working Group.  The Finance and Budget Scrutiny Working Group had been set up by the Overview and Scrutiny Board to carry out detailed scrutiny, including pre-scrutiny, of a number of Financial Reports and the setting of the Council’s budget.  Other reports also discussed during meetings were Quarterly Monitoring, the Finance Recovery Plan, the Savings Plan and the Treasury Management Strategy

The Chairman discussed the Terms of Reference with the Board regarding Point 6 – “No substitute will be permitted to sit on the Finance and Budget Working Group”.  The Principal Democratic Services Officer advised  Members that the ruling for no substitutions was historically introduced to enable Members to develop expertise on the subject matter and to ensure consistency.  However, this was not a legal requirement, and Members could amend the rules in the terms of reference if this was considered to be necessary.

Members discussed various options to consider.  Some Members felt substitutions should not be ruled out whilst others felt a named substitute pool could be considered.  Members also suggested that there could be genuine specific reasons why Members were unable to attend meetings and so a substitute should be considered.  Discussions continued with Members expressing the importance of consistency and the building of knowledge, stressing that the Finance and Budget Working Group agenda was complex and required considerable time to understand.

Following discussions Members requested the following change to be made:

Point 6 “No substitute will be permitted to sit on the Finance and Budget Working Group” to be amended to read “No substitute will be permitted to sit on the Finance and Budget Working Group, other than in exceptional circumstances, such as planned absence”. 

The Chairman updated Members on the recent Finance and Budget Working Group meeting which took place on Monday 9^th September 2024.

The Section 24 Notice still remained whilst the authority’s accounts remained to be audited by the external auditors. 

Agency staff utilisation had reduced by 10% since the previous update to Members, with the number of new employees likely to reduce agency staff numbers even further.  The use of an independent audit adviser had been discussed previously but it was agreed this was too costly to the Council purse. 

The National Forest bid was also discussed, with this scheme due to be looked at by Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Board before it was presented to Cabinet.

The Deputy Chief Executive updated the Members regarding the 2021/2022 accounts which were due to be discussed at the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee scheduled to be held on Thursday 10^th October 2024.  The Government passed legislation on 9^th September 2024 that all Councils had until 13th December 2024 to submit their 2021/2022 accounts.  These accounts would also go out to public consultation.

The Chairman discussed with members the Government’s initiative with regard to the removal of the Independent Schools’ Charitable status which could provide extra income for the Council.  In response, some Members felt that although there might be a financial gain, Members should also consider the impact this could have on state school admissions.

During discussions Members queried the impact changing external auditors  could have on the Council. .  In response the Deputy Chief Executive explained that the Council, aspart of the public sector, had external auditors appointed and Grant Thornton had to follow PSAA audit rules.  In order for Bishop Fleming to proceed, there would need to be a handover.  It was explained that there would be a delay for auditing the 2023/2024 accounts as the old accounts would need to be reviewed by external auditors Bishop Fleming first.  It was also explained that there would be a process of reclaiming funds from external auditors, Grant Thornton, due to the unaudited accounts.

RESOLVED that the Finance and Budget Scrutiny Working Group Terms of Reference be updated as per the pre-amble above and that the Finance and Budget Working Group Update be noted