The Public Accounts Select Committee was scheduled to meet on Thursday, 3 April 2025, to discuss financial monitoring, the 'No Wrong Front Door' programme, a digital strategy update, and the committee's work programme. The meeting was also scheduled to include declarations of interest from councillors. There were no responses from the Mayor and Cabinet scheduled for discussion.

Financial Monitoring

The committee was scheduled to review the council's financial performance as of 31 January 2025. The report pack included details of the General Fund, Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), Housing Revenue Account (HRA), Collection Fund, and Capital Programme.

The General Fund was forecast to overspend by £22.9m, despite using £4.2m of one-off funding, £2m for Adult Social Care (ASC) and Public Realm pressures, and £7m from higher than expected interest earnings. The report pack noted that this position was consistent with the Period 8 position which informed the 2025/26 Budget.

The three main reasons for the overspend were reportedly:

• An increase in temporary accommodation (TA) service users and costs.
• Increased costs due to the complexity of needs of children supported in Children's Social Care (CSC).
• Increased demand and inflationary costs in ASC.

The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) was projected to overspend by £2.4m on the high needs block, consistent with the previous year. The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) was forecast to overspend by £3.8m due to high repairs and maintenance costs, housing disrepair, and a shortfall in major works income.

The report pack also included details of council tax and business rates collection, as well as a treasury management update.

No Wrong Front Door

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the 'No Wrong Front Door' (NWFD) project, which aims to make Lewisham Council the most accessible council. The project was launched to improve customer service across various channels.

The report pack noted that the council had:

...access to advances in technology giving the Council a greater online presence, opportunities presented by Artificial Intelligence tools and improving collaboration and partnership working.

The NWFD project has four work streams:

• Corporate framework
• Maturity assessments
• Quick-win improvements
• Single view of the resident

The project is also exploring the council's enforcement powers to see if greater coordination is possible.

Digital Strategy Update

The committee was scheduled to discuss the development and delivery of the Digital Strategy. The strategy aims to drive the adoption of new technologies and build on the existing technology. The Digital Strategy has the following thematic areas:

1. Digitally Inclusive & Accessible (People)
2. Innovation (Processes)
3. Empowered by Future Technology (Tech)
4. Led by Data & Insight (Data)

The Digital Strategy plan has a timeline from 2025 to 2035, supported by an annual plan and a mid-strategy review at the end of year 5.

Select Committee Work Programme

The committee was scheduled to discuss its completed work programme for 2024/25 and propose themes for the 2025/26 work programme. Key issues covered in 2024/25 focused on the council's financial resilience. The committee was expected to consider the forward plan of key decisions and prioritise themes for the upcoming year, linking them to the council's Corporate Strategy for 2022-2026.