Issue - meetings

(To receive a report from the Executive Director – Resources which invites the Executive to note the current position on the revenue budget)

That the current position on the revenue budget be noted.

A report by the executive Director – Resources on Revenue Budget Monitoring set out the Council's expenditure of the approved budget for quarter 1 of 2021-22 with explanations for any significant variations.

It was reported that the current revenue position was that an underspend of £1.194m was forecasted.  The report detailed the key impacts of this, with the largest variance reported for Adult Care and Community Wellbeing, however, this was due to the resources needed to support the Covid-19 response.

The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board presented the comments from the Board's consideration of the report on 26 August 2021.  These included the acknowledgement that there were cost pressures in relation to the capital programme and that there was a variety of reasons for these cost increases including supply issues, labour shortages and increase in the cost of raw materials.  The Board had also expressed an interest in further examining the forecasted overspend in Fire and Rescue due to the cost of covering long term sickness absences.  The Chief Executive advised that she had agreed for more detailed work to be carried out in relation to the sickness absence rates and to examine how the Fire and Rescue service could be supported to reduce its sickness absence.

The Executive raised the following points:

·         It was suggested that it was time for the Council to start thinking about the development programme in light of the various supply issues, and whether this needed to start being built into plans now.

·         It was acknowledged that labour shortages in particular were likely to result in some major pressures for the Council, and there was a need to examine what mitigating circumstances there were.  Consideration would also need to be given to whether there were some things the council would need to do differently.

·         A potential risk for Lincolnshire County Council was around the shortage of HGV drivers, who also doubled up as gritter drivers during winter.

·         It was commented that these were not likely to be short term issues, and the Council would need to plan for some significant changes, particularly around the labour market in relation to supply and wage costs.  There were already significant challenges around home care on the east coast, and the situation was expected to worsen over the winter months if there was a re-emergence of Covid-19. 

·         It was highlighted that one of the major supermarkets had asked government for more flexibility in its apprenticeships schemes to pay for driving lessons.  There would be a need to look at what the Council could do to make the jobs available more attractive in order to recruit a good cohort of staff.

·         The current issues already being experienced by home care providers and the NHS across the county were highlighted to the Executive.  It was noted that joint working across providers was already being seen, where providers were sharing staff across the county.

RESOLVED

That the current position on the revenue budget be noted.