Issue - meetings

That the report be noted.

The Corporate Finance Manager presented the supplementary financial information to accompany the draft Statement of Accounts 2022/23 as required by the Notice of Motion approved by the Council in 2013.  He agreed to include an additional column in Tables 1 and 2 for future reports to compare spend with the previous year, as requested by Sally Ellis.

In response to a query from the Chair on Table 2, the Chief Executive spoke about the recruitment challenges in some services and gave assurance that a robust process was in place to approve and review temporary appointments.

The Chief Officer (Social Services) responded to comments on the appointment of a Children’s & Safeguarding Solicitor who was a skilled specialist officer dealing with a range of complex legal issues.  He referred to a number of temporary posts in his portfolio appointed through a co-ordinated approach to help manage demand for services, in particular in Children’s Services.  He spoke about actions being taken by the Council to improve recruitment and retention and highlighted the national shortage in roles such as Social Workers.

Councillor Bernie Attridge raised concerns about some of the costs quoted and asked about the approval process.  The Chief Executive gave assurance on the robustness of the Council’s policies and controls on the appointment and retention of agency workers.  He said that the recruitment of a Solicitor to deal with increasingly complex caseloads required specialist skills to ensure the proper legal process was followed and mitigate any risks.

The recommendation was moved by Councillor Linda Thomas and seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.