Issue - meetings

(a)       That having reviewed the cost pressures and options to reduce budgets in Governance, the Committee comments as follows:

·         That the Governance & Audit Committee be consulted on the removal of the vacant post in Internal Audit;

·         That officers review the pressures for the Schools’ IT Technician and Cyber Security Technician to explore the feasibility of (i) uplifting one salary in line with the other to increase resilience by the two posts supporting each other; and (ii) combining the two posts to generate a £32K saving.

(b)       That having reviewed the cost pressures and options to reduce budgets in Corporate Services, the Committee comments as follows:

·         That the Chief Executive and Chief Officer (Governance) liaise with the Chair and Leader of the Council to send a letter on behalf of the Council to the Welsh Government, Home Office and Audit Wales to request the power of precept for the North Wales Fire & Rescue Authority in Flintshire.

(c)       That having reviewed the cost pressures and options to reduce budgets in Assets, the Committee comments as follows:

·         That the Committee does not support withdrawal of the Stonewall membership but accepts that this is included on the list of possible options if required.

The Chief Executive and Corporate Finance Manager presented an update on the additional budget requirement for 2024/25.  The Committee was asked to review the budget pressures and cost reduction options within Governance, Corporate Services and Assets, as detailed in the presentation which covered:

·         Purpose and Background

·         Additional Budget Requirement for the Council 2024/25

·         Ongoing Risks

·         Overall position after initial solutions

·         Cost Pressures and Budget Reductions

·         Next Steps for Budget-setting 2024/25

The minimum budget requirement of an additional £32.386m of revenue resources for 2024/25 took into account a number of ongoing risks including public sector pay, high demand for some services and inflationary pressures which were being monitored.  Taking account of initial solutions would leave a remaining budget gap of £14.042m which presented a major challenge for the Council if there was no movement in the indicative 3.1% uplift in the settlement from Welsh Government (WG).  The presentation highlighted the need for a strategic programme of transformational change to ensure that the Council was developing cost reductions over the medium term to protect its ongoing future financial position and to prepare for inevitable future budget challenges.

Overview & Scrutiny committees were being asked to rigorously review their portfolio cost pressures, efficiency options and associated risks, and to identify any additional areas of cost efficiency.  A summary of outcomes from those sessions would be reported back to this Committee at the November meeting which would be open to all Members.  Following receipt of the provisional settlement on 20 December, Overview & Scrutiny meetings in January would need to consider further budget reductions required to meet the remaining budget gap in order for the Council to meet its statutory obligation of setting a legal and balanced budget in February 2024.

Governance

Councillor Bernie Attridge raised concerns about the impact of the proposed removal of a vacant post in Internal Audit.  The Chief Officer (Governance) explained that the Internal Audit Manager had offered this long-term vacancy as an efficiency following changes within the team structure and that she would fulfil her duty in giving an annual audit opinion based on the level of resources available.

On shared services, the IT Infrastructure Services Manager gave examples of the Council’s participation in a national forum as well as other collaborative work on cyber security.  He said that the Cyber Technician pressure was to support a post that was funded for 2023/24 and advised against a shared post due to the heightened risk around cyber threats in the UK.

Councillor Alasdair Ibbotson asked whether the Governance & Audit Committee had been consulted on the removal of the Internal Audit post and questioned the potential liability of losing the post.

The Chief Officer anticipated no impact on fraud and error cases from the removal of the post as fraud prevention was the responsibility of individual services.  When questioned, he said that this represented a green risk in the resilience of the service as it could reduce capacity for any unplanned work and potentially impact on planned work.  Councillor Ibbotson requested that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34