The County Council’s performance across key areas of focus of the Council Plan, how it managed its finances and investments in 2022/23.
The County Council’s performance across key areas of focus of the Council Plan, how it managed its finances and investments in 2022/23 and plans to create more spaces for pupils with SEND in mainstream schools across Warwickshire were among the main points when the Cabinet met yesterday.
Cabinet considered a summary of the Council’s performance at the end of the financial year (April 2022 - March 2023) against the strategic priorities and Areas of Focus set out in the Council Plan 2022-2027.
Figures showed that, at year end, with ten additional annual measures being reported, there has been a consistently, strong performance delivered against the Council’s performance framework, key. Of the key business measures available for reporting at the end of March 2023, 66% were on track, 34% were not on track.
This is an encouraging position set against the continuing volatile, uncertain, and high-risk external environment which is impacting on resources and the wider economic environment, capacity, and uncertainty about a number of key national policy areas.
The information presented in this report will be shared with the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny committees to consider in detail.
Cabinet also heard about the council’s financial outturn for the financial year which reported a net revenue overspend of £3.858m, which is around 1.1% of the council’s revenue budget and within the 2% =/- variance in which the council operates. This figure was again greatly affected by external factors, most notably the unprecedented turbulence in the global economy.
Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Leader of Warwickshire County Council, said: “These reports demonstrated what a tightly run ship we have here at the council. We agree a Council Plan and a budget and then we constantly monitor everything we do to make sure that we are doing it as best we can to serve the people of Warwickshire. These reports were part of that tight process of scrutiny.
“Cabinet heard how the council is performing and we are very pleased. It is unrealistic to expect any council which delivers our services not to have areas where it needs to mitigate, especially in the economic climate which has increased demand while reducing resources to deliver. The council has been performing very well under incredibly difficult circumstances that were beyond our control and that we could not possibly have anticipated.
“These reports have reassured Cabinet that we know where we need to prioritise resources to make sure we are delivering our services to the high standards that we set ourselves. They also give that certainty that the financial management is in place to enable us to do that.”
Other reports gave a progress report on the Sustainability Strategy, notably action the council is taking to decarbonise its vehicle fleet and invest in greener, more efficient energy. Key areas of the Local Transport Plan, which will play an integral role in the council delivering Carbon emissions were agreed and recommended to a future meeting of the full council for ratification.
Two reports dealt with young people with SEND. The first detailed additional places that will be created at mainstream schools, keeping local children in their communities and reducing out of county placements and transport.
The second report saw changes to the application process for transport to SEND schools changed in line with consultation. The new system will see the process streamlined so that families can apply for transport while making their applications for school places.
As part of its commitment to transparency and engaging its residents with the democratic process, the Council screens Cabinet meeting as well as County Council and meetings of its Overview and Scrutiny Committees. These can be viewed after the event at the webcast portal.