Agenda and minutes

To approve as correct the minutes of the meetings held on Monday 20 March 2023 and Wednesday 24 May 2023

(Note: If any Member wishes to propose an amendment to the minutes they should submit this in writing to committeeservices@horsham.gov.uk at least 24 hours before the meeting.  Where applicable, the audio recording of the meeting will be checked to ensure the accuracy of the proposed amendment.)

In view of the significant change to the composition of the Committee, the minutes of the meeting held on 20 March 2023 were taken as read and signed by the Chairman.

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 May 2023 were approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members of the Committee

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any announcements from the Chairman of the Committee or the Chief Executive

It was agreed that Councillor Tony Bevis would continue in his role as the Council’s representative on the West Sussex Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee.

To receive the report of the Director of Resources

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Mark Baynham to the meeting. Councillor Baynham had been in attendance to observe the meeting rather than in a formal capacity as the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources.

The Director of Resources then introduced the report on the Council’s finance and performance. The report was the Council’s outturn report for 2022/23 and focused on five key areas: revenue performance; reserves; capital expenditure; debt; and key performance indicators.

In terms of revenue performance, there had been significant overspends in some service areas. Waste and recycling and street scene and fleet had overspent by nearly £900,000 in total as a result of the costs of fuel, maintenance and salaries which had risen. Housing had also overspent by nearly £600,000 due to factors such as the increased demand for bed and breakfast accommodation, albeit some government grant funding had been received by this service area.

The increases to the Bank of England base rate had, however, led to an additional £1.35 million of investment income being received, and the Council’s parking income had also increased substantially since the pandemic. This resulted in the Council having an overall operational surplus of £0.26 million on a net expenditure budget of £12.3 million.

In terms of reserves, it was reported that the general fund had increased from £23 million to £26 million and earmarked reserves had decreased from £23 million to £22 million, resulting in an overall net increase of £2 million. The general fund was in excess of the Council’s minimum level of £6 million.

The Director of Resources highlighted that, whilst there had been a revenue surplus and increased reserves in 2022/23, there were a number of risks to the Council’s finances in future years. These included: inflation; the cost of salaries; the impact of the cost of living on Housing and Revenues and Benefits; the impact of water neutrality on Planning department income; the Council’s future capital replacement programme; decarbonisation costs; the removal of government grants; and the costs of fulfilling any additional responsibilities that the government might give to the Council.

In terms of capital expenditure, £5.2 million had been spent of a budget of £12.1 million. This represented a spend of only 43% of the budget, whereas other councils (and Horsham District Council in the past) generally spent between 70% and 80%, or even as much as 85%. There were four main areas of underspend, which were identified in the report. The Director of Resources was implementing a number of actions in order to try to improve the Council’s performance, which were also identified in the report.

An update was provided with regard to the Council’s debtors and progress that had been made since this was last reported to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Key performance indicators for the fourth quarter and the end of year 2022/23 were provided in Appendix F to the report. Nine performance indicators were red at the end of year, of which the Director of Resources highlighted the following as the  ...  view the full minutes text for item SO/8

To receive a report from the Chairman of the Committee

The Chairman presented the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report.

RESOLVED

To refer the report together with the Overview and Scrutiny work programme to Full Council for noting.

REASON

The Council’s Constitution requires the Committee to report to Full Council on an annual basis with regard to the discharge of the overview and scrutiny function and its future work programme.

To review the current Overview & Scrutiny work programme

The Chairman introduced the Committee’s work programme and explained how items could be added to it.

To review the current Forward Plan as published

The Cabinet Forward Plan was noted.

Items not on the agenda which the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as urgent because of the special circumstances

There was no urgent business.

The Committee resolved to go into exempt session in order for the Director of Resources to answer a question posed during agenda item 5 (Report on the Council’s Finance and Performance) in relation to a case concerning unpaid Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

RESOLVED that, under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting, on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, by virtue of paragraph 3 (information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person, including the authority holding that information) and in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.