The Resources and Performance Cabinet Panel met to discuss the Q2 budget monitor, the future of residual land at The Valley School, and the Hertfordshire County Council performance. The panel approved capital reprogramming of £28.4 million and a £847,000 virement for adult care services. They also agreed to recommend that Cabinet declare land at The Valley School as surplus to requirements and available for disposal.

Here's a breakdown of the key discussion points:

• Quarter 2 Finance Budget Monitor: The panel reviewed the council's financial position, highlighting an overspend of £6.2 million, mainly due to increased demand in adult care and children's services.
• Future of Residual Land at The Valley School, Stevenage: The panel recommended declaring residual land at The Valley School surplus to requirements and available for disposal.
• Hertfordshire County Council Performance Monitor: The panel discussed the council's performance against its corporate plan, with members requesting more detailed and comprehensive reporting in future.
• Hertfordshire County Council Resources Performance Monitor: The panel reviewed the performance of the resources directorate, with members calling for a more comprehensive set of indicators.
• Hertfordshire Libraries Motion: The panel considered a motion reaffirming the council's commitment to maintaining all of Hertfordshire's libraries.

Quarter 2 Finance Budget Monitor

The panel reviewed the Q2 Finance Budget Monitor 2025-26, which summarised the council's financial position against revenue and capital budgets. Scott Walker, Head of Corporate Finance, reported that the overall revenue budget was reporting a £6.2 million overspend for the financial year, but that this was still within the £10 million annual contingency. He noted that the position had worsened by £2 million since the quarter one report, with the main pressures coming from increased demand in older people's nursing and residential placements, and in looked-after children.

Walker also reported a £16 million underspend in the capital programme, and requested reprogramming of £28.4 million of capital spend into later years, due to delays caused by issues ranging from ground issues to further work to look through re-engineering programmes to keep them within budget.

The school budget was forecast to overspend by £10.8 million, mainly in the higher-needs block, driven by an increased number of EHCPs, with over half of that pressure in mainstream schools.

Walker also noted that the council's current debt was approximately £100 million, an increase of £24.7 million since the start of the financial year, with £23 million of that owed by NHS partners.

Councillor Mark Biddle raised concerns about the accumulated deficit of £88.5 million, and the need for sustainable debt management.

Councillor John Graham questioned the accuracy of the reported deficit, given that there was £4.6 million in savings that were at risk of not being delivered, and asked about the risk to £8 million of savings from organisational resourcing. Walker confirmed that all amber and red risks were assumed as fully delivered in the forecast, and that there was therefore a risk around delivery.

Councillor Alexander Curtis said that the financial position was more serious than the headline numbers made out, and asked what was being done to get money into the council's bank accounts more quickly. Councillor Tim Williams, Deputy Executive Member for Resources and Performance, responded that the standard terms were 30 days on date of invoice, and that the debt team chased debts by telephone, and suggested meetings with the big NHS foundations to go through invoices line by line.

Councillor Richard Roberts raised concerns about the increasing number of children coming into care, and the rising costs of care.

Councillor Ian Albert asked about the impact of increasing numbers on the high needs block, and the spending on local government reorganisation.

Councillor Matthew Hurst declared an interest as his wife receives care through Hertfordshire County Council, and asked for confirmation that any individual charges or charges on individuals are greatly protected from increases.

Councillor Williams said that there had been years of neglect from the previous government, and that the current Labour government had shown no willingness to address local government finance.

Councillor Graham said that the council was constrained from delivering its legal obligations to send children, and asked about the obligation to provide special education needs.

Councillor Biddle asked why the previous administration had not implemented quicker invoicing if it could have been done.

Councillor Curtis said that Hertfordshire was one of the better councils in terms of its medium-term financial position, and that the savings would come in the form of council tax rises.

Councillor Albert said that the previous Conservative administration didn't look at funding every year, and that the council would now get a three-year settlement.

The panel then:

• Approved the proposed capital reprogramming of £28.4 million as detailed in Appendix C of the Public reports pack.
• Approved the proposed virement of £847,000 from Adult Care Services Day Services Transformation budget to the Adult Care Services Relocation of Day Opportunities Services.

Future of Residual Land at The Valley School, Stevenage

The panel discussed the Future of Residual Land at The Valley School, Stevenage report. The report recommended that part of the property known as the Former Valley School in Stevenage be declared surplus to requirements and available for disposal.

Councillor Roberts said that this looked like a spare land to be spare for a while, and that it sounded like a great idea to get rid of it.

Councillor Penelope Hill pointed out that there was an existing SEND school on the site, and that whatever happened to redevelop the land was going to have a tangible impact on those students, and that consideration must be given to supporting those students through their educational journey.

The panel then agreed to recommend to Cabinet that:

• The residual land at The Valley School, as shown on the plan at appendix one of the Land at Valley School report, be declared surplus to requirements and available for disposal.
• The terms of the disposal of the above site be delegated to the deputy chief executive and executive director for resources and consultation with the executive member for resources and performance.

Hertfordshire County Council Performance Monitor

The panel discussed the Hertfordshire County Council Performance Monitor for quarters 1 and 2 of 2025-26. Paraic McKenna, Head of Corporate Performance & Business Insight, positioned the report as an initial iteration of the way in which the council proposed to report to the panel going forward, aligned to the new corporate plan. He said that the intention of the report was to try and push accountability down to the levels of governance, the service panels, where the operational ownership probably best sits.

Councillor Curtis said that there was not much detail in the report, and that a lot of the facts that were merited as achievements were initiatives that were started under the previous administration. He also said that the panel needed to have oversight over the financial indicators for the other portfolios.

Councillor Biddle said that there was positive movement on SEND, but that the continued SEND costs were rising greatly.

Councillor Albert said that the report was missing the staff numbers and tables for all of the areas and the organisation as a whole, and that there were no negatives highlighted in the report.

Councillor Hurst said that as a carer, he did not feel listened to, and that there was a major nightmare in facilitating joined up prevention and personalised services.

Councillor Roberts said that the report was not acceptable as a way of expressing the performance under the new corporate plan, and that he could not tell from it what was working and what wasn't working.

Councillor Graham said that the report did not link with the corporate plan into the resources and when, where the council might be constrained accordingly.

Councillor Stuart Roberts said that the real key was having graphs and tables to then identify trends.

Councillor Hill said that the panel had to think about how other cabinet panels fit into this one as well, and that she would not want to see the detail that was in the Education Centered Inclusion Committee panel replicated across to this one.

The panel then agreed to note the metrics and have identified any actions.

Hertfordshire County Council Resources Performance Monitor

The panel discussed the Hertfordshire County Council Resources Performance Monitor for quarter 1 of 2025-26.

Councillor Curtis said that there was a lot in the executive post for the portfolio resources and performance, but that the table only had three metrics for property, and nothing on the cost of running property, or the rental income across the portfolio. He also said that there was no indicator on whether the council was over budget.

Councillor Biddle thanked the Customer Service Centre on their continued superb work, and the members of health and safety staff for their dedication for the improvements on lowering incidents occurred.

Councillor Stuart Roberts said that they should be very careful if they ever look to change the matrix, because all of a sudden, those trends become irrelevant if they've actually changed how they measure them. He also said that because the school issue is such a large proportion, he wondered if they needed to graph that separately.

Councillor Hill said that the report specifically looked at employees and not students, and that if they did look at that breakdown of taking out health and safety instance, she thought that should go to the Education Committee panel as well as part of their reporting.

The panel then agreed to note the metrics and the approach outlined in this report.

Hertfordshire Libraries Motion

The panel considered the Hertfordshire Libraries Motion. Councillor Richard Roberts introduced the motion, saying that the main purpose of bringing it was to acknowledge that the library service was an exemplar within what the council does. He said that the library service was spread right across the county, allowing the community to learn, to play, to sing, to make things, to communicate, to go and get books, to read magazines and newspapers. He implored that the council commit to protecting the integrity of the library service from here on onwards.

Danny Bailey, Director of Libraries, responded to the motion, saying that he welcomed the sentiment of the motion, and that the library service welcomed over seven million visitors, had over 64,000 new members, and loaned over six million issues.

Councillor Albert said that it might be good to get a deeper dive with the library service at some point in the new year.

Councillor Curtis said that Hertfordshire had kept its libraries open, and that this was a point of pride for the council.

Councillor Stuart Roberts said that libraries today are so far away from what they historically were, and that they are now so much more.

Councillor Hill said that she wanted to echo a lot of the sentiments said today that libraries are obviously invaluable to our community, and just a huge thank you to the officers and volunteers for all their work in delivering that.

Councillor Curtis said that it would be remiss of him not to mention the collaborations between some of our libraries and the post office, in terms of keeping post offices in our town centres.

The panel then agreed to note the Cabinet panel consider the response to the motion set out above, and that there were no recommendations set out in relation to this motion.