Cabinet, at its meeting on 13 December 2023, will consider a report from the Head of Financial Services on the Integrated Performance Report for Q2 2023/24. Anna Winship, Management Accountancy Manager has been invited to present the report and answer questions. The Panel is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations.

The Chair advised the Panel that this was the last Finance and Performance Panel meeting that Anna Winship, Management Accountancy Manager would be attending before she left Oxford City Council for a different role. The Panel thanked the Management Accountancy Manager for all of her help and support and wished her the very best for the future.

Anna Winship, Management Accountancy Manager introduced the report, which provided an update on Finance, Risk and Corporate Performance matters as at 30 September 2023.

In response to questions, the Panel was advised that:

·       The variance stated in respect of Town Hall Business Rates was as a result of the delays in letting St Aldate’s Chambers, as while St Aldate’s Chambers was empty the Council was still responsible for Business Rates.

·       The Customer Experience Change Programme was being led by the Executive Director (Corporate Resources) and the Head of Business Improvement; the programme involved work such as streamlined processes for Revenues and Benefits and delivery of savings within the Contact Centre as a result of process automation. A series of online forms were set to be launched in March 2024, for which a communications plan was being developed.

·       The Council had an ambitious Capital Programme and the budget was profiled throughout the year; there had been significant slippage in Q2 but the figures included in the report were expected to be achieved in 2023/24 at this stage.

·       There was £900k in earmarked reserves that the Council could put towards supporting the overspend in respect of Temporary Accommodation.

·       The unfreezing of the Local Housing Allowance would increase the amount of Housing Benefit that the Council received towards Temporary Accommodation from 01 April 2024, but exact figures were not yet known.

·       The Budget pressure in relation to income from the letting of St Aldate’s Chambers would level out over time across the Medium Term Financial Plan once rent was being paid by the tenant.

·       The Council was revisiting business cases for capital programmes in the context of current Budget pressures and was comfortable ceasing programmes where they were no longer viable.

·       There was reasonable confidence that the £4m dividend from Oxford Direct Services would be paid in the current financial year.

·       A project had been mobilised to try to mitigate the cost of Temporary Accommodation, including looking to bring in more private sector leasing.

·       Budget pressures contained in the report relating to Leisure were for the current financial year and current contract with Fusion. It was noted that the tender process for the Leisure Management Contract took into account the Council’s experiences with the current provider and accounted for any risks.

·       The OxLEP funding in respect of the Standingford House project was not retrievable.

·       Delays in both legal agreements with the County Council in respect of Go Ultra-Low Oxford (GULO) and the changes to parking orders to introduce charging on Godstow Road and Florence Park car parks were as a result of a backlog within Law & Governance, which was due to the significant number of vacancies which there had been within the service. There had been a revision of the salary structure within that service in order to support recruitment and retention. The car parking charges were anticipated to be operational from the New Year.

·       Errors in relation to the Single Person Discount Council Tax letters were as a result of a system error; the errors were quickly rectified and it was not anticipated that the errors would be repeated.

·       More robust challenge of assumptions was required in respect of the slippage of ICT programmes, which would be done for the Integrated Performance Report for Q3 2023/24; there had been staffing issues within ICT which affected the service’s ability to deliver on projects.

·       The Council would continue to do all it could to support those experiencing homelessness within the constraints of the financial resources available, but difficult decisions may be required in the not too distant future.

The Panel agreed to recommend to Cabinet that:

1.    The Council produces a summary document which clearly sets out all of the possible options available to the Council for reducing Temporary Accommodation costs, alongside the advantages and disadvantages of those options.

2.    The Council challenges the optimism bias assumptions applied to initial assumptions within capital and revenue programmes, with a view to arriving at more realistic assumptions and avoiding the current high degree of slippage going forward.