The Corporate Finance and Performance Overview and Scrutiny Committee were scheduled to discuss questions for the cabinet members, the stewardship of resources, and the council's performance. The committee was also scheduled to elect a chairman and vice-chairman.

Questions for Cabinet Members

The committee was scheduled to hear updates from Councillor Thalia Marrington, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Public Health, and Councillor Tim Dwelly, Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration and Investment.

Councillor Thalia Marrington's update noted that her portfolio holder remit for the committee related only to equalities. She sought assurance that Cornwall Council was compliant with the Equality Act 2010, in light of a Supreme Court judgement ruling that 'sex' means biological sex. She planned to work with cabinet members to check their own areas to ensure compliance, and to focus on understanding the extent and effectiveness of equality policies, both internally and externally, while also considering the impact of changes to existing national policy and legislation.

Councillor Tim Dwelly's report noted that he was awaiting a report on the recommendations from the Airport Inquiry that Councillor Frost chaired. He also noted that the council continues to spend Shared Prosperity funding¹ and Towns Funds, but that Shared Prosperity funding is being phased out. He raised the importance of Cornwall's contribution to the economy, security and prosperity of the UK, and suggested that the committee may want to look at how Cornwall Council can use its own land to deliver homes to local people on a major scale, as well as the rollout of 5G mobile coverage and new ideas to help town centre vitality.

Stewardship of Resources

The committee was scheduled to consider a report from the Chief Executive on the stewardship of resources. The report defined stewardship as:

not the management of resources but, in fact, about the process of trying to manage resources as a responsibility, undertaken as a privilege on behalf of others i.e. on behalf of the current residents of Cornwall, on behalf of elected representatives of Cornwall and on behalf of our children and grandchildren for whom decisions were being made on their future. Stewardship was not merely about dealing with the issues of today but also about considering the risks and opportunities for tomorrow.

The Chief Executive's three key areas of activity were noted as: creating the right operating environment; reviewing, celebrating and disseminating areas where the council was performing excellently; and course correction, using data intelligence to ensure that performance levels returned to target where service performance had gone awry.

The Chief Executive's highlights of 2024/25 included the new Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Economic Forum and the Good Growth Plan and Skills Strategy that guided and shaped the work required from Cornwall's Devolution Deal. The council had also strengthened its partnerships with Cornwall Universities in order to build better relationships so that the council could continue to embed research and innovation in the way it worked.

Council Performance Report

The committee was scheduled to review the Council Performance Report for Quarter 3 of 2024/25. The report noted that the committee had received a prior briefing on performance issues emerging from the Quarter 3 data as set out in the performance dashboard. A number of those performance issues had already been discussed by the committee during prior items on the agenda, i.e. the Council Owned Entities Business Plans, customer satisfaction and the Chief Executive's report on her Stewardship of Resources.