Agenda item

Presentation on Fenland District Council’s key achievements and performance 2023/24.

Members had received the presentation from the Leader and Chief Executive prior to the meeting.

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Hay referred to page 15 under finance where it says 2024/25 is predicting a deficit if interventions were not met. She asked what does the deficit look like, what interventions are being talked about and what is the likelihood of them not being met? Councillor Boden responded at this stage things are uncertain and could remain so for the rest of the year, there are a wide range of possible predictions of what that number will be and this year there is a particular item of uncertainty as the new Government holds its first budget in nine days time and at this stage no one knows what is going to be said or what the affect will be for local councils so at this time it is a waiting game but once the detailed papers are received this will indicate how the new strategy for this year and future years will be. He stated that when looking at 2024/25 pressures there continues to be demands on Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation, on the Planning budget particularly in terms of staff recruitment and the Port function and the Council’s function as a Strategic Harbour Authority plus the levies from the Internal Drainage Boards, with action having been taken on all these issues and continues to be taken. Councillor Boden stated that they all have long-term answers rather than short-term answers and whilst in some cases some of the pressures mentioned may be ameliorated to some extent in the current year 2024/25 there is a focus on 2025/26 and 2026/27 before many of these problems, which are fundamentally the structural deficit talked about before, come into fruition to show any significant effect, hence the likelihood of these being met in 2024/25 is very high and one of the reasons the budget equalization reserve was set up, which has been built up over several years to allow a period of transition and to address some of the structural issues. He added that the reserve was built up to £1.6 million of which £200,000 was used this year in respect of the deficit from last year and by the finance team not changing what they are doing to provide the Council with a strong basis upon which to make decisions in the future. Councillor Boden stated that there are sufficient continuing reserves and there are other opportunities even in 2024/25 to ensure that the Council continues to be able to have utilizable reserves separate from the basic general reserve to get over the period when these longer-term interventions come into play and start producing the results expected.

·         Councillor Hay stated there has been an Accommodation Review report recently and at the time this report was written there was no decision from the County Council as a meeting was scheduled for 15 October 2024, has there now been a decision made as to what they are going to do with Hereward Hall and has there been any talks with County Council on what the possible use of Hereward Hall going forward could be? Councillor Boden responded there are continued discussions with County Council about Hereward Hall and the Council continues to have productive and friendly discussions with the County Council on that matter. Paul Medd stated that, after the meeting on the 15 October, Hereward Hall has been identified as an asset by County Council that they are seeking to dispose of so this underpins the ongoing conversation the Council is having with County Council and at this stage there has been no commitment made and business plans are being worked through on both sides as the staff currently working from Hereward Hall will need to be moved and placed elsewhere.

·         Councillor Hay referred to the Performance Management performance indicators where there is a bullet point that says report regularly on Service Performance to the Corporate Management Team, Councillors and the Public and under the Governance Financial control and Risk Management bullet point compliance with Data Protection and general Data Protection Regulation and requirements. She stated it has come to her attention that there have been one or two data breaches of late in ARP and she would like to know if there are any issues with the service? Councillor Hay added that it has also come to her attention that when there are data breaches these are not reported to the Cabinet members responsible for that area, is this something that is happening right across the Cabinet where data breaches are not being reported? Councillor Boden responded that the first thing that needs to be kept in mind is the sheer number of communications which ARP have, and the reported number of breaches was under 100 in a year and of those under investigation a third were deemed not to be breaches and those which are deemed potentially to be breaches are reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) where the Council then waits for feedback, from this there were 4 last year 2023/24 and 4 this year 2024/25 that warranted a data breach investigation and in most cases the breach has been an address being wrong or an e-mail or phone number but nothing that has incurred the Council receiving a penalty or a change to the procedures in place. He continued the target is always going to be zero but overall this is a good result. Paul Medd added that the Council does identify the data breaches that were reported into the ICO and if there is ever any doubt about potential breaches the ICO is always consulted which allows the ICO to look into the breach and determine whether or not a thorough investigation with potential sanctions to follow is relevant and in the respect of the data breaches that have been reported no further action has been required, however, whenever there is a data breach this is always a good opportunity to learn and reflect on why it happened to make sure if any corrective action is needed it is put in place to prevent it happening again. Councillor Hay stated that although the numbers are small, she still feels the Portfolio Holder should be made aware when there are breaches. Councillor Boden responded that to the best of his knowledge the Portfolio Holders are made aware at Portfolio Holder Briefings and as an action from this meeting he will ensure that all officers are aware that at all future Portfolio Holder briefings that the Portfolio Holder has all the matters in relation to any ICO and potential breaches of GDPR.

Members thanked the Leader and Chief Executive for attending and noted the information presented.