David Northey (Service Director for Finance) provided the following verbal update:

a)    There were two outstanding recommendations that were rolling forward;

                              i.        The first related to sustainability which was an issue for the whole public sector, not just Plymouth;

                             ii.        The second related to being more open and transparent about our reserves and how robust they were;

b)    More recommendations would be released soon as the team moved towards the next set of accounts.

Jackson Murray (Grant Thornton) introduced the report and highlighted:

a)    The final version was expected to be issued in three months’ time;

b)    Value for money findings must be reported by November each year;

c)    Two significant weaknesses had been identified in the same report for the 2022/23 financial year;

                      i.        Financial sustainability and Grant Thornton had recommended that the Council should update its Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) which remained open but an updated MTFS had been presented to Cabinet on 11 November 2024;

                     ii.        Need to improve economy efficiency and effectiveness in Children’s Services following an Ofsted improvement notice;

d)    There was evidence that the Council was discussing savings transformation regularly but it needed to be more clear on how different programs were being pulled together and ensure that the transformation that was required to maintain financial sustainability could be evidenced;

e)    Improvement recommendations related to sensitivity analysis required within the MTFS and a need to report the split between recurrent and non-recurrent savings as well as the need for a review of the Corporate Risk Register and reporting high level improvements made following fraud investigations each year;

f)     Procurement readiness action plan needed to be reported to the Committee ensuring the Council was ready for the implementation of new procurement policy in 2025.

In response to questions, the following was reported:

g)     A link to the MTFS report that had gone to Cabinet would be shared with Committee Members;

h)    The MTFS would be reviewed by Grant Thornton;

i)     The publication of the MTFS had been delayed by the General Election in July 2024;

j)     Grant Thornton would not provide a detailed expectation for budget setting, it would not be appropriate in relation to national budget, though this is provided more generally by LGA and other forums and organisations which could be shared;

k)    Procurement Readiness Action Plan would be added to the work programme.