Apologies received from Councillors Abdul Malik, Maisha Begum, and Sabina Khan, who joined online.

Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, please see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are reminded to declare the nature of the interest and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it’s the Members’ responsibility to declare any interests form and to update their register of interest form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of your interest, you are advised to seek advice prior to the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest were received at the meeting.

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 27 November 2023

Members enquired about the call in that was rejected about the council permit scheme and asked for time at a future committee meeting to discuss the scheme.

The Chair Moved  and it was:-

RESOLVED

That the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 27 November 2023 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record of the proceedings.

The following items have been considered at the Cabinet meeting on 3 January  2024. The committee is invited to consider the reports below, as part of the council’s budget process:

Cllr Saied Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Resources presented the Budget Report 2024-25 and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2024-27 to the committee, with Denise Radley, Corporate Director Health Adult Social Care & Deputy Chief Executive, Julie Lorraine, Corporate Director for Resources, Raj Mistry, Interim Corporate Director of Communities, Abdulrazak Kassim, Director Finance, Procurement and Audit and Chris Leslie, Head of Strategic and Corporate Finance.

The committee made the following comments and questions:

• Is the council getting the best value from the waste services in the borough? Will the investment be enough to turn the service around? Cllr Saied Ahmed reflected on the current state of the waste service and reported on how the investment will be used across the service, including evening and weekend collections and additional staff. Officers confirmed that the service has collected feedback from residents on the waste service and targeted response in waste has been provided, like timed business waste collections, a media campaign on recycling, and action on fly tipping.
• What benefit will residents see from the large investment in waste services? Officers detailed the range of improvements that will be rolled out across the borough, including, bringing waste service workers in house and improvements to the waste service vehicle fleet. Cllr Saied Ahmed outlined how the waste emergency that was declared last year will be tackled through this investment.
• The Cabinet Member should state if he is completely reassured that the council tax increase will not affect the most vulnerable in the borough.
• How sustainable is the continual draw down of the council’s reserves? Is this advisable with the recent council budget overspend? Officers detailed how the use of reserves is needed but is due to an ambitious budget rather than a draw down to pay for services, this is part of the planned ear marked usage of reserves. The current forecast of the budget contains an overspend, which is based on a worst-case scenario planning and the council is working to ensure that it does not finish the year on an overspend.
• The resident support scheme funding comes from a draw down, but funding is taken away elsewhere in the budget? Officers detailed how the resident support scheme will be funded, including from government schemes, so the cost of the scheme is being funded across different parts of the budget and will not see a decrease in funds. Some of the funding will include admin of the scheme.
•  While the council tax increase may seem small across the residents in the borough, some residents are seeing large increases in council rent, will a rent cap be considered? Officers detailed why the maximum rent increase was sought by the council and how this will see investment in housing across the borough, making more homes for residents that need it. Cllr Saied Ahmed highlighted how while there will be an increase in rent, there are also services like free school meals and other services for residents who need support, so the most vulnerable will be getting the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.1

RESOLVED:

Members noted the forward plan.

To receive verbal updates from Scrutiny Leads.

RESOLVED:

Members noted the Update

Members queried the following updates:

• The question on the staffing concerns in housing options services needs to be reconsidered for an answer from officers.
• Questions on waste and recycling need to be reviewed and provided again to the committee.

The chair asked members to re-submit the questions to officers.

To consider any other unrestricted call-ins from the recent Cabinet meeting.

Nil items

Nil items

To consider and agree pre-decision scrutiny questions/comments to be presented to Cabinet.

Nil items

To receive any petitions (to be notified at the meeting).

Nil items

To consider any other unrestricted business that the Chair considers to be urgent.

Nil items.

As the agenda circulated had no exempt/confidential reports and there was therefore no requirement to exclude the press and public to allow for its consideration

Nil items

Nil items.

Nil items

Nil items.

To consider and agree pre-decision scrutiny questions/comments to be presented to Cabinet.

Nil items.

To consider any other exempt/ confidential business that the Chair considers to be urgent.

Nil items.