Agenda item

The Chair of the Policy & Finance Committee, Councillor Stanley, will present recommendations from the Special Meeting of the Policy & Finance Committee held on 8 January 2024.

The minutes from this meeting confirming recommendations for Council to consider will be circulated separately to this agenda.

In the absence of the Chair of the Policy and Finance Committee, the Vice-Chair, Councillor Nash, presented the minutes from the Special Meeting of the Policy and Finance Committee held on 8 January 2024, which had been circulated separately to the agenda and uploaded to the Full Council web page as a supplement on 10 January 2024.

          Councillor Nash alerted Members to a recommendation at Minute 497 [Financial Strategy] which he formally proposed.

          The recommendation was then seconded by Councillor Birch.

          The Chair invited debate. The first Councillor to speak was Councillor Gunner who proposed that consideration of the Strategy be deferred to the Special Meeting of the Council on 21 February 2024. This was because Councillors had not been provided with all the information that he felt was required and necessary to approve the Strategy. This was especially relevant following the approval of the Motion at the last agenda item.

          Councillor Greenway seconded this amendment.

          The Chair invited debate on the amendment. Several Councillors spoke opposing the amendment claiming that Councillors had received a wealth of information via two separate briefings and a range of reports. It was felt that to defer approving the Strategy now would be a retrograde step. It was essential for Councillors to move on in preparing to set its budget, even if this meant taking some tough and difficult decisions. Councillors were therefore asked to oppose the amendment to defer.

          Those in support of the amendment confirmed that they were not comfortable voting for post deletions without understanding the full implications and what this meant and why the identified posts were no longer required. Councillors confirmed that they wanted to understand the review process that had been used to decide what posts should be made redundant;  deleted and not filled.  Councillors would then be happy to approve the strategy upon receipt of this missing information.

          Further debate took place with Councillors expressing their concern that they did not have the full details to hand that would enable them to approve the strategy now. They needed to know what the impact on services to the public would be.

          Councillor Greenway as seconder of the amendment stated that the points that the debate had highlighted explained why the strategy should be deferred. It was about receiving the information that was needed to enable Councillors to make the right decisions. He felt that Councillors did not know the detail and he questioned if they were happy to vote on approving a strategy without the full content.  

          Councillor Gunner, as proposer of the amendment, summarised the debate that had taken place. He reminded Councillors that they were being asked to vote on reducing the number of staff within the Senior Management Team and were voting to approve all the redundancies listed in Appendix A as well as confirming the need for £2m of cuts. He reconfirmed his concerns that these decisions could not be made without receiving the full detail required.  

          In response, the Interim Joint Chief Executive and Director of Environment and Communities explained that the recommendations were asking Councillors to note the proposals to reduce the Senior Management Team with the appendices in the report explaining the implications and how with the proposed reduction in SMT, Council services would be provided. Reference was made again to the last Member Briefing held on 4 January 2024, where it had been confirmed that ten of the posts, were vacant and had not been filled.  These posts covered work that was not currently being undertaken and so there would be minimal impact for the Council. It was felt that this was an important point to clarify. It was essential for the Council to have a Financial Strategy approved and in place to confirm the planned work that was needed to achieve the savings required to be made by the Council by 2028.  Further details would be provided to all Councillors ahead of the Special Council Budget meeting on 21 February 2024. The Council’s Group Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer confirmed how important it was for the Council to adopt a Financial Strategy at this point in preparing to set the budget for 2024/25.

          A recorded vote was requested on the amendment to defer consideration of the Strategy.

          Those voting for the amendment were Councillors Ayling, Bence, Mrs Bower, Bower, Mrs Cooper, Cooper, Edwards, Elkins, Greenway, Gunner, Kelly, Lloyd, Madeley, McAuliffe, Partridge, Patel, Pendleton, Purser, Stainton and Turner [20]. Those voting against were Councillors Batley, Birch, Brooks, Butcher, Goodheart, Hamilton, Haywood, Jones, Lawrence, Long, Lury, May, McDougall, Nash, Needs, Northeast, O’Neill, Oppler, Tandy, Wallsgrove, Walsh, Warr, Wiltshire, Mrs Worne, Miss Worne and Yeates [26]. Councillor Penycate abstained from voting.

          This confirmed that having undertaken a vote on the amendment to defer consideration of the Financial Strategy, the amendment was declared NOT CARRIED.

          The Chair therefore returned to the substantive recommendations and invited debate.

          Councillor Wash, as seconder to the recommendations, responded to some of the points that had been raised during the debate and stated that senior management restructuring and changes were a responsibility of the Chief Executive. It was also relevant for a financial strategy to be approved at this timeline in preparing to set the Council’s budget as it would inform the  budget debate. Councillor Walsh confirmed that he commended to the council the financial strategy and he urged Councillors to support the recommendations. It was important for the strategy to be approved first and to note the decision taken by the Interim Joint Chief Executives in full consultation with Group Heads to reduce the Senior Management Team.

          Councillor Nash, as the proposer of the recommendations, confirmed that the Council needed to make tough decisions in setting the Council’s budget which would be informed by the financial strategy. 

          A recorded vote had been requested for the two recommendations outlined in the report.

          Those voting for the recommendations were Councillors Ayling, Batley, Birch, Brooks, Butcher, Goodheart, Hamilton, Haywood, Jones, Lawrence, Long, Lury, May, McDougall, Nash, Needs, Northeast, O’Neill, Oppler, Tandy, Wallsgrove, Walsh, Warr, Wiltshire, Mrs Worne, Miss Worne and Yeates (27).  No Councillors voted against.  Those who abstained from voting were Councillors Bence, Mrs Bower, Bower, Mr Cooper, Mrs Cooper, Edwards, Elkins, Greenway, Gunner, Kelly, Lloyd, Madeley, McAuliffe, Partridge, Patel, Pendleton, Penycate, Purser, Stainton, Turner [20].

          The Council

                               RESOLVED - That

(1)   The Financial Strategy 2024 to 2028 be approved; and

(2) The proposal to reduce the Senior Management Team as part of an organisational restructure be noted.