This meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee included discussion of the Council's progress on delivering the Equality and Equity Action Plan, as well as a quarterly update on predicted budget savings for 2024/25. The Committee were also asked to note the details of the upcoming Forward Plan, which included a number of upcoming decisions to be made by the Council in the coming months, and were also asked to consider commissioning a report on the progress of the Council’s Carbon Neutral Plan for the meeting on 28 November 2024.

Equality and Equity Action Plan

The Committee was asked to note the progress made on the Equality and Equity Action Plan, which was agreed by Cabinet in March 2021.

The Council has a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to produce and publish information showing that it is meeting its Public Sector Equality Duty. This includes producing four-yearly Equality Objectives, which are contained within the Equality and Equity Action Plan, and reporting on progress made against the Objectives annually.

The report to the Committee included a timeline of key activities undertaken in relation to the Action Plan over the previous 18 months, a self-assessment of the Council's performance using the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Equality Framework¹, progress made against the Equality Objectives 2020-2024, and the proposed Equality and Equity Objectives 2024-2028.

The proposed Equality and Equity Objectives 2024-2028 included a strong focus on embedding equality and equity within the Council. The report particularly highlighted a focus on leadership and management taking a lead in promoting equality and equity across the organisation and Borough, the need for the Council’s workforce to be more representative of the Borough’s population, and a need for support to be provided for disabled and neurodiverse residents and staff.

The report to the Committee also included an update on the Equality and Equity Charter², which was agreed by Cabinet in October 2020 and encouraged local organisations to share the Council’s commitment to equality and equity.

2024/25 Q1 Savings Tracker

The Committee was asked to note the Council's forecasted position on budget savings.

At its meeting on 6 March 2024, the Council had agreed £33.7m of new budget savings for 2024/25. However, a budget monitor presented to Cabinet on 18 September 2024 forecasted that only £24.7m of these savings would be delivered, leaving a predicted budget shortfall of £9m.

Of this shortfall, £6.3m was attributed to “Timing Issues”, £2.4m was attributed to “Delivery Issues” and £0.3m was attributed to savings that are “Not Possible”.

The largest element of the predicted savings shortfall was attributed to Children’s Services, which forecasted a shortfall of £3.6m, all of which was attributed to “Timing Issues.” Health and Adult Social Care was the second largest element of the shortfall, with a predicted £2.7m shortfall.

Forward Plan

The Committee noted the upcoming executive decisions set out in the Forward Plan ³for the period October 2024 – January 2025.

The Forward Plan included 81 key and non-key decisions that are scheduled to be made by the Council between October 2024 and January 2025.

Commissioning of Future Reports

The Committee was asked to consider the scope of upcoming reports for scrutiny and to specify any detailed requirements.

The Committee noted that a report on the progress of the Council’s Carbon Neutral Plan would be presented at the meeting scheduled for 28th November 2024. The Committee agreed that the report should include a summary of the challenges facing the Borough in delivering the Carbon Neutral Plan by 2030, an update on the progress with carbon management services and tools, and an update on the 2025 tasks and milestones, including their status and any necessary adjustments. The Committee also agreed to invite Pippa Hack (Director of Regeneration, Enterprise and Skills), Mirsad Bakalovic (Director of Communities, Environment & Central), Jamie Carswell (Director of Housing & Safer Communities), Councillors Averil Lekau, Majid Rahman and Pat Slattery to attend the meeting to discuss the report.