The Community, Cultural, and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the council's transformation portfolio, and to review and confirm the committee's work programme for the 2025/26 municipal year. Councillors scrutinised the transformation portfolio, questioning the progress of efficiency savings, the impact of the programme on vulnerable groups, and the approach to cross-cutting initiatives. The committee agreed to review the work programme in December, following the completion of the efficiency review.

Transformation Portfolio

The committee received a report from Will Ivatt, Interim Head of Transformation & Improvement, providing an overview of Lancashire County Council's Transformation Portfolio. The portfolio, which has been in place for around 12 months, comprises 15 programmes of work aimed at delivering large-scale shifts in mission, strategy, structure, performance and processes.

Will Ivatt explained that the transformation portfolio focuses on initiatives that are larger in scale and scope, more complex, and cross-cut a number of areas. He said that the programmes within the portfolio follow a five-step process: define, discover, design, deliver, and realise.

The portfolio includes programmes within Adult Services, Education and Children's Services (ECS), and Growth, Environment, Transport and Health (GETH), as well as cross-cutting programmes aligned to the Resources Directorate.

Key discussion points:

• Efficiency Savings: Councillor County Joel Michael Tetlow asked about the £60 million savings target for 2025-26, and whether the £30 million embedded within the programmes of the portfolio was on track. Will Ivatt clarified that two-thirds of the savings within the transformation portfolio were on track to be delivered.
• Check and Balance: Councillor County Aidy Riggott asked County Councillor David Dwyer, Cabinet Member for Data, Technology, Consumer Efficiency, how his role provides a check and balance, using SEND transport as an example. County Councillor David Dwyer explained that he was working across all departments to ensure routes are managed and mapped correctly, but that the cost pressure was coming from forecasting. He said that investment was needed to improve forecasting and deliver savings in that area.
• Changes since May: Councillor County Joel Michael Tetlow asked what had changed significantly since May, given that the new administration had stated Lancashire is broken during the election. County Councillor David Dwyer responded that they had been in a period of evaluation, and were focusing on enhancing data and technology skills.
• Impact on Vulnerable Groups: Councillor County Azhar Ali OBE asked how the council intended to measure the real impact of the transformation agenda on vulnerable groups, such as SEND and Adult Social Care, beyond financial data. Lawrence Andrews, Executive Director, responded that there was a suite of different measures depending on the programme, and that the council was focusing on benefits realisation to validate whether programmes achieved their intended benefits.
• Preferred Contractors: Councillor County Rick Edwards raised concerns about preferred contractors and whether transport costs were under constant review to ensure value for money. He also asked whether there were investigations into other ways of dealing with waste. Will Ivatt responded that every contract goes through a review, and that there was a cross-cutting piece of work underway to look at commissioning, procurement, and contract management.
• Waste Incineration: Councillor County Joel Michael Tetlow asked about incineration, and whether County Councillor David Dwyer had had discussions about starting incineration. County Councillor David Dwyer said that those policy decisions were still in progress, and that the efficiency review would explore longer-term contracts. This prompted Councillor County Nigel Alderson to state that people in large parts of Lancashire would be absolutely at that , and that he hoped it was not what Councillor County Joel Michael Tetlow was advocating.
• Local Government Reorganisation: Councillor County Azhar Ali OBE asked how agile the committee's work was going to be in responding to emerging issues, and what barriers existed to rapid adaptation or reprioritisation, particularly in relation to local government reorganisation.

Lessons Learned

Will Ivatt noted several key lessons that had emerged during the transformation agenda:

• Strengthening cross-cutting work
• Empowering directorates to lead council-wide innovation
• Reshaping programmes when necessary
• Engaging the whole organisation

He stated that of the council's £60m savings target for 2025/26, approximately £30m is embedded within the programmes of the portfolio, and that around two-thirds of these savings are currently on track.

Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2025/26

The committee considered the work programme for the 2025/26 municipal year. The work programme details the planned activity to be undertaken during the year, and focuses on:

• Cultural Services
• Community Services
• Crime and Disorder (Community Safety Partnership statutory function)
• Corporate Services including Communications, Digital Services, Customer Access Services, Facilities Management, Asset Management, Procurement, and Democratic Services.

The committee agreed to review the work programme in December, following the completion of the efficiency review. Councillor County Joel Michael Tetlow suggested that an additional meeting may be needed to discuss the efficiency review in more detail.