The Finance & Resources Select Committee of Buckinghamshire Council was scheduled to convene on Thursday 26 February 2026 to review the council's financial performance and operational efficiency. Key discussions were planned around the progress of recommendations from a previous budget scrutiny inquiry, the Q3 performance monitoring reports, and the council's budget monitoring for the same period. Additionally, the committee was set to evaluate the effectiveness of the Customer First initiative and discuss future priorities for the team.

Budget Scrutiny Inquiry 2025 - 12 Month Recommendation Monitoring

The committee was scheduled to review the progress made in implementing the recommendations from the 2025 budget scrutiny inquiry report. This would involve assessing the council's adherence to these recommendations over the past twelve months. Contributors for this item included Councillor Steven Broadbent, Leader of the Council, and David Skinner, Director of Finance and S151 Officer. The report pack indicates that this item was intended to provide an update on each of the seven recommendations made by the Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group in January 2025, with Cabinet's responses noted. The 12-month update indicated that Recommendation 1 (risk-based process for drawdown from budget reserves) was complete, with the council having established a Corporate Risk (Contingency) Reserve. Recommendation 2 (cross-portfolio working in budget papers) was also noted as complete, with MTFP reporting packs incorporating examples of cross-portfolio working. Recommendation 3 (review of administrative costs of Community Boards) was not agreed by Cabinet, with the report stating that new arrangements for the 8 Community Board model had been implemented and associated savings secured. Recommendation 4 (governance and accounts for council electric vehicle charge points) was marked as complete, with an officer-led EV programme board in the process of being established. Recommendation 5 (manager and staff review report on spans of control) was also marked as complete, with a report produced and presented to the Finance and Resources Select Committee on 9 October 2025. Recommendation 6 (internal audit of the recovery process) was noted as complete, with an established rolling programme of Income Audits reported to the Audit and Governance Committee. Recommendation 7 (additional income maximisation opportunities at Aylesbury Waterside and High Wycombe Swan theatres) was completed, with opportunities to be explored as part of scheduled contract renewals. Recommendation 8 (budgetary savings in Planning Enforcement) was removed from budget proposals for 2026/27 onwards. Recommendation 9 (review into process efficiencies in the Planning service) was marked as complete, with a Chief Planning Officer recruited and further updates planned. Recommendation 10 (synergies between gully cleaning and street cleaning services) was noted as complete, with close coordination between operational teams already in place.

Performance Monitoring Q3

The committee was set to consider the performance monitoring reports for the third quarter (Q3) of the financial year 2025/26, which had previously been reported to Cabinet on 10 February 2026. Contributors for this item included Councillor Steven Broadbent, Leader of the Council; Councillor Robert Carington, Cabinet Member for Resources; David Skinner, Director of Finance and S151 Officer; Lloyd Jeffries, Service Director; and Tanay Taank, Service Director. The report pack indicated that at the end of Q3, 65 indicators had outturns reported with a Red, Amber or Green status. Of these, 45 were Green (69%), 5 were Amber (8%), and 15 were Red (23%). This compared to Q2, where 44 were Green (67%), 6 were Amber (9%), and 16 were Red (24%). Specific Red indicators highlighted included strategic infrastructure projects (spend achieved at 38.2% vs. 50% target, due to delays in major construction projects), average call wait time (rose to 7 minutes against a 3-minute target, driven by seasonal spikes and service changes), and voluntary staff turnover (9.3% vs. 12% target, reflecting a tight labour market). An Amber indicator was sickness absence (8.77 days vs. 8.5 target), though noted as significantly better than public and private sector averages.

Budget Monitoring Q3

This agenda item was scheduled for the committee to consider the budget monitoring papers as reported to Cabinet on 10 February 2026. Contributors included Councillor Robert Carington, Cabinet Member for Resources, and David Skinner, Director of Finance and S151 Officer. The report pack indicated that the forecast revenue outturn position at Quarter 3 was an adverse variance of £0.8m (0.2% of Portfolio budgets), an improvement from the £2.1m adverse variance reported at Q2. This was attributed to strong management action and political oversight. Key pressures were identified in Children's Social Care Provider Services (£6.0m) and Temporary Accommodation (£0.8m), offset by favourable variances in Planning (additional income of £3.0m) and Transport (£1.6m underspend). A balanced position overall was attributed to favourable variances in Corporate and Funding budgets, including Treasury Management (£6.0m favourable due to higher interest income) and underspends in the central budget for pay (£2.3m). The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) budget had a deficit of £22.9m, with a forecast closing balance on the DSG deficit reserve of £47.58m. The capital budget forecast was £160.7m, with £13.2m (7.6%) rephased against the budget of £173.8m, which was noted as ahead of the Cabinet's target of 10% slippage. The report also detailed the progress of the approved savings programme, with a forecast of over-delivery by 0.4% (£0.3m).

Customer First Annual Report

The committee was scheduled to review and evaluate the progress made by the Customer First team in embedding a customer-centric culture at the council during 2025. This item also provided an opportunity to discuss the focus for Customer First initiatives, projects, and development. Contributors included Councillor Robert Carington, Cabinet Member for Resources; Lloyd Jeffries, Service Director; and Andy Hallsworth, Head of Customer Improvement. The report pack highlighted key indicators for the 24/25 period, including 360,823 calls handled with an 85.5% first-time resolution rate, 101,347 chatbot interactions, and 539,094 online forms submitted. Customer satisfaction metrics were reported as 76% for telephony, 81% for escalated chat, and 70% for CAP+. The report detailed ongoing projects such as CRM Migration & Online Form Improvements, the AI Contact Channel Platform (Zoom AI chat and voice services), FixMyStreet Enhancements, Microsite Migration, and Website Improvements. Future priorities for 2026 included reviewing Customer Service Standards, expanding the telephony platform, and developing the One Data Platform. The report also noted the continued work of the Customer Partnership Panel and the delivery of Complex & Difficult Conversation Training.

Work Programme

The committee was scheduled to discuss and agree the items for the next meeting. All Committee Members were listed as contributors for this item. The report pack indicated that the new five-year IT strategy would be added to the work programme for the 16 April 2026 meeting.

Date and Time of the Next Meeting

The next meeting was scheduled to take place on Thursday 16 April 2026 at 2:00 pm in the Oculus, Gateway Offices, Aylesbury.