Agenda item

Phase 1 (mobilisation and design) of the Future Tandridge Programme (FTP) was coming to an end. The resources required to deliver the FTP’s objectives of transforming the Council’s operating model with associated revenue savings (Phase 2) now needed to be addressed.

The Committee considered a report which set out the:

·       budgetary context, in terms of the timetable to deliver the Council’s 2023/24 budget and an update on the likely financial position and scale of savings required

·       progress to date in delivering service reviews, with updates on all service areas currently in scope

·        directions of travel for becoming a ‘commissioning Council’ and for digital transformation

·        the expected resourcing plan for the delivery phase of the FTP. 

The Chief Executive reflected on the great amount of work being undertaken and referred to the FTP Member briefing on the 20^th September. He explained that subsequent Member engagement (about becoming a commissioning council and to enable scrutiny of outstanding business cases for service transformations and measures for generating required savings) would be arranged prior to the Committee’s next meeting on the 1^st December. It was acknowledged that business cases for service transformations under the purview of the Community Services and Housing Committees had already been published for the meetings originally scheduled for the 8th and 15th September respectively (both meetings had been cancelled following the passing of Her Majesty the Queen).

The Chief Finance Officer gave an update on the budget setting process for 2023/24 and explained that the scenario modelling (pessimistic / optimistic / neutral) would be refreshed. He considered that, in view of the current macro-economic situation, the savings requirement for 2023/24 were likely to increase by £0.5 million, i.e. from £1.7 million to £2.2 million.

The £500k investment required for securing the FTP’s delivery phase, including the necessary revenue budget savings, was discussed. A breakdown of how that sum would be applied was set out in Appendix F to the report. The original officer recommendation had been revised whereby the investment would be released in two phases.

Debate focused on the risks associated with the FTP (Appendix E to the report) including:

·         the role of the Audit & Scrutiny Committee in the process

·         the need for specific officers to be accountable for the management of each risk

·         the rationale for certain mitigated risk scores (some of which were challenged)

·         reference to the fact that the Programme Manager would be meeting the Chair of the Audit & Scrutiny Committee to discuss the risk management process.

Some Members questioned whether sufficient information had been presented to justify the release of the £500k investment for Phase 2. In that respect, the wider project management aspects of the FTP were discussed and challenged, including:

·     whether the £28,000 contingency for the delivery phase was sufficient

·     clarification that key project milestones were in place, although more work was due to be undertaken to complete the finer details of the project plan

·     the importance of officer accountability 

·     an explanation that, although more in depth FTP analysis and documentation had been undertaken besides the material contained within the committee report, Members needed a greater level of visibility of that detail

·      the need to see examples from other District Councils where changes similar to those proposed via the emerging FTP had been successfully implemented. 

The Chair concluded that the support of all Members was vital given the scale and complexity of the challenge behind the FTP

            R E S O L V E D – that:

A.       the progress to date on delivering the Future Tandridge Programme, the direction of travel for the service reviews, and associated savings targets included in Appendix C to the report, be noted;

B.       Officers will continue to update their business cases where these are required to achieve the target savings and will bring these for Committee approval where necessary over the coming months;

C.      regarding the £500,000 resource investment required to take the Future Tandridge Programme into the delivery phase, including delivery of the £1.7m indicative savings identified in Appendix F to the report:

(i)      the investment be funded from capital receipts

(ii)        the release of an initial £250,000 to fund the programme for six months be approved; and

(iii)      it be noted that the remaining £250,000 will be subject to further reporting and approval by the Committee.