Agenda and draft minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

Link to further information in the Council’s Constitution

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 February 2024 were agreed as a true record and were signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman noted that responses to the actions from the meeting on 20 February 2024 had been responded to in the actions table.

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services

The Senior Finance Business Partner presented the Q4 position for the Council’s financial and performance monitoring for 2023/24. She confirmed that the Council had published its Final Accounts on 31 May in line with statutory deadlines.

The Senior Finance Business Partner said that the revenue budget had an overall underspend of £1.663m and that the capital programme had an underspend of £5.710m. She said that the revenue efficiency would be mainly allocated towards risks for 2024/25 and that capital underspend would be carried forward for completion of existing projects

The Senior Finance Business Partner referred to Table 1 of the report which provided an overview of the revenue outturn position and showed that £1.958m had been transferred to reserves. She said that the main risks for 2023/24 related to inflation and the staff pay award being higher than anticipated, although the Council had been able to absorb it.

The Senior Finance Business Partner said that the Council had a £0.315m underspend on net service expenditure and had received additional grants and business rates income which contributed towards the net increase of £1.663m.

The Senior Finance Business Partner referred to the capital value of treasury investments which showed an increase in value of £0.272m which though still a loss, was expected to increase. She said that the Council had been prudent in creating a reserve to cover this should it be required to.

In relation to Business Rates and Council Tax, the Senior Finance Business Partner said that the Council had ensured that applicable Business Rates reliefs were applied and that the Council had administered flood relief and grants to affected properties. She said that the Council had undertaken a review of Council Tax single person discounts which had generated additional Council tax revenue.

The Senior Finance Business Partner referred to paragraph 4.11 of the report which provided information about UKSPF and Rural England Prosperity Funding. She referred to the Council bringing Streetwise inhouse which although having some initial challenges, including in relation to costs regarding vehicle leasing which were now being managed through the vehicle replacement programme, the Council hoped to deliver the transformational savings over the long term.

In relation to Rushcliffe Oaks Crematorium, the Senior Finance Business Partner said that whilst income had been down at the beginning of the year it was encouraging that it had reported a net surplus overall and that positive feedback had been received from industry colleagues and people who had attended services there.

In relation to Carbon Reduction, the Senior Finance Business Partner said that the Council had committed to achieving carbon neutral status by 2030 and as such some underspend monies would be allocated towards carbon offsetting and land acquisition potential.

The Senior Finance Business Partner informed the Group that reserves had increased to £20.947m and that the general fund balance was £2.604m.

In relation to the capital programme, the Senior Finance Business Partner said that there was an underspend of £5.710m, the majority of which was recommended to be carried  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Report of the Chief Executive

The Service Manager for Economic Growth and Property presented the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Scheme update and Diversity Annual Report 2023 to 2024 to the Group.

The Service Manager for Economic Growth and Property confirmed that the report was brought to the Group annually and explained that the residents’ data remained the same as last year as it was based on Census 2021 information. She noted that there was some consistency between the profile of Rushcliffe residents, Councillors and Council employees.

In relation to Gender Pay Gap reporting, the Service Manager for Economic Growth and Property explained that legislation required organisations with over 250 employees to publish this information every year and information contained in the report was up to the end of March 2023, with information up to March 2024 due to be published in July this year. She noted that there had been an increase in the percentage of women receiving higher pay than men.

In relation to applicants for jobs, the Service Manager for Economic Growth and Property said that the Council had received around 300 more applicants than last year, in some part due to a few roles receiving a high number of applications. She noted that that the majority of people applying for roles were aged 25-34 which was different to the average workforce age of 45-64, which was positive for future organisational resilience.

In relation to the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Scheme (ED&I) Action Plan, the Service Manager for Economic Growth and Property explained that the scheme was adopted in May 2021 with four high level objectives; to make Rushcliffe a welcoming place for everyone, for its services to be easy to access for all, to treat people fairly and to meet individual needs, and to make Rushcliffe a place where everyone could achieve their potential.

The Service Manager for Economic Growth and Property said that the Council had established an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Scheme Steering Group which met quarterly and involved Officers from across the Council so that different service areas from across the Council contributed to the Action Plan activity.

The Service Manager for Economic Growth and Property explained that a review of the Equality Impact Assessment process had been carried out with the outcome that the process be split into two parts, implementing an initial assessment of key questions to identify whether a more in-depth review was required. She said that any assessments completed would go to the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Scheme Steering Group for review. She said that the Council also received support from East Midlands Council.

The Service Manager for Economic Growth and Property said that a review of Equality and Diversity staff training had been carried out, which had led to additional aspects being included in the online training programme. She said that the Council was looking at providing British Sign Language training and Neurodiversity training, initially for frontline and line manager staff respectively.

The Service Manager for Economic Growth and Property said that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Service Manager for Corporate Service presented the Annual Update on Strategic Tasks and explained that this was the first time that this report had been presented to the Group and that it sought to provide clarity about what each of the tasks was intending to achieve.

The Service Manager for Corporate Services said that when she brought a progress update report later in the year this report could be used as a comparator.

The Chairman said that it was interesting to see progress and was glad that work had commenced for all.

The Chair of Governance referred to the recent Peer Review commenting on the number of strategies that the Council had. The Service Manager for Corporate Services confirmed that the number of tasks was decided by Councillors and that it would be for them to decide if they wished to change how many there were.

Councillor Plant referred to the task pertaining to the Infrastructure Levy replacing CIL and the Service Manager for Corporate Services explained that this formed part of the Levelling Up Bill which was awaiting secondary legislation.

It was RESOLVED that the Corporate Overview Group:

a)    considered the strategic task appraisals included in Appendix A;

b)    requested that an update on progress against the delivery of the strategic tasks be reported back in summer 2025.

The Chair of Growth and Development Scrutiny Group reported that the last meeting had received two items, on Sewerage Infrastructure and Discharge within Rushcliffe and on Connectivity and Communications. In relation to Connectivity and Communications he said that the Lead Officer for the County Council had attended to provide detail and reassurance about work taking place to ensure that residents did not get left without any form of communication. In relation to Sewerage Infrastructure and Discharge he said that Severn Trent had been invited to attend but had not been able to due to the number of areas that they covered but they had been invited to attend a future meeting. The Environment Agency had attended and had provided an update on flood mitigation works within the Borough, including measures to ensure that new developments didn’t contribute to flooding in other areas. He noted that they acted as oversight body for Severn Trent and so could provide a means of contact if necessitated.

As the Vice Chair of Governance had chaired the last meeting, she provided the update to the Group and reported that the Group had considered the Q4 Internal and External Audits. In relation to the Internal Audit, she said that the Group had discussed decarbonisation and fleet management due to it contributing 25% of carbon emissions and that Group had noted that substantial progress has been made, including the transition to using Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil. In relation to the External Audit, she reported that the Group had discussed the increase in Agency audit fees and had noted that the Council did not have authority to choose its auditors or negotiate their fees.

The Chair of Governance added that he had received confirmation that the Council’s Statement of Accounts had been completed and would be reviewed at the next meeting.

The Chair of Communities Scrutiny Group reported that the last meeting had received two reports.  The first report provided an update on the Carbon Management Plan which had included an update in relation to the Council achieving its net zero targets and its Scope 3 emissions. The second report provided an update on Streetwise including information on their transition coming back inhouse to the Council. He noted that holding a meeting in close proximity to a Full Council meeting created time pressure for preparation and review of information in reports and asked that this be considered as part of the timetabling of meetings.

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services

The Chairman noted that an update on the Management of Open Spaces was scheduled to report to the Corporate Overview Group in September and said that she hoped that an outcome of that would be the establishment of a Working Group.

The Chair noted that the Communities Scrutiny Group and the Growth and Development Scrutiny Group were scheduled to have a joint meeting to review Accessible Housing on 17 October 2024.

It is RESOLVED that the Corporate Overview Group:

a)    reviewed the current work programme for each of the scrutiny groups.

Work Programme 2024/25 – Corporate Overview Group

Work Programme 2024/25 – Governance Scrutiny Group

Work Programme 2024/25 – Growth and Development Scrutiny Group

Work Programme 2024/25 – Communities Scrutiny Group

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