The Finance and Resources Select Committee were scheduled to discuss the council's budget management, IT strategy, and performance monitoring at their meeting on 27 November 2025. The committee was also expected to agree on a scoping document for the council's budget scrutiny process for 2026/27.

Quarter 2 Budget Management Report

The committee was invited to consider the Quarter 2 Budget Management Report, which sets out the forecast revenue and capital outturn position for the 2025/2026 financial year, as well as capital budget adjustments and reprofiling. Councillor Robert Carington, Cabinet Member for Resources, and David Skinner, s. 151 Officer¹ & Chief Finance Officer, were listed as contributors. The report noted that the forecast revenue outturn was a balanced position, but that the council was experiencing financial pressures due to increased demand for services such as Adult Social Care, Children's Social Care, Temporary Accommodation, Home to School Transport, and High Needs budgets within the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).

Within portfolios, the forecast revenue outturn position at Quarter 2 was an adverse variance of £2.1 million, compared with £5.5 million reported in Quarter 1. Pressures in Children's Social Care (£2.8 million), parking income (£0.8 million), Home to School Transport (£1.1 million) and Temporary Accommodation (£0.8 million) were offset by underspending from vacancies in parking staffing budgets (£0.6 million), additional planning income (£0.7 million) and managed underspending from vacancies in Resources and Health and Wellbeing (£0.8 million).

The report also included details of savings and additional income, noting that the budget included an approved savings programme of £115.6 million over 3 years, with £76.9 million to be delivered in 2025/26. Delivery of savings for 2025/26 was forecast at 0.9% above target, with a total £0.7 million of savings above budget.

The forecast position on capital budgets was £173.7 million, which matched the current budget after reprofiling to reflect an updated view on the delivery of projects.

Appendix 1 of the Public Reports Pack provided portfolio level summaries, debt and payment performance. Appendix 2 contained capital programme details.

The Public Reports Pack also contained a report on the Q2 Capital Budget Adjustments and Reprofiling. This noted that since the Capital Programme for 2025/26 to 2028/29 was updated at Cabinet in July 2025, services had reviewed their profile of expected spend in 2025/26 and had reprofiled the programme to align it with their updated delivery plans, totalling £56.4 million, which would be reprofiled from 2025/26 to future years.

ICT and AURA Programme

The Select Committee was scheduled to receive a report on the transition from the ONE programme to the IT strategy for the next five years, as well as an update on the AURA programme². Councillor Robert Carington, Cabinet Member for Resources, and Sarah Murphy-Brookman, Corporate Director, Resources, were listed as contributors. The report noted that the ONE Programme was coming to an end in 2025/26, and that a new IT Strategy for the next 5 years would take its place. The draft new IT Strategy for Buckinghamshire Council sets out a clear and ambitious roadmap for technology, digital, and data over the next five years, positioning IT as a key enabler for delivering the Council's Corporate Plan. The strategy focuses on five strategic pillars:

1. Unified Governance, Architecture & Delivery
2. Harmonised & Integrated Applications
3. Unified Digital, Data, Analytics & AI
4. Optimised Infrastructure and Operations
5. Cybersecurity

The report also provided an update on the AURA Programme, which started at the end of 2022 and promotes three core values of being customer focussed, reducing costs and making the best use of our systems. A key activity of the AURA programme has been to define the 'As Is' processes and to understand customer sentiment and pain points.

Performance Monitoring Report

The Select Committee was scheduled to consider the Performance Monitoring Report for Quarter 2. Councillor Robert Carington, Cabinet Member for Resources, and Sarah Murphy-Brookman, Corporate Director - Resources, were listed as contributors.

The report noted that at the end of quarter 2, 66 indicators had outturns reported with a Red, Amber or Green status. Of these, 44 were Green (67%), 6 were Amber (9%) and 16 were Red (24%).

The Public Reports Pack included performance data for the Leader's portfolio and the Resources portfolio.

Some of the performance indicators for the Leader's portfolio included:

• New Strategic Infrastructure projects: percentage of profiled spend achieved. The Q2 performance was 38.2%, below the target of 50%.
• Number of leading Buckinghamshire firms engaged with. The Q2 performance was 100, above the target of 34.
• Amount of commercial floorspace generated on Enterprise Zones. The Q2 performance was 3,448 sq m, above the target of 0 sq m.

Some of the performance indicators for the Resources portfolio included:

• Average call wait time. The Q2 performance was 0h 07m 06s, above the target of 0h 03m 00s.
• Voluntary staff turnover. The Q2 performance was 9.3%, below the banded target of 12%.
• Average time for processing Housing Benefit change claims. The Q2 performance was 8.13 days, above the target of 8 days.
• Number of sickness absence days per FTE annually. The Q2 performance was 8.77 days, above the target of 8.5 days.
• Telephony calls customer satisfaction. The Q2 performance was 76%, above the target of 70%.
• Web chats customer satisfaction. The Q2 performance was 74.4%, above the target of 70%.
• Council Access Point Plus customer satisfaction. The Q2 performance was 75%, above the target of 70%.
• Percentage of phone calls in Customer Service Centres resolved at first call. The Q2 performance was 89.3%, above the target of 60%.
• Value of unsecured debt greater than 90 days. The Q2 performance was £10,200,000, below the target of £12,000,000.
• Percentage of invoices paid within 30 days. The Q2 performance was 97.4%, above the target of 95%.

Budget Scrutiny Scoping Document

The Select Committee was scheduled to agree the scoping document for the council's budget scrutiny process for 2026/ 2027. Councillor John Chilver, Chairman of the Budget Inquiry Group, was listed as a contributor.

The report noted that Buckinghamshire Council is developing a three-year revenue budget and a four-year capital budget, and that members require assurance that the budget proposals put forward for the Council are realistic and deliverable in line with the council's priorities, as outlined in its strategic plan. The Finance and Resources Select Committee will conduct meetings with Cabinet Members in January 2026 to develop the conclusions and recommendations of its 2026/27 Budget Scrutiny Inquiry.

Through scrutiny of financial data and performance information and by questioning Cabinet Members and relevant supporting officers, the Inquiry Group will explore the risks and assess whether budget proposals are sufficiently robust in the current context. After gathering evidence, the Inquiry Group will produce a report making recommendations to Cabinet to highlight any areas of risk and to suggest any amendments to be considered ahead of the Budget being agreed by Full Council in February.

The Public Reports Pack included a proposed timetable for the budget scrutiny process, as well as a list of key stakeholders and evidence gathering methods.