The Finance Overview and Scrutiny Committee met to discuss a range of financial matters. The Committee noted the contents of the Quarter 1 monitoring report and the Cost of Living Support Update. The Committee also considered and approved the latest round of budget variations.

Cost of Living Support

The committee received a report on the Cost of Living Support Update.

The report was presented by officers who described the range of support measures that the council currently has in place to support residents with the cost of living, and set out the projected spending on those measures for the rest of the financial year. Councillor Graham asked whether officers had undertaken any assessment of the level of need for cost of living support in the borough. The Director of Finance explained that such analysis was difficult to do with accuracy, but said

What I can say is that the level of uptake that we're seeing suggests that the support is needed and valued.

Quarter 1 Performance

The committee received the Quarter 1 performance monitoring report. Councillor Corner asked whether officers were content that the Cleaner Borough Improvement Plan was going to be delivered on time. Officers stated that they were confident, but that a more detailed update on the plan would be given at the next meeting.

Budget Variations

The committee considered a report on budget variations.

The report set out a number of proposed changes to the council's budget for 2024/25. Most of these were technical changes, which were corrections of minor errors in the budget. The most significant change was a request from the Housing Revenue Account for £1.2m to be added to the Housing Capital Programme to fund fire safety works at Harrington Place. Councillor Richards-Jones questioned whether this expenditure was necessary.

Can we really justify spending such a significant amount of money on fire safety works at a time when we are having to make savings elsewhere?

The Director of Finance explained that the works were essential to ensure the safety of residents and that the council had a legal duty to carry them out. The Committee ultimately voted to approve the budget variations.