Agenda item

Joint Report of the Town Clerk & Chief Executive and the Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee received a joint Report of the Town Clerk and the Chamberlain concerning “flightpath” savings.

The Chairman opened the discussion; whilst recognising that the recent Member-officer bilateral meetings had been constructive, he expressed his concern that we had yet to shift the dial when it came to Members understanding and appreciating their principle role; namely, not to lobby for more money, but to ensure that the money allocated to their respective areas was spent efficiently and effectively.

The Chamberlain highlighted that there were ongoing concerns about achieving the savings targets and it would be surprising if we avoided further turbulence as the 2021/22 FY unfolded. The Chairman emphasised that whilst achieving the savings targets were vital, he recognised that it would present a significant challenge and that overcoming obstacles would be a-fact-of-life in short-to-medium term. Given the key role the savings will play in getting the Corporation back to a sustainable position, he and the Committee stood ready to support the Chamberlain and the Town Clerk, if, and when, they face pushback from either departments or other Members.      

The Head of Corporate Strategy & Performance stressed that her team worked in partnership with departmental business planners; the aim was always to work in tandem with the respective department to bring the best possible information to Members so that they could make informed decisions for the benefit of the department and the Corporation more widely.

She highlighted that our ability to track financial performance and KPIs had matured in recent years, and alongside the appointment of a new COO with a remit for overseeing the driving of further efficiencies, would provide a step-change when it came to departments delivering to targets.   

The Chairman welcomed these comments; he pointed out that, whilst we should continue to ensure that the targets and tracking were robust and transparent, given that the Corporation was far from a one-size-fits-all, homogenous entity, expecting across-the-board consistency across all departments and the rest of the Corporation family was unrealistic; thus, we should avoid “allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good”, and recognise that, perfectly logically, some departments/institutions will need to take different approaches.

RESOLVED – that the Sub-Committee noted the Report.