Agenda item

Councillor Ward, Executive Member for Finance, Planning and Performance, and Rachel Harrison, Deputy Director of Finance, introduced the report.

Dave Hodgkinson, Corporate Director of Resources, and Tony Ralph, Director of Environment and Commercial Operations, and Rubena Hafizi, Head of Parking Operations, were also in attendance.

The following main points were noted in the discussion:

·        Adult Social Care and Children’s Services continued to be overspent. The Committee noted continued increased demand for services, increasing complexity of need, significant placement pressures, and increased transport costs. The financial balances of schools also remained a significant concern.

·        Environment was reporting a £9m budget pressure, primarily associated with a loss of parking income. Parking income had not recovered as expected following the pandemic. It was advised that the Finance team was working closely with the Parking service around this issue.

·        The Committee expressed concern at the significant variance in parking income and a discussion was had on the reasons behind this. While the council had introduced environmental policies to disincentivise car use in the borough, a member suggested that such a significant financial impact could not be attributed to the council’s policies. If parking income did not recover, then this decrease in income would need to be factored into future budgets. Officers agreed that a sustained decrease in parking income would be a challenge for future budgets.

·        A member noted that budget monitoring reports used to be produced monthly, and expressed some concern at the timeliness of the new quarterly reporting cycle. Officers explained that producing the monthly monitoring report had significant resource implications, and moving to quarterly reporting provided capacity for offers to undertake other financial assurance work, for example the current deep-dive on the parking income.  

·        Officers summarised the management actions underway in the parking service to increase income. It was noted that the decrease in parking income was mirrored across London. There were a number of factors associated with the decrease, including increased working from home, people choosing more sustainable travel options, and a decrease in car ownership. Islington had the lowest level of car ownership in London.

·        Islington had previously moved to emissions-based parking charges, with more polluting vehicles charged more, and it was thought that some drivers had chosen to use more environmentally friendly vehicles as a result.

·        A councillor suggested that more micro-level analysis of car ownership and usage trends may be useful. It was asked if there were any ward-level learnings on the impacts of implementing low traffic neighbourhoods. In response, it was advised that the impact of low traffic neighbourhoods were closely monitored.

·        A member noted that the report referenced 1,000 gas boilers being replaced; it was asked if these would be replaced with gas boilers, or better cleaner alternatives. It was advised that a written response would be sought from the Housing service.

·        A member commented that a holistic plan was needed to ensure the sustainability of adult social care and asked how much had been spent in redundancy in Adult Social Care over the past 5 years. It was advised that a written response would be sought.

RESOLVED:

That the budget monitoring report be noted.