Interactive webcast player

Cabinet
Tuesday, 9th June 2026 at 10:00am

 
Share this agenda point
  1. Cllr Steven Broadbent
Share this agenda point
Share this agenda point
Share this agenda point
Share this agenda point
  1. Cllr Thomas Broom
  2. Cllr Peter Brazier
  3. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  4. Cllr Steve Bowles
  5. Cllr Robert Carington
  6. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  7. Cllr Isobel Darby
  8. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  9. Cllr Carl Jackson
  10. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  11. Cllr Adekunle Osibogun
  12. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  13. Cllr Mark Winn
  14. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  15. Cllr Michael Bracken
  16. Cllr Steven Broadbent
Share this agenda point
  1. Questions
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  3. Cllr Michael Bracken
  4. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  5. Questions
  6. Cllr Michael Bracken
  7. Cllr Steven Broadbent
Share this agenda point
Share this agenda point
  1. Cllr Carl Jackson
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  3. Cllr Mark Winn
  4. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  5. Cllr Steve Bowles
  6. Cllr Steven Broadbent
Share this agenda point
  1. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  2. Cllr Robert Carington
  3. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  4. Cllr Steve Bowles
  5. Craig McArdle
  6. Cllr Steve Bowles
  7. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  8. Cllr Peter Brazier
  9. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  10. Cllr Peter Brazier
  11. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  12. Cllr Carl Jackson
  13. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  14. Cllr Adekunle Osibogun
  15. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  16. Cllr Isobel Darby
  17. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  18. Cllr Isobel Darby
  19. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  20. Cllr Mark Winn
  21. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  22. Cllr Michael Bracken
  23. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  24. Cllr Robert Carington
  25. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  26. Cllr Robert Carington
  27. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  28. Cllr Robert Carington
  29. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  30. Cllr Thomas Broom
  31. Cllr Steven Broadbent
Share this agenda point
  1. Cllr Robert Carington
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  3. Cllr Carl Jackson
  4. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  5. Cllr Thomas Broom
  6. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  7. Cllr Isobel Darby
  8. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  9. Cllr Mark Winn
  10. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  11. Cllr Robert Carington
  12. Cllr Steven Broadbent
Share this agenda point
Share this agenda point
Share this agenda point
  1. Webcast Finished

Good morning everybody and welcome to today's cabinet meeting of Buckinghamshire Council on Tuesday the 9th of June 20 26
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:00:12
Those of you watching and indeed those of you in the room will notice that exceptionally and just for this occasion
We are actually in a different room at the gateway building in the Paralympic room
but we are still able to
webcast this and
record the meeting. And also, as a result of that, please do remember to use the microphone
when you are speaking and turn it off when you are not so that things are picked up both in the room
and outside. There is still an area to the right -hand side where members of the public
who do not wish to have their images captured can sit, so do please talk to the committee clerk if
you wish to be in that area.
That being said, my name is Stephen Broadbent, the elected leader of Buckinghamshire Council,
and so we'll now move through two items on the agenda, the first being apologies for
absence.
I do have apologies from Councillor Peter Strachan, deputy leader and cabinet member

1 Apologies

for planning, but the portfolio deputy, Councillor Michael Bracken, is here in his place, and
of course deputy cabinet members are welcome.
We also have Councillors Peter Martin and Catherine Oliver in the room and are able
to contribute to the debate if they wish.
But in line with our constitution they are not able to vote on matters to be considered.
And I was just about to say Councillor Thomas Broome gave me notification of a late arrival
but I'm pleased to say he has now arrived on my immediate left.
So, with that, there's no other further apologies for absence, although we do await the arrival
of Councillor Darby.
Item 2 is minutes of the last meeting.

2 Minutes

This was the meeting held on the 12th of May, 2026, and on pages 3 to 16 on the PAC.
Obviously cabinet members have seen these in advance, and so are there any comments
or questions on the minutes, please?
I'm seeing shakes of the head.
So are you content for me to approve the minutes as an accurate record?
Thank you.
They are agreed.

3 Declarations of interest

That takes us to Item 3, declarations of interest.
Obviously Councillors do put their declarations of interest and they're published on the website,
But does anyone have any additional or specific declarations for this meeting?
No?
Thank you.
I'd like to confirm the arrival of Councillor Darby now.
Welcome.
And so we come to item 4, which is hot topics.

4 Hot Topics

Hot topics are not a requirement of cabinet members, but it is an opportunity for cabinet
Cabinet members to draw attention to specific items or occurrences that they want the members
of the public to be aware of.
And so as is the norm, I will progress around the room.
Please Cabinet members do introduce yourself and then if you do have a hot topic, let us
know what it is.
So first, Thomas Broome.
Thomas Broome, Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for Transport.
Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:03:22
I think the only update at this point leader is that as the weather
Improves overall, but perhaps not precisely this morning. We are continuing to
ramp up the capital programme
that does mean that there may be some additional disruption on the roads as we get out there and and and make those
repairs and
Resurface those roads. Obviously, this is part of our 120 million pound road programme that we passed the budget earlier this year
Which is a record investment in Buckingham Shears Road Network and will allow us to move from
Resurfacing about 220 roads last year to 270 roads this year. So while there will be some additional disruption
We think that because it is such a top priority of residents to improve the state of our roads
that we will push on.
But as ever, if there aren't any issues on the network,
please do report them to us, first of all,
via FixMyStreet, and if you need to escalate anything,
just get in touch with your local member.
Thank you, Thomas.
Good to hear those resurfacing schemes are happening.
Good.
Peter Brazier.
Thank you, and Peter Brazier,
Cllr Peter Brazier - 0:04:32
I'm cabinet member for Culture and Leisure.
Got a couple of hot topics.
We often get criticised for not maintaining our parks,
But I just want to acknowledge a letter from the organisers of the Aylesbury Park Run,
who use Muddecroft for their park run events.
It says, I wanted to send a quick email to thank you for getting the repair works carried
out.
I've inspected the course today, as we do every week, and the repairs have much improved
the paths and greatly reduced the trip hazards.
So that's some work we've been doing on the paths in Muddecroft.
And also, I just want to update on the work, the major works we're doing in the Rye and
Wickham to the footpaths there.
We're about halfway through.
I've just received an update report.
They're expected to be completed mid -July, so expect some social media posts towards
the end of July.
It's looking really, really good there.
The other thing I wanted to mention was we had our library conference last Friday, first
one we've held since 2013.
We had about 120 people there, including staff and volunteers.
We had presentations from not only our volunteer groups but other services in the portfolio
such as a presentation by our parks team.
And I want to thank Zina for kicking it off with a really supportive address, recognising
the great work our volunteers do.
We've got about 70 full -time equivalents in our officer team in the library service, but
They are massively outnumbered by the 700 volunteers we now have working in the library
service keeping our libraries alive.
It's so important we recognise the work that those 700 volunteers do, keeping our 28 libraries
open and I just want to thank them for the incredible work they do.
Thank you.
Excellent, thank you.
And of course lots of volunteers are required to make Parkrunner success across the place.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:06:32
So volunteering does make a huge, huge impact on the community.
Thank you.
Steve Bowles, please.
I'm Steve Bowles.
Cllr Steve Bowles - 0:06:40
I'm the cabinet member for communities.
I've got a couple of hot topics.
Firstly, a previously updated cabinet on the progress we were making with our parking enforcement
services to act power.
These new arrangements commenced on Monday, the 1st of June.
I'm pleased to confirm that the new contract has launched well with a full deployment of
civil enforcement officers and without any reported issues.
This approach will ensure that enforcement is delivered consistently across the county.
The service remains sustainable.
Local enforcement needs are addressed.
New technology is being deployed to strengthen enforcement at priority locations.
And, secondly, we launched Community Connexions in April of this year.
Community Connexions, it's a new country -wide approach designed to support council services
to engage directly with local communities using an online format and existing community
board networks.
Community Connexions webinars provide a more targeted, consistent, and efficient way for
Council services to share information, gather feedback and build stronger local partnerships.
Great progress, thank you Steve on both those items.
I've certainly seen the new planning enforcement people in their uniforms and that's really
important because we know that builds confidence in the communities when you know poor parking
is being challenged.
Robert Carington please.
Thank you very much, leader.
I'm Councillor Robert Carrington, cabinet member for resources.
Cllr Robert Carington - 0:08:26
I have two hot topics, both related to regeneration.
The first one is in regard to High Wycken, where I'm very happy to announce that the
White Hart Street regeneration project has been shortlisted for two industry awards,
the CIHT Creating Better Places Award and the Institution of Civil Engineers, South
East England Engineering Excellence Best Infrastructure Project, small in brackets, or both due to
held on the 17th of June. Um, this is a fantastic project and it is, it's brilliant to see this
being recognised and is one the council is quite rightly proud of. And I think these
nominations help recognise its success as an important town centre improvement project,
um, for High Wycombe and showing the council's, uh, work in delivering for High Wycombe. Um,
the second one is in regard to Aylesbury. Um, this is, um, the county apartments, which
officially opened on Saturday 30 May where my Deputy County Julie Ward attended and this
has transformed the former Buckinghamshire County Council offices in Walton Street into
46 high quality one and two bedroom homes.
This has been delivered by Oakford Homes and the scheme has carefully retained the building's
distinctive 1920s ficard and original features bringing new life to the prominent town centre
site.
This is a key part of our broader vision to revitalise
the Aylesbury Town Centre, increase town centre living,
and repurpose underused buildings as part of a
coordinated regeneration programme.
It shows how the council can successfully bring buildings
back into use while creating high quality homes in a
central location.
We aim to build on the momentum generated by this
scheme and the recent launch of the Aylesbury Town Centre
investment prospectus at the UK Real Estate Investment
and Strength Infrastructure Forum by expanding our existing regeneration programmes to meet
the needs of Ailsbury residents, visitors and businesses.
Great.
It's brilliant to see those coming on stream, actually.
So real investment in the towns coming through.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:10:32
So thank you for that, Robert.
Isabel.
Thank you, leader.
Apologies for lateness.
Cllr Isobel Darby - 0:10:39
I'm Isabel Darby, Cabinet Member for Health and Well -being, and I would like to highlight
that this week is National Carers Week, which is an opportunity to raise awareness of the
role of all our unpaid carers, family members and friends who look after their loved ones
or their neighbours.
And we need to promote their rights, increase the visibility of services available to support
them.
And so during this week, we've got a series of events planned within a programme entitled
Carefest 2026, which is delivered by carers, bucks, with support from the Council.
We've got events in Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Burnham libraries, as well as an online
event.
There are also some private events which carers can sign up to, which is great.
And we are – I would encourage all members, if they've got a chance to go to any of
these events, just drop into the libraries and see what's going on.
It's really important that we support our carers, and this is a plea to anybody watching
who is a carer.
If you haven't already contacted Buckinghamshire Council for a carer's assessment, these are
a free assessment.
We are not promising the world, but we may be able to signpost you to a little bit of
help that you don't know about already, and that is going to be worthwhile and help you
in your role as a carer.
Through this process, so we've recently completed a commissioning process for the carer's service
as we have to by law, and the current contract was coming to an end.
And I would like to thank Carers Bucks for the service that they have given.
They've given us excellent service.
This time we have appointed an organisation called Mobilise as the new provider for the
age Buckinghamshire Carers Support Service and the new service will launch on the 1st
of July.
Mobilise already deliver our digital Carers Support Service so they're not strangers
to Buckinghamshire.
They've got lots of support, of experience supporting unpaid carers and they will be
delivering the full service providing information, advice, guidance and wider support from the
beginning of July.
They will ensure that for every digital offer there is an in -person offer too because we
appreciate that a lot of carers don't sort of have the online access and they have different
needs and different ways they want to engage.
So we're very grateful to carers, but they decided they didn't want to bid this time,
which we're sad about, but that's the way it is.
And we're looking forward to working with them to ensure a smooth transition to the
new service, so there's continuity for our carers.
And then a little public health one as well, if I may, Lida, sorry.
It's really important, it's supervised, there's a supervised tooth brushing service
of children which is a public health initiative and I mean it may sound that well why do people
need to do that but tooth decay remains one of the most common yet preventable conditions
affecting children under five years old and it disproportionately affects children in
deprived communities as well as those with special educational needs and disabilities.
It leads to pain, disrupted sleep, poor nutrition and reduced school readiness as well as wider
impacts on health and wellbeing.
So there's a new supervised tooth brushing programme which will launch on the 1st of
July.
Over the next three years the programme will deliver daily supervised tooth brushing in
early year settings for three to five year olds in high need areas.
Activities will be delivered by setting staff who will be trained and supported by the STP
provider.
So this matters because it supports our key local
priorities including the Start Well Action Plan,
the Best Start in Life and Opportunity Bucks,
and it will contribute to improving oral health and
outcomes and reducing health inequalities amongst
our younger children.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for those two items,
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:14:36
particularly flagging the help available to carers
and our families here.
Great.
Thank you.
Carl Jackson, please.
Cllr Carl Jackson - 0:14:44
Thank you, Lita, Carl Jackson, Cabinet Member for Education and Children's Services.
One hot topic on the issue of special school places.
I was very pleased recently to visit Stock Lake Park School here in Aylesbury.
It's a secondary special school with more than 100 pupils with, I think it's fair to
say, diverse and complex needs, including profound and multiple learning difficulties.
It was great to meet the principal there, the head teacher, Bradley Taylor, him and
His staff do a fantastic job and I want to take the opportunity to thank all of our staff
and school leadership in special schools around the county who do such fantastic work to support
children and young people with some of the most complex needs.
That visit of course came in the same week as the government confirmed they were going
to cancel the special school that the Department of Education had promised us, which leaves
a sort of 152 special school place gap in the provision.
As I said at the time, while the government has sold us short on this in terms of funding
and creation of places, Buckinghamshire Council is still working hard for our children and
young people and their families with special educational needs and disabilities.
Our £3 million EHCP recovery plan is really sort of ramping up and the number of EHCPs
being issued has increased dramatically.
The send improvement plan has been recognised by Ofsted to be improving the support available
to families affected.
And we are going to work as a council to expand special places within existing settings as
much as possible in the absence of the funding for a new special school.
So I want a Buckinghamshire families to know that Buckinghamshire Council is on their side with this and we will keep working to support
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:16:37
Thank You Carl, yes the confirmation of the following the review by government that
They undertook at our request not to fund that school that was promised
Really is a blow to the county and that had almost unanimous, but certainly
multiple party support when debated at council.
And I think we have been let down by the government
on them taking away that school.
And of course, there's no commensurate equivalent level
of increased funding to look for alternative settings.
8 million versus 20 million will not help.
So we will continue to work with schools
to see where we can expand provision
in those mainstream settings and make best use of that.
But that's 152 places that have been taken away from us by that decision, even that review,
which frankly is a shocking decision and certainly lets down this county.
That said, Ade.
Thank you very much, leader.
I've got two hot topics.
Cllr Adekunle Osibogun - 0:17:44
The first is the Bockenhamshire Landowner Tree Planting Survey, scheduled to close on
the 11th of June.
residents are encouraged to support our box three mission by completing the survey.
The second is the strategic flood management group.
It's scheduled to meet on the 16th of June.
Members are invited to submit questions related to county wide flood risk management concerns
using our online form.
Thank you, leader.
Thank you very much.
And swiftly on to Mark Wynne, please.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:18:18
Good morning, leader.
Mark when cabinet member for housing and regulatory services
Cllr Mark Winn - 0:18:26
Just a quick positive update on the work of the housing assets and development team
We're now seeing real progress in using s 106 funds for affordable housing
These were funds provided by developers for affordable houses that they could not provide on site
Grant agreements have been signed with registered housing providers the pipeline of more grants and houses and moving through legal
I'm pleased to say that over five million of funds have now been committed through our funding rounds
This has helped unlock over 160 new affordable homes across Buckinghamshire
Most of these are beings have been at the social rented level
That's a level which I've personally championed which are at 50 % of market rent, which are the most affordable
Homes England have praised the work of the team noted that some of these schemes
simply would not have progressed without the council prioritising this funding
and tackling that enabling role. There as I said more affordable housing schemes
to come but progress so far illustrates a really strong example of us working
practically with our partners to accelerate the delivery of affordable
housing and maximise external investment into the county. Thank you Mark good to
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:19:39
note the progress being made and making sure that developer funding is
is invested in the areas that it was intended to increase that social housing or rather
affordable housing provision.
Thank you for that.
And then in the absence of Peter Strachan, Councillor Michael Bracken, his portfolio
deputy is here.
Do you have any hot topics?
Cllr Michael Bracken - 0:20:02
Okay.
Thank you, Michael.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:20:04
So that brings us to the end of hot topics and we move into item five, which is question
time.

5 Question Time

This is where there's a provision in our constitution to allow non -Cabinet members to come and ask
questions of the Cabinet.
They are submitted three working days in advance so that there is a written question and an
answer given.
Those answers will be provided by the most relevant Cabinet member.
So today we have two.
And the first, and please do come forward, is Councillor Gregory Smith asking a question,
what would be to Peter Strachan in his role, but will be responded to by Portfolio Deputy
Councillor Michael Bracken.
Morning, Gregory.
Thank you.
Thank you, Leader.
Yes, I am Councillor Greg Smith, Hadlam and Stone Ward.
Questions - 0:20:56
And this is a question that broadly is about infrastructure before development.
and, as you say, would be directed to the Cabinet member for planning, so Councillor
Bracken in Councillor Strachan's absence.
So the context is that I note with particular interest the appeal court decision in the
case of Wildfish versus Buckinghamshire Council, Wilson Homes and Angley Water, March 2026.
case. This judgement has been followed quite closely by local residents across Buckinghamshire,
and particularly those communities that are facing wide -scale, widespread development.
My understanding is that the Court of Appeal has ruled that the condition for adequate
sewage treatment remains a pre -commencement condition in this particular case, meaning
that the developer can't start building until a foul water drainage scheme for the
site has been approved along with a proper assessment of capacity to identify the infrastructure
upgrades and the programme of work that's necessary. Essentially, with this condition
in place, the development can't start unless the condition is fully discharged. Now, this
statement from the Council would hugely assist areas like my own who are facing wide -scale
new development. So the specific question, to get to the question, what plans are there
for Buckinghamshire Council to issue a statement about this judgement and ensuring that planners,
parish councils and local members are aware of the importance of a pre -commencement condition
in new developments, particularly where sewage infrastructure is known to be at or beyond
capacity at the moment.
Thank you.
And Michael, thanks.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:22:59
Well, thank you very much, Councillor Smith, for the question.
Cllr Michael Bracken - 0:23:03
It is quite a technical area, so I'm going to sort of give you the sort of precise position
as the Council sees it.
So, Wildfish sought judicial review of the decision of the Council in March 2025 to approve
the Reserve Matters application for a residential development at Maids Morton and that was dismissed
on all grounds by the High Court of Justice in November 2025. This was then subject of
an appeal to the Court of Appeal which was dismissed at the grounds in February 2026.
The judges in making their decision concluded that the Reserve Matters approval was specific
to the outline permission and not the subsequent Section 73 permission for a variation to that
outline.
So what that meant, that the condition relating to the timing of the provision of the off -site
foul water drainage scheme, which was Condition 13, was as set out in the outline permission
as opposed to the subsequent Section 73 application.
Our claim for judicial review has since been submitted against the Council's decision
to partly discharge condition 13 relating to the provision of off -site foul water drainage
scheme, which the Council is resisting, and it would not be appropriate to comment further
given that ongoing judicial process.
It is a case -specific judgement and there is no wider implication for developments for
Buckinghamshire.
Thank you very much.
I think that last sentence is the important one case specific without the wider implications, which hopefully will reassure residents
Okay. Thank you for that Councillor Smith now councillor Robin Stotchby, please
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:24:43
Councillor also councillor Stotchby also has a question for
Peter Strachan, so again, this will be responded to by councillor Michael Bracken as the portfolio deputy. Good morning
Robin there we are
And I think we're now all set ready for the camera
Robin, good morning, over to you.
Questions - 0:25:06
Thank you, I don't think the question will be of any surprise.
It's an ongoing topic of concern within parishes and obviously in the absence of Peter,
I hope the Deputy Cabinet Member will be able to affirm it with a view, which will be very gratefully received.
And please can the Cabinet Member advise me of any plans he has to review the approach
to the publications of public comments on planning applications including parishes for
parishes and town councils in order to ensure that the appropriate considerations is given
to transparency and the ability of local council to participate effectively in the planning
process while still meeting data protection requirements.
Again, thank you very much for the question.
I'm aware this is of great interest to many.
Cllr Michael Bracken - 0:26:01
I mean, the Council reviewed its position on publishing public comments on planning
applications which came after a data breach came to light.
And as a data controller, the Council takes its obligations around privacy and the lawful
handling of personal data extremely seriously.
The Council wants to ensure that the public continues to trust us with their data and
to ensure that we avoid the significant fines that the information regulator, the ICO, can
impose on organisations who do not comply with the relevant legislation.
So a decision was taken following legal advice that discontinuing the publication of public
comments was the only approach that fully mitigated the risk to the Council of non -compliance.
A range of alternative options were carefully considered, including the use of artificial
intelligence to adapt personal data, requiring explicit consent for a tick box declaration,
and manual anonymisation of names and contact details.
However, none of these obligations was sufficiently robust to discharge the Council's responsibilities
under GDPR.
We will, however, keep all of these options under review.
While it is recognised that some individuals and groups valued the ability to view others'
comments, particularly to understand the level of local interest, doing so is not essential
for meaningful engagement in the planning process.
Decisions on planning applications must be based on the proposal's compliance with
the development plan and other material considerations.
It is important to remember that any representation should be made on the planning merits of a
The Council does actively encourage public engagement in the planning process through
the submission of comments on the planning applications.
And all representations received are taken into account as part of the decision making
process, including where applications are determined by the Planning Committee.
Thank you very much for the response.
I'm sure the conversation will continue, but thank you.
Thank you for your honest response.
My apologies.
There was a couple more things I wanted to add, which is that the Council does continue
to publish all comments submitted by statutory consultees, including locally elected members
and town and parish councils.
And in addition, comments received from members of Parliament are also published.
Since the original decision, we have kept this matter under review, but as there has
been no change in the underlying data protection legislation or its interpretation, there are
currently no plans to formally review or change the Council's position.
Thank you.
Obviously, we are one of the busiest, largest planning services in the country.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:28:47
And I think the key point in all of that is all comments made are available and accessed
by the decision makers on every single planning application.
Thank you, Councillor Stutchfield, for your question.
Enjoy the rest of the day.
That brings us to the end of question time.
We're now, therefore, item six, the forward plan.

6 Forward Plan (28 Day Notice)

plan. This is a snapshot in time as to what the forward plan business on things that are
on something called 28 -day notice is where this is published. And obviously, this is
taken at the time that this particular cabinet pack is publicised. But of course, it is dynamically
updated when changes are made in the intervening period. So I do always encourage members of
public to look at it.
For the purposes of today, the forward plan can be seen on pages 19 to 30 of the pack.
Does anyone have any questions or comments on the forward plan?
So can you tell me to accept that forward plan?
Thank you for that agreement.
Item 7 is the first substantive item today.

7 Revised Skills and Employment Strategy 2026-2029

This is the revised skills and employment strategy for 2026 to 29.
The report is on pages 31 to 56 of the Agenda Pack.
And there'll be a bit of a double introduction here
because Carl Jackson, cabinet member for Education and Children's Services,
will wish to make significant commentary.
But this is an area that crosses portfolios
and certainly into my interest as leader
because skills and education are a great, the great way of us being able to ensure the people of the county have the opportunity to thrive.
And you will see from the refreshment of this document and the actions that we take that we are prioritising frequently the ability for the residents of Buckinghamshire
to be re -skilled, up -skilled, see opportunities for them to be able to access the world of
work and improve their lives for themselves, their families and our shared prosperity as
a county.
So, Carl, do you want to just introduce the revision, please?
Yes.
Thank you, Lita.
Cllr Carl Jackson - 0:31:13
I'm very pleased to present this revised skills and employment strategy to Cabinet and would
note also obviously your significant involvement in the development of this strategy.
This aims to create opportunities for our residents looking to find employment, looking
to find training and ultimately of course to help Buckinghamshire's economy to prosper.
This is particularly important in a national context where unemployment has been rising,
youth unemployment and the number of young people not in education or training or employment
is a particular concern.
In that context, it's been somewhat disappointing that the government cut our skills boot camp
funding but it makes the need for a local skills and employment strategy even more important.
At the risk of sounding like a Marks and Spencer advert, this is not just a leader skills and
employment strategy, it is a Buckinghamshire skills and employment strategy.
It is one which is tailored specifically to our local needs and our local economy and our local people.
It is linked to the Buckinghamshire Economic Plan.
And it is a real strategy. It's not a gimmick.
It's not about giving some people who are looking for work six weeks of activity to say they've done something for us to tick a box.
Or for some training that leads nowhere.
This is about high quality, relevant training, helping people to find a good local job in
a growth industry.
Growth sectors like engineering, like construction, the creative industries, film and TV, digital
and AI, green industries, which also some overlap with construction there.
It's a strategy that's been developed crucially with local employers as well as with training
and education providers.
So we're not just sort of throwing random skills at people.
We are providing people with skills that will equip them to succeed in the growth industries
on their doorstep, giving them a chance not just for a job but for a promising, rewarding
career as well.
And preparing people to be ready to take advantage of changes brought about by technological
advances and AI.
There's also an important element here of reducing barriers to employment, maybe people
who have disabilities, people who, I've had a local resident contact me who's been interested
in connector work because they have Asperger's autism and they feel that it's a barrier to
their employment, they feel that that programme can help them, people who've been homeless
maybe, people with prior convictions, these are barriers that we can help people to overcome.
And I think, I'll finish by saying that almost in some ways the most important word in the
of this is the word revised because the pace of changes is quick in the world of
work and in industry at the moment. I remember not too long ago I met Jenny
Craig of the Bucks College Group at their Ellsbury site who was saying that
where their students are undergoing vocational courses they are
having to update the curriculum even as they go through maybe a two, three year
period because if they didn't the curriculum that they started with would
be out of date for the employers by the time they finish the course. That's how
quick some industries are changing. We need to be ready to respond to that and
equip our people to flourish and to support our local industries. I will
finish that because I know you want to add something as well. Great, thank you Karl. I
think that's a really useful bit of context and really emphasising the
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:34:50
the opportunity for Allpoint.
You mentioned Jenny Craig, so those reading the strategy
will see the full word is co -written by me and Jenny.
Jenny is the Principal and CEO
of the Buckinghamshire College Group
and chairs our Skills Board.
So we have a strong sense of partnership here
between the Council, the public and the private sectors,
including alongside that, education providers.
and this board reports into the overarching growth board and you made
the strong link between the economic plan along with this skills plan which
is absolute in its focus for those bodies but with Jenny chairing that and
helping to develop the Buckinghamshire local skills improvement plan along with
the people around her it's a real genuine opportunity for all moment you
reference some people who maybe find it harder to access skills in order to work.
This strategy is very much aimed at making sure there's options for you no
matter your starting point and it's really important that people feel that.
For some people it may be, I never did get my maths at school and that's
holding my back, there's an opportunity there. For others it may be something more
specific and you mentioned quite rightly how this needs to be remain focused and
dynamic. And actually, recently, a couple of weeks ago, we were at the groundbreaking
of the new High Wyckham campus, as it will be, being built for the college group. And
there were a couple of representatives of the students who were in the first intake
on the civil engineering T -level that is offered here in Aylesbury. And that was a course developed
with the industry and in fact that includes with our highways teams and
with the partners on our highways alliance so that they help influence
parts of the curriculum but also importantly give the job placement
opportunities to do real -world experience and so a lot of our schemes
that like the boot camps are very practical as well and the last thing to
say really is there is a a short or at least as short as possible and direct
line of sight in some of these programmes,
from being away from the world of work
to having an interview to gain employment
within a few weeks, particularly through things
like the construction skills boot camps.
So that's to be encouraged.
This is real lives and real impact
for the people of Buckinghamshire.
And as you say, it needs to be revised and updated
because things work fast.
It's beholden on all of us to work in partnership
to make sure it's good for the businesses, good for people, good for the county.
And I think that's what this manages to achieve through the programmes that we have
and the opportunities it gives.
Building that talent pipeline for the future is something we can never lose sight of.
So with that being said, any questions, comments from other cabinet members? Mark Quinn.
Thank you, leader.
Cllr Mark Winn - 0:38:04
Last week we were very lucky to go to Westcott Venture Park and see the great innovation
that goes on there.
And we saw someone working on satellites, on space, on doing lots of testing for those.
We saw people working on drones and how they've expanded their business across to many different
countries.
So we're seeing real sort of the potential that there is in Buckinghamshire for expansion
of our economy.
But also, so this plan hopefully we can get people into jobs in those types of sectors.
But also we have people, I mean I look after people who are homeless in my portfolio and
Carl there highlighted that that could be a sector where we could help people.
Because through skills people can get a job and getting a job people can get themselves
out of the position that they're in.
very much a believer in that, give people a job and they can go forward.
So this is a great thing to see and I hope to work with Karl on our homelessness strategy
as it comes forward to make sure we can embed some of the skills learning in there and make
sure some of the homeless people that are there can take advantage of the opportunities here.
Thank you, thank you very much.
Like I said, different people will be at different points but there's opportunity no matter
at a starting point on being able to access these,
some of this provision over time for sure.
So thank you for that.
And it's worth saying that our enterprise zones
and our foundation existing businesses
are still contributing a near 20 billion pound economy
with a contribution into treasury and helping provide jobs.
Our employment level in Buckinghamshire
is ahead of the national average,
but we would be complacent at our own peril
if we thought that situation just continues alone.
And I do think, so for example,
you will have seen the growth of a fantastic business
at Westport called Skyports.
One of the most important bits, kits they've got is the,
I can't remember now which way around was it,
the Xbox on a PlayStation controller.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:40:17
As they are doing things like flying the Royal Mail
from Westcott into the, I think it was the Orkney Islands
or the Hebrides, and delivering things across the country.
So there were people out there, young people potentially,
out there who are very good at their gaming.
There's opportunities, that doesn't,
that may already have some of the requisite skills.
Being ready for work is really important,
and that's why the involvement of the college group
is important, and employers,
because that readiness for work is a key prerequisite,
and there's even opportunities to work on that.
So thank you for that reference, Mark.
Steve Bowles.
Yeah, no, I was just gonna say
that from a community's perspective,
with Opportunity Bucks,
Cllr Steve Bowles - 0:41:01
I think it would mesh quite well with that skills
because we're focusing on young people
within Opportunity Bucks areas,
trying to get them into employment,
get them into training.
So it's a really good way forward, I think.
Yeah, and I think one of the successful
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:41:20
opportunity box slash skills plan we have is the is the van that goes around
the skills van where people can sit there particularly if they don't have
access to devices and things and and learn be skilled up on on a mobile way
so the skills opportunity goes to the ward as opposed to people always have to
travel again Carl referenced barriers to work that can equally be barriers to
So, where possible, we're trying to overcome that.
Okay, thank you for that.
So, having had that discussion, the recommendation for us to look at today is to endorse the
skills and employment strategy, setting out the place -based framework for the delivery
of skills and employment work, which aligns and supports the delivery of the overall economic
growth plan.
Are you happy to agree to that, please?
Thank you.
That is agreed.
So that brings us now to item 8, which is the Quarter 4 Corporate Performance Report,

8 Q4 Corporate Performance Report

pages 57 to 122 of the pack.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:42:28
As ever, I will ask Councillor Robert Carrington as the Cabinet Member for Resources to introduce
the report, please.
Thank you very much, Leader.
Cllr Robert Carington - 0:42:37
And what we're discussing today is the performance report for quarter four.
This provides the latest details of the key performance measures reported through the
corporate performance framework for 2526.
As a reminder for those watching and anyone new, this performance report, the out turns
are classified as green, amber, and red.
And for those to be classified as a green, it must mean they are with or above or within
five, sorry, they must be above or on the target.
For amber, they must be within 5 percent of the target.
And red is if there is any over or under of the target 5 percent.
At the end of quarter four, 67 indicators had out turns reported with a red, amber,
or green status.
Of these, 47 are green.
That's 70 percent.
Four are amber.
6 percent, and 16 are red at 24 percent.
In comparison with Quarter 3, there were 65 indicators without terms reported, and of
these 45 were green, 69 percent, 5 were amber, 8 percent, and 15 were red, 23 percent.
I will now open the floor to if Cabinet members want to sort of comment on any of their particular
KPIs.
And they may wish to comment on some things and there will be questions certainly on the
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:43:59
red ones because I think members of the public would like to ensure they hear on the rationale
for reds and more importantly the action being taken to deal with them.
So very quickly if we do go through I'll deal with the leaders portfolio first.
Quite some time ago there was a commercial force based generation plan looked at.
you will see that with a complete increase coming in quarter three and a smaller one
up into quarter four, this, as you will see from the improvement actions, the delivery
plan has been superseded by reality, so a new delivery plan will be brought forward
to more accurately reflect it.
We've made reference in the previous item to the enterprise zones and they do continue
to build out and be successful.
So there will be an increase undoubtedly in the floor space that is available on the enterprise
zones but we need that profile to look more realistic.
So that will happen in the future months but it does look red for now.
The second one is on strategic infrastructure projects.
This is trying to profile the spend of a major infrastructure programme.
you can just see by the way that even the targeted graph goes,
this can be a little bit lumpy, but does increase over time.
So the out -term was 91 .62 % versus the 100 % for the year.
So you can see, though, with your own eyes,
particularly the Seeler Road, and what happened over Christmas
with the bridge lift, and we can see that getting developed,
This is, you know, some of the slight differences in how the delivery and the finances come
through.
So we still believe that the delivery of the next part of the Seeler Road will be done
on time and on budget.
So we're still looking at an autumn, hopefully, autumn opening of that road.
So all being said, the reality of delivering the road on time and on budget is the thing
that ultimately will matter.
Just to show you, I will highlight one green
because it shows the engagement level
with our leading firms in Buckinghamshire,
which shows the partnership points
we made in the previous item.
Our engagement with businesses is really important
and been able to push through on opportunities
for people as well as help them with their own growth
and their own prosperity for the county.
So with that being said, I will move swiftly on to in the order of the PAC.
Steve Bowles, you're next, please.
You have a couple of reds.
Would you like to explain those, please?
Yep, can do.
Cllr Steve Bowles - 0:46:57
The first red is the Household Support Fund Direct Support Average Spend.
I mean, direct support includes the provision of white goods,
beds, bedding for those in crisis,
and obviously subject to inflationary increases in prices, which will continue to affect our
spend in this area.
And that wasn't reflected in the original baseline.
So improvement action on that is to continue to find best value essential items, including
working to set up a contract to secure the best price.
So that's on that one.
A number of new domestic abuse champions recruited and trained.
We held two training sessions in Q4 to account for the fact that none were delivered in Q3,
which has affected the outturn on this indicator.
Improvement actions, improved quality and frequency of communications that we send to
trainees prior to scheduled training dates, oversubscribe sessions to adjust for non -attendees
and restrict the ability to register if an individual repeatedly does not attend the
training sessions.
Craig, is there anything you'd want to add to that?
No, I think you've covered it well, Councillor Boles, just to say this year we will avoid
scheduling a DA conference at the same time as a training, which really impacted earlier
Craig McArdle - 0:48:24
in the year as well.
So, but I think we've got to be careful with that.
I think it's still something we want to support.
We'll be promoting further the White Ribbon Networks as well
during the course of the year, LEAD, as well.
So I think it's a strong area for us
and we'll continue to push the training.
I think also fair to say that we'll be looking at adding
Cllr Steve Bowles - 0:48:46
some more indicators to my portfolio.
Probably the thriving communities will come in
as an indicator.
Okay, well let's stick on these for now.
So thank you.
I mean, when we asked you about this in Q3, it was clear the challenges with the training
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:49:02
that happened and you said there would be an increase.
So I'm pleased to know the increase up above Q3 level, but there will be more to go to
reach the Q4 target.
Thank you very much.
I will, in the pack next is Councillor Peter Brazier on the culture and leisure portfolio.
There are no reds, but Peter, would you like to highlight any one green, please?
One.
Just one.
Cllr Peter Brazier - 0:49:25
Just one your favourite one
Well, they're all my favourite I just like to I
think
What's what's really holding up strong is our country parks. They're doing very well
The the team they're doing a great job at attracting visitors to the country parks
And if I'm only allowed one
So you're only allowed one but it's a good advert for the country parks
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:49:52
They are cherished in the county and we're opening a new one later in the year
at Stoke Poggis and a new one is due to open later in the year in Stoke Poggis
Cllr Peter Brazier - 0:49:58
Thank you Peter said so nice up. Well done
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:50:00
Carl Jackson, please. Let's come to your your portfolio. You also have a couple of grades. Yeah. Thank you leader
Cllr Carl Jackson - 0:50:08
I mentioned that to read first of all on the percentage of looked after children placed within
Buckinghamshire
That's below targets at the moment
There's two ways we're looking to address this.
There's the residential children's home programme where buying and creating more of
our own in -house children's residential homes.
I visited some of those already.
It's a really important programme because we want obviously more of our children in care
to be within the county, closer to their communities, closer to family where it's appropriate,
closer to schools.
And also, of course, we want to avoid the significant costs of private sector children's
home provision, which are astronomical at the moment.
There's another strand to dealing with this issue as well, which is the fostering transformation
programme.
We had a great sort of foster carer conference recently celebrating the work of our foster
carers.
We're always looking to recruit more.
We've got a really good package of perks including council tax rebates,
leisure centre access, Merlin annual passes, all sorts of things to try and
recruit more foster carers and make them feel supported.
So that's going to be a crucial part as well, obviously, of keeping children and
young people within the county boundary when they're looked after by us.
The other red I'll mention is the EHCP target of 20 weeks,
where we're still considerably below the target.
The leader, I hope, will forgive me for mentioning the other EHCP targets of the percentage of
EHCPs maintained in mainstream education, which is on target, and that's important because
there's a big emphasis on that now from national government as well.
We as Cabinet will know invested £3 million in an EHCP recovery plan which sort of launched
properly at the start of this year, which was very much focused on clearing the backlog
of EHCPs which have gone beyond the 20 -week period.
It was always going to take a bit of time for sort of for the improvement against the
20 -week statutory target because obviously what's happening is we're now issuing far
more EHCPs.
There's been great progress on that front, but almost all of the EHCPs that have been
issued have already gone beyond the 20 weeks, so they don't really help this figure.
They don't really help this figure at the moment.
What I'm looking to see, and what I am now seeing,
is an improvement in the behind the scenes figures
as I see them, which is the number of EHCPs being issued
and the number of Appendix D sections
being completed by the educational psychologists.
Those figures are both doubled from January,
more than doubled from January to April,
more than doubled the number of EHCPs being issued in April
compared to January, more than doubled
the number of APDs being completed in April compared to January. The backlog which had
topped 1700 before we launched this recovery plan is now starting to drop towards 1500.
Obviously as we're issuing more HCPs, more request for assessments are still coming in,
so there's a never -ending demand. But I think what's important is we are starting to see
more HCPs issued. And I think with a little more time we will start to see this 20 week
figure improve as well.
Thank you, Carl.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:53:34
I think that context and background there on what's actually happening with EHDPs is
really important because, yeah, whilst these metrics in here do give these single data
point analyses, knowing that additional investment is bearing down on the backlog, you don't
yet see it in this metric, but it's really important and, yeah, reassuring to know that
that work is well underway, making an impact.
Thank you.
Next in the pack is Ade Osiboggan in the environment,
climate change and waste portfolio.
No reds, but you do have an amber, so let's talk about
that one, please.
Yes, thank you very much, Alito.
Cllr Adekunle Osibogun - 0:54:13
The amber is the percentage of household
waste recycling rates.
This percentage is slightly below our target of 50 .9
percent, but better than the benchmark in England.
The result also shows the progress from our Q1 results, which were about 48 .2%.
To improve on this, we're continuing to improve our communications around change of behaviours
and also working on reducing contamination in curbside collections.
Lida, if you permit, I would also like to pay tribute to our North and South Waste Collection
team for their efforts to maintain in high performance levels by both exceeding the 99 .9 %
of weekly household collections.
This means that they've kept percentages of missed binned collections below the target
of 0 .2%.
I would also like to recognise our residents' efforts, which is also shown in the residual
household waste, where we have minimised non -recyclable waste and supported the continued downwards
trend of residual household collections.
Excellent.
Thank you for all of that.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:55:30
Yes, the misspin rate is very low and long may that continue, Ade.
So thanks to the teams for that.
Isabel Darby in the health and wellbeing portfolio, please.
Yes, thank you.
Cllr Isobel Darby - 0:55:42
I'm sorry I'm letting the side down with three reds here, but I think it's fair to say that
the looking at the number of older people admitted to permanent residential nursing
care homes per 100 ,000 population, our targets are quite ambitious.
And I think what this does show, although we are – we haven't reached our target,
it does actually indicate that if somebody truly needs either residential or nursing
care permanently, they get it in Buckinghamshire.
However, we have a number of things that we do to ensure that we try not to put people
into permanent care by using our Home First protocol.
So we do try to re -able people who've been in hospital.
We do try to prevent people going into care
in the first place.
So, and I think what should be recognised
is the fact that we remain below both the Southeast
and the national average anyway.
So no time to sit on the laurels,
but I think that's why we are where we are.
The next one is the number of carers' assessments, and I did refer to carers' assessments earlier
and give them a plug in my hot topics.
We are below the target of carers' assessments that we set for ourselves.
And we believe that some of this is the fact that our colleagues at CarersBucks and ourselves
as a council are doing good signposting anyway, just information we're making sure is out
there for carers, which means that perhaps they don't feel that they need to have a carer's
assessment.
I would still encourage people to have a carer's assessment.
However, a lot of carers don't even see themselves as carers.
So we know we've got sort of about 50 ,000, we think, of unpaid carers, but a lot of people
won't even recognise themselves as carers.
So I think we just have to keep plugging away at that one and see where we go.
And then the percentage of births received face -to -face new birth visits, that is a disappointing
trend there.
There are a number of reasons.
One of them, I believe we've got our partner who delivers this, is the workforce issues.
And I would say that they have taken a very pragmatic approach and have been making sure
that the opportunity buck towards the areas of deprivation, those families that really
need that health visit, 83 % are getting it within the 14 -day period. And we've got a
high percentage of everybody who receives it within 16 to 20 days. So we are getting
there, but I think we have to be realistic about the fact that if there aren't enough
people to deliver it, we are targeting that delivery to those that really need it on a
timely basis and catching up with the others. There are other reasons why people don't get
that visit. Some people actually go and stay with relatives out of county during that time
after they've had a baby. Some people don't even want to visit, and that is obviously
quite tricky, but we can't force ourselves upon them. And there are sadly a higher number
of neonatal cases where the babies are still in hospitals
on wards at that time.
So that's the three reds.
I'd like to look at the amber as well,
which is the percentage of young people
whose adult social care assessment was completed
before they turned 18.
And that, I'm pleased to say, is showing an improvement.
Now we are targeting, focusing our sites on that.
We've got the transition board,
which is commenced looking at the preparing for adulthood pathway.
And so we are nearly there on that one. And, um,
I think that's a really something to be celebrated,
although we're not quite there.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:59:45
Thank you, Isabel. I think that's a run through of the mall. You're right.
That, uh, the birth received the, the,
the new births having a face to face visit, uh,
that has been pretty consistent for some time and above targets.
So to see that drop is just, and I hear what you've said
on actions being taken.
And it might take a little bit of time to turn,
but it's right to have stepped in now.
Just one thing, when you were referencing
number of older people admitted to permanent residential
or nursing care homes per 100 ,000 of population,
and relying on the Home First Strategy,
in that instance, being below the national average,
lower than the national average is a good thing.
Just to highlight, because that wasn't,
that's not necessarily the case on some of the other metrics and that's because we, as
you said, we're not having to have redress into permanent care settings as much as others
because of the home first approach.
So whilst that has gone red in relative terms, I know that is paying off.
Cllr Isobel Darby - 1:00:52
Thank you, and can I just say that also a lot of elderly frail people do not want to
go into residential accommodation.
It's not the way they want to live their lives.
So not only are we keeping them out, which saves the council costly care, but we are
also providing them with what they want to do as well, which I think is really important
as well.
Thank you.
Thank you for that.
Mark Wynne, I'll turn to you now.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:01:13
You have a red and an amber, so could you cover them both, please?
Thank you, Leader.
Cllr Mark Winn - 1:01:20
The red is related to the Bucks and Surrey trading standards team.
They had call blockers and these have been very successful over the years
in terms of helping people at risk of being scammed on the telephone or had been scammed.
But since then, the government introduces part of the digital switchover
free, they have core blockers themselves, so it largely took away this one and as we
go into the new financial year, this will be replaced by another one which illustrates
the great work that the Bucks and Surrey Trading Standards team do on behalf of residents.
The amber one relates to a number of households on the Bucks Home Choice and Bucks Home Choice
shows those in housing need. It's not necessarily those that are homeless but those that may
need an extra bedroom etc in March last year we introduced a new new allocations
policy and as part of that allocations policy people had to reapply to go on to
Bucks Home Choice and this illustrates a higher sort of increase in the numbers
that went on there but one thing we are doing we are reviewing the people that
are on that the register to make sure that they're bidding because in the past
We didn't keep track of that, which is a very important thing we're now doing to actually
track that.
We're only over 168 on 5 ,000, so I do expect that that number will come down, and we'll
possibly go into the green area in that.
Okay.
Thank you for that, Mark.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:02:59
Let's briefly turn to planning, where a red has appeared.
You mentioned 106 somewhere earlier.
So Michael, what's happened with that, please?
Yeah.
Cllr Michael Bracken - 1:03:09
So this one obviously has for a long time has been read and then we finally got it down
to zero last quarter.
So it's entirely appropriate that the first time I'm presenting this it's gone back up
again.
Thanks very much.
But I think if you look at the detail here, so there are three cases which have gone beyond
the 24 -month period.
And two of those are partially committed as it says in the pack.
So they are sort of under control and one is pending some works on some engineering
work.
So disappointed to see these appear back on the red list, but I think there are – we're
clearly on top of each of the three underlying cases.
Okay.
Thank you for that, Michael.
Good to note.
Robert Carrington, please.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:03:54
Thank you very much, Lita, and I have two reds.
Cllr Robert Carington - 1:04:00
The first red is in regard to average call wait time.
This is 5 minutes and 37 seconds, which is above the target of 3 minutes, and has shown
a reduction in performance from Quarter 3, where it was 3 minutes and 23 seconds.
The reason for this is, this is the anticipated increase in customer contact relating to council
tax and benefits.
Plus, this is the first year of us implementing the new council tax reduction scheme.
So obviously, there were a number of queries on this.
At the peak, this was in March, we had about 14 ,000 working age residents were impacted
by the changes to CCR, and out of these we had 2 ,500 rang up, so that's 18 percent
of the residents affected to discuss.
And it is important to note that during this period, customer satisfaction remained high,
and above the benchmark at all contact channels and first call resolution.
This is where when you ring and your query is solved in that phone call was at 89 .7 percent
and we received no complaints about the wait times.
On the mitigation measures, we mobilised, as we always do, additional staff to, because
we're aware this is going to happen, deployment circuit breakers.
And one I very much want to talk about, we're utilising the callback function, which is
one where the average response time was you are offered on high volume calls like council
tax the option that someone will ring you back.
This normally is within 30 minutes.
And I'm happy to say that over the year we have seen an increase of 12 .5 % of people opting
for this option to 27%.
And so in the recent weeks we're now actually at 40 % for the council tax line of people
going on the call back line.
And also, on the chat role, we are continuing to push out our chat box, particularly on
the AI side, and we've seen a big number of increase in inquiries there, and this has
gone up to about 15 ,000 interactions, and showing that it's taking a lot of the pressure
off from the lines.
On the other red, this is in regard to voluntary staff turnover, where this is at 8 .2%.
This simply reflects the job market, that their confidence is not in a good place at
the moment and cooling, but this is due to geopolitical reasons and uncertainty in Westminster,
amongst other things.
I just quickly want to highlight, very quickly, two greens.
One of these, um, these can be found on page 109.
One of these is the average time for processing housing benefit change claims.
I just want to raise this as this was a red last time, uh, and this is now, uh, back to
green.
As I mentioned in our last meeting, uh, this was because, um, of, um, sickness, and this
is now being resolved and is back to where it should be, uh, in this, uh, time in the
cycle.
The other one is the one I, I will always raise, and I'm defending myself very much
for good reason, is the number of sickness absent days per full -time employee lost to
sickness annually.
This is now 7 .81 days.
This is a fantastic achievement.
To remind people, the private sector is at 9 .1 days.
This is an area we are significantly beating the private sector, and this is down to the
interventions we are doing, which are showing, obviously showing that they're working and
that this is very much going in the right direction.
Thank you, Robert.
There's an awful lot in there as ever for us to dig into.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:07:58
Those last comments, I'm pleased to hear the actions
have brought that back into green,
and I'm pleased that staff are supported
so that it don't lose working time to sickness.
I do wanna just pull you back on the average wait times
because five minutes, 37 seconds will feel like an eternity.
But I think the contextual part you added,
which is 90 % of people, when you hung on there,
got it resolved in that phone call, is really important.
So it's kind of worth hanging on.
And because there was that big spike in 15 ,000,
sorry, 2 ,500 people out of the near 14 ,000
who were likely to call have called,
do you expect that to come back down, the call waiting time?
Knowing that we'll be looking towards homeschool transport elements later in the summer.
Cllr Robert Carington - 1:08:57
We are already seeing the decrease in the core waiting times on council tax and as I
said we have brought in the resource on that and we are very much promoting the call back
option.
As I said we're at about 40 % for council tax on that.
But yes we will move to the next item which as you said is home to school.
And you said usually within half an hour for a call back.
Yes, usually within half.
Do you actually track that?
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:09:18
Yes, we do.
We do track that.
Great.
Cllr Robert Carington - 1:09:20
So we'd be able to, you know, that's really important.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:09:24
If you wait on the line, take the option, you know, you don't want to call it back hours
later.
So within half an hour is good.
Thank you for that.
Robert, Transport Portfolio, Thomas Broom, please.
Thank you, Lita.
So we've got a couple of reds here, the first of which is essentially what we've been talking
Cllr Thomas Broom - 1:09:42
about at the last few meetings usually in hot topics.
Obviously this is a Q4 report, so it's January, February and March of this year, in which
we did have a huge number of reported defects on the network, largely due to the two weeks
of freezing weather and then what the Met Office has described as one of the wettest
starts of the year on record.
That translated through in terms of defects on the highway network to a 52 % increase on
the same period in the previous year.
And the result of that was as we scaled up our response, which ended up being a doubling
of the number of crews on the network making repairs, we were not able to close all of
the higher priority repairs in the time period that we would like to.
We set ourselves a very high standard of 95 % of those defects being repaired within five
days and this dipped to 85 % during this period.
Now that backlog has now effectively been cleared so I'm fully expecting that to come
back as green at the next review.
However, we have taken lessons in terms of how quickly we were able to stand up that
additional provision.
I am very confident that those additional crews were scaled up in Buckinghamshire much
more quickly than most other authorities, including our neighbours.
But we can always look to see if we can do that better, to see if we can do that faster,
and we've taken some lessons away and we will work with our high -risk contractors to
make sure we have that on standby.
Secondly we have an indication on our gully clearing programme.
Now this is basically we have managed to get out to the number of gullies that we would
expect to across the county.
What this represents is a higher than usual number of gully lids that we have not been
able to lift because they're stuck and require some more significant maintenance, and in
particular, parked cars.
So gully sitting under parked cars.
Because this is the cyclical programme though, everything that we haven't been able to get
to in that quarter will be rescheduled and we will just come straight back to it as soon
as we possibly can.
It is a little bit odd to see particularly this number that are blocked by cars.
I'm not entirely sure what's led to that, but that's something we'll obviously look
into and we will correct as we go forward.
The third that we have here is one that I've discussed before at these meetings, which
is public accessible EV charging units.
The ongoing difficulty we have had with this is that one of the very large programmes to
provide funding for this was effectively rejected by the government through the Office of Zero
Emission Vehicles because, well, for the slightly bizarre reason that we had negotiated a revenue
share with the provider that would have returned a significant amount of that back to the taxpayer
here in Buckinghamshire, but we were told that that was too high and that we were delivering
too much value for money for Buck's taxpayers, and I suspect it was withdrawn because it
might embarrass some other local authorities of other political colours who had not managed
to do quite the same.
This is frustrating, but we will not let it put us off, and we continue to push forward,
And particularly to make sure that the number of electric vehicle charging spaces that are
available to residents in Bucks will continue to increase.
Great.
Thank you very much.
That brings us to the end of the corporate performance report.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:13:51
Thank you all for that.
We are asked to note the performance for Q4, as Thomas said, January, February, March,
and the action's been taken.
So agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you very much.
Item nine then, we come back to Robert Carrington.

9 Budget Management - Outturn 2025-26

This is the budget management report.
What's called the provisional out turn for 2025 -26.
That basically means the year end budget from the last council year.
This public report is on pages 123 to 160.
There is a confidential part that we may choose to go into later.
So as before, Robert Carrington is the cabinet member here and we have David Skinner, service
Director for Finance and our Section 151 Officer in the room if there are any other technical
questions.
So let's go into the public report, please, Robert, and you present that.
Thank you very much, leader.
Cllr Robert Carington - 1:14:50
So this report sets out the financial position for the Council at the end of the financial
year 25 -26.
The out -term position of the revenue budget is positive, with a surplus of 4 .4 million
pounds to be contributed to General Fund reserves, allowing us to maintain the General Fund balance
at a consistent percentage of net operating expenditure over the course of the MTFP period
to 28 -29.
The financial year, there are a number of one -off factors which have positively impacted
on the revenue position but will not be repeated in future.
But it is very important to note that the overall position is reflected by the overall
prudence we have shown in managing our budgets, in the day -to -day budgets, particularly in
adult social care, home -to -school transport, and temporary accommodation.
In addition, early delivery of savings and our track record of effective service reviews
have helped deliver a positive position in relation of staffing.
This is particularly prevalent in light of the huge pressures we are having externally
in things like fair funding and geopolitical pressures, as I mentioned in an earlier item.
This shows the financial stewardship, the firm financial stewardship by this Conservative
Council and the focus on value for money, allowing key services such as our bins and
our adult social care to go ahead.
I mean, particularly when you are seeing – I think it was in the news recently – other
councils such as West Northamptonshire have had to make the difficult decision to go to
free weekly bin collections, while we can continue on our weekly.
So, in light of this context, this has allowed us to make some one -off contributions to reserves
to be invested in key projects for our residents and strengthen our financial resilience.
In addition, we have successfully implemented financial control actions across all portfolios
to contain spend and deliver on our savings.
Despite the strong performance, as mentioned, the financial position of the coming years
remained challenging, with economic volatility from
domestic Westminster and overseas, particularly the
Middle East, events which is likely to cause inflationary
pressures on our budgets.
We also expect further growth in demand and complexity of need
in the key services of children's social care, adult
social care, temporary accommodation, home to school
transport and high needs budgets in the dedicated schools grant,
DSG.
Overall portfolio budgets have achieved a favourable variance of
£13 .8 million, which is 2 .6%.
This is the first time since the formation of the new unitary
council that an overall surplus has been achieved.
Looking into the variances, focus starting on the favourable
ones, this is regard to portfolios.
We have health and well -being at £5 .6 million.
This is from a strong delivery of savings efficiencies from reviewing care packages
and maximising the use of block contracts which have resulted in reduced overall unit
costs of care packages.
We also have home to school transport where we have a favourable variance of £4 .6 million
from lower than expected growth in numbers of Senn passengers.
But as a warning there, growth is expected to materialise in the second half of 26, 27.
and the positive management of contracts, which has successfully driven down costs.
You also have a favourable variance of £3 .7 million in planning from additional income
and £2 million in property from additional income and strong cost control and debt management.
These favourable variances are offset by some adverse variances, particularly £5 .2 million
pounds in the education and children services from high
demand and external residential placement budgets from numbers
of looked after children and increased unit costs.
However, savings are being delivered from the opening up of
our own children's homes.
And also an adverse variance of 0 .6 million pounds in temporary
accommodation due to an increase in the number of households
needing support.
Going on now to corporate budgets, the variance in the corporate budgets includes £9 .1 million
favourable from additional interest income on cash balance, from interest rates remaining
higher for longer than expected due to world events, and £2 .9 million from borrowing internally
to fund the capital programme rather than externally.
These factors have allowed the Council to make the proposed contributions to reserves
as set out in the report, which will be used to improve services for our residents to fund
Invest to Save activities and strengthen our financial resilience.
In particular, we have been able to set aside funding to meet the residual DSG deficit,
which otherwise have had to be found for further savings.
Going on to the DSG, dedicated school grants again, the DSG budget was set with a deficit
of 22 .9 million pounds, and the end of year position is a deficit of 20 .7 million pounds,
with the variance being in early year budgets.
The cumulative balance on the DSG deficit reserve is now 42 .5 million pounds.
Important to note that the DSG high needs stability grant was announced by government
in February of this year, and it is expected it will fund 90 percent of the cumulative
DSG deficit, which is 40 .7 million pounds.
Payment, however, is subject to the submission to the Department of Education of the local
Senn reform plan, which is being actively worked on at present, and I know Councillor
Jackson will obviously want to expand on that.
And the funds to repay the remaining balance on the DSG have been prudently set aside,
as already mentioned.
I quickly want to mention achievements of savings.
These savings have been very strong this year with an over
delivery of just under a million pounds or 1 .2 percent of our
challenging targets of 76 .9 million pounds for the year.
Do you want me to take a break before we go into capital and
focus on revenue or just carry on?
Carry on?
All right.
Capital.
I was hoping for a break there.
So the capital programme budget was 173 .8 million pounds.
And the out turn for the year was 155 .8 million pounds, delivering 90 % of the programme and
meeting our cabinet target of 10 % slippage.
This is a significant improvement on the prior year performance, which was 20%.
The key delivery areas I would like to highlight are highways investment of 34 .6 million pounds
spent on the ambitious 120 million pound road programme already mentioned by Councillor Broome and this is
ahead of our target of 32 point 3 million pounds and this also includes
23 .9 million pounds on preventative maintenance and 10 .7 million pounds on resurfacing works on
Infrastructure there has been 16 million pounds
invested in priority highways infrastructure
including 2 .5 million pounds of a 4 .5 million pound project for the Marlow Bridge,
3 .3 million pounds on drainage and 1 .6 million pounds on street lighting.
On the housing infrastructure fund, 42 .3 million pounds has been delivered,
including, as mentioned earlier, progress on the south east Aylesbury Link Road,
or to use an acronym of CELA, which is still on track for its opening this year,
and contract signing for the Woodlands Development
for the Eastern Link Road.
And I apologise for a further acronym.
This is the ELA, which we'll be hearing a lot more of later.
Later in the year, not now.
On the education provision, we have had 20 million pounds
invested in school places,
including 30 million pounds in primary,
notably 12 .2 million pounds for Kingsbrook primary,
and 4 .8 million pounds in secondary expansion,
and £2 million in provision. £18 million, 10 % of the programme, has been
re -profiled into future years, with an updated programme to be presented to Cabinet later.
On capital funding, it is important to note this programme is funded through grants, capital
receipts, developer contributions and revenue funding, all of which met or exceeded targets.
On grants, we had a 103 .8 million pounds budgeted in 25 -26.
We've all planned funding received, and we also received some additional grant funding
in advance, some from the DFE and some from HS2, which will generate future Treasury management
benefits.
On capital receipts, we have achieved 10 .2 million pounds, including key asset disposals
such as Queen Victoria Road in Wickham, the former council offices.
On SIL, we have received £10 .1 million, which exceeds the target of £5 million, with the
surplus to be considered in the future MTFP.
I will just very quickly touch upon two other matters.
Debt, our strong performance continues in this area, with our key performance measure
for unsecured debt over 90 days, reducing further from Q3 to £9 .2 million, which is
well below the target of £12 million.
pounds, and finally, payment performance.
This is also consistently good, and the target of 95 percent prompt payment has been exceeded
with a result of 97 .3 percent.
These are significant achievements given the volume of transaction we deal with as a large
and complex organisation.
And I will end with that.
We have six recommendations, and I will now take a breather and hat to you.
Thank you, Robert, for that fantastic and energetic run through the budget.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:25:07
I really appreciate it and I wanted you to do capital and revenue together given we're
at the end of the year because I think it helps highlight how as custodians of the public
purse, every decision we take is never done in isolation.
So capital decisions taken will maybe release a revenue saving.
What does that mean?
we've talked about it in year, we build a children's home it means that the
children are here and not being as referred to as Carl did earlier, not
being sent on a more expensive provision outside of the county. I think as the
custodians of public money here that is why we've been very clear all year to
say we will focus heavily on value for money to make sure we get best value in
in everything that we do, and that will be embedded in our corporate planning as we go
forward.
And yet, we do this at a time when the budget is incredibly difficult to bring in, given
the rising demands on services that still exist.
I'll remind people that our funding into the year that we're currently in, for the
next three years, has been cut by government to the tune of 44 and a half million.
So, the hard decisions we've already taken to bear down on the value of what we spend
to protect service delivery that we have done in this year and was done in the last Council
term as well has meant that we're in this position for the first time to come up with
this surplus budget.
We started the year as this Cabinet with an adverse situation due to some pressure increases
and thanks to you and the officers to make sure that in -year we have pulled that back
and turned that round into the position you see before yourself with a portfolio surplus.
That is really helpful in us mitigating the risks that still exist in this current year.
Inflation being an obvious one.
So yes, there's an upside in one way when inflation is higher and that has meant our
Treasury management income is higher because interest rates have remained higher for longer,
but the Council is not immune to the costs brought by inflation, and we see that in the
energy we buy and in the demands, the price demands of our services, food, and so on.
And I'd just like to pay tribute to the fact that this, the actions taken over a period
of time that protect the interests of the council and its residents in some of these
one -off elements mean that when the government have crystallised that 10%, which is £13 .8
million if the plans remain at 90%, of covering what you call the DSG, that in this year we're
already able to meet that cost in full in this first of the three years and hope that
government continue to fund the 90 percent, should be 100 in my view, but at the 90 percent,
having knowing we are being prudent enough to meet known future financial costs in elements
like that is actually partly the most pleasing part of the budget and to go into the year
with those risks, with the demand, with the cut in funding, knowing we are in a stable
position I think should be reassuring to the people of Buckinghamshire and to ourselves.
That being said, risks do materialise in here and so the recommendations you referenced,
including moving money into – in various ways to deal with some of those risks and
to further produce pay, invest to save type elements is really important and it's something
that means we can continue to be confident looking into the coming years on where our
finances will go.
So well done to you and the team on that, but to the whole Cabinet for having the shared
endeavour to bear down on these costs while maintaining an increased roads programme,
emptying bins on the same cycle, increasing planning enforcement and so on.
I would hope this is a budget out turn report that will be welcomed across the county given
We're actually under budget. So who else would like to say something, please?
I'll go to Carl and Tom
Cllr Carl Jackson - 1:29:57
Yeah, thank you leader, I think it's we can be pleased with the the surplus is a fantastic achievement in difficult circumstances
obviously there are
challenges ahead owing to cuts in central government funding.
I want to speak about children's services.
Obviously, it's my portfolio and it has the 5 .2 million adverse variance.
This is driven largely by the cost of placements for the types of children, children in care.
We've not seen a huge surge in terms of total number of children in care.
There is a bit of a sort of trend of an increase, but nothing that sort of is too drastic.
A lot of it is to do with the increased complexity of the needs of children who are coming into
care, and that is increasing costs.
It reminds us of the importance of the points I mentioned earlier of the need to increase
our own programme to build more in -house children's homes, owned and run by this council.
That will help us control costs as well as keeping children and young people close to
their communities.
There is a slight Ofsted risk here. The risk of creating the new children's homes isn't
really on our side. We've acquired most of the buildings and we can control how they
are put into a suitable condition. We then need Ofsted to sign them off and register
them so we can use them as children's homes. The time for that has sort of slipped from
six months towards nine months now.
And I have written to the Minister for Children and Families
to say, we need you to get on top of this.
We need this time from a request for registration
to registration being granted to stay
at the six month period or lower.
Or it's going to start affecting the plans
and the budgets of not just this council
but many others around the country.
Councillor Carrington mentioned the High Needs Stability
grant this is obviously the 90 % the government's plan to take 90 % of the high needs deficit
as of the 31st of March this year and that funding was was originally sort of offered
unconditionally and then made conditional on submission of a SEND recovery plan the
council had to explain to the Department for Education how we are going to implement the
SEND reforms in detail that's a little tricky because I think there's still a lot of detail
to be added by the government to its end reforms, which are still at the sort of white paper
stage.
I think the consultation's finished recently.
But we have stayed very, very close to the Department for Education on that as we've
developed our plan.
We submitted the plan as requested for quality control last month.
The deadline for final submission of our plan is coming up, and I'm told the initial response
is positive.
So hopefully that will enable us to secure the 90 % deficit funding at the first opportunity
in the autumn.
Good clarifications.
Thank you, Carl.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:33:02
Our seller comes to Tom, then I come to Isabel.
Thank you, leader.
Cllr Thomas Broom - 1:33:07
I mean, look, ensuring that we get the biggest bang for buck on every penny that the taxpayer
player gives us is probably the most important overall job that we have.
Because if we're not delivering value for money, then we are unable to deliver the basic
services.
But critically, we're also unable to deliver the priorities that we know because residents
tell us what they need in this county.
And you know, I think if you look at this out turn, you can see careful management of
the finances.
It's not the sexiest bit of local government by any means, but it allows us to deliver
good services.
It allows us to deliver on the priorities that residents tell us they want us to invest
in.
Obviously, from my own perspective, you know, it's hugely important that we deliver value
for money across the board so that we have the capacity to increase investment in our
roads.
It's always good to see a result like this, but we have to sort of carry the torch forward,
as it were.
You know, this is always going to be something that's important for us.
We need to – all of us around the table here – keep on pushing through those savings,
those efficiencies that we know we can make.
We know this county has been ambitious.
You know, there are councils in other parts of the country who are, you know, of only
a very slightly different colour, who despite receiving huge amounts of additional money
through the government's fair funding review, are, you know, a bit wobbly about making savings
in the region of 10 to 20 million pounds.
This council has driven 70 million pounds of efficiency savings in a single year, and
that is quite extraordinary.
And that is why there is more money going into roads in Buckinghamshire, while bin collection
frequency is reducing just over the border as Robert has pointed out.
And at the end of the day, you know, we all have to keep our eye on the ball on this one.
I know that it was your very first speech leader.
The first thing you said was that this is the foundation on which we build everything
else that we do.
And I'm really pleased to be part of a cabinet that has managed to help you deliver on that
vision.
and we will all keep our eyes very closely on our budget lines going forward to make
sure that we can continue to deliver value for money for residents and through that investment
in the services that they want us to prioritise.
Thank you very much Thomas for that.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:35:50
We absolutely have to and obviously this is a Q4 report so end of year has already been
gone.
We're already in year and having to keep an eye on things as they happen now.
But having those priorities and being able to invest to get the best outcome for the
residents of Buckinghamshire is absolutely vital and nothing worth having comes without
hard work.
So that's the effort being put in.
Isabelle.
Thank you, Lid.
Cllr Isobel Darby - 1:36:18
And on the subject of hard work, I'd like to pay tribute to the adult social care team
for the hard work that they have put in over the last year in really sort of driving down
costs as far as they can.
And we know that we're a demand -led service.
We can't stop what's going to come through our front door.
We don't know what it's going to be.
And I think the amount of work that's been done in securing better prices for block beds
and things like that has been absolutely phenomenal.
And it's not without that really tough work.
And I know that sort of they review these costs and these numbers every week.
And it's a bit of a roller coaster.
So for every good year that you have where you manage to really screw down the prices
and everything, we have to accept the fact that it becomes harder and harder.
And one of the savings that we did have was from vacancies in the workforce.
We can't do that forever because those vacancies are needed.
They just happened not to be filled.
So I think we just have to be very realistic about what we can produce going forward.
But I rest assured we will do our very best and we are absolutely committed to giving every single resident in Buckingham
Shear value for money for the council tax they pay so
It's just a line in the sand that it might not be as good next year
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:37:38
No, no, look whilst we can we can be pleased with this outcome. I deliberately made comments about risk
and and future demands because
It is not easy
but that's why being in a position to put further money into reserves to meet those
future costs and certainly any unexpected risk that comes to fruition is really important.
Again, we're only in that position though because of the actions taken.
So I'm going to limit it.
I've only got Mark and then I'll move on.
Sorry.
Thank you, leader.
Cllr Mark Winn - 1:38:10
As well as the value for money and of course the reduction in the amount of funding, the
reduction in the, so we're in surplus.
One of the things that we do by delivering for residents
is actually in taking homelessness for example,
is actually deliver real results for people.
People who are homeless are at their lowest level.
And one thing I'm really pleased to report
is less people are now going into bed and breakfast
accommodation, all the way through that measure was red.
And we've now got that to green on our measures in the last item, but the numbers have steadily decreased in in April
They stood at 430 now there are 371 which is a marked improvement
But obviously we need to make further improvement. We're budgeted for example
326 so we're getting closer to that job as we go and more measures will be taken by the time to do that
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:39:11
Excellent example of where taking the tough decisions improves outcomes.
As you know, when we talk about the budget in each quarter to come, we will pick away
at what is happening in year, what risks are appearing and how are we mitigating that.
But in the interest of moving us on, there is a sheet of confidential information that
you have all seen.
I just wish to have any indication if anyone actually wants to go into confidential session
to discuss that, or are you content with the contents of that confidential part?
Anyone wish to go into confidential session?
Okay.
I don't see that, which means with that being said, then we can move to the recommendations.
Robert, do you want to propose those, please?
Cllr Robert Carington - 1:40:06
Thank you very much, Leader, and I will just quickly say we have six recommendations, and
they are we are asked to note the report and the success in achieving a 4 .4 million -pound
revenue surplus in 2526.
Number two, approve the transfers to reserves as set out in paragraph 2 .6.
Number three, note the overall capital out -term position of 155 .8 million pounds of investment
in the Council priorities.
Number 4, approve the carry -forward of capital budgets as detailed in Section 4 within the
report.
Number 5, delegate to the Section 151 officer in consultation with the leader any amendments
required to finalise the out -turn.
Position number 6, note the confidential appendix relating to the injury from a weight legal
case which is exempt under the Local Government Act 1972 Schedule 12A, Paragraph 3, Financial
Affairs.
Those are the six recommendations.
Thank you, Robert.
I propose to take those on block.
So agreement to those recommendations.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:41:03
Those in agreement, please.
Agreed.
Okay.
Thank you.
That is agreed.
That finishes with Item 9.
Now, that brings us to Item 12, is the Strategic Risk Register, which is something we do discuss
in confidential session.
But as we've committed to in previous meetings,
I won't then, there's no need for us to come back
to the webcast, just to say we've noted it.
So we will shortly go into that exempt session,
but the webcast will end for anyone watching,
and we will obviously interrogate that.

10 Exclusion of the public (if required)

In order to be able to do that, I think we need to take,
therefore, jump ahead to the final item, which is just the note item 13, date of the next
meeting.

13 Date of next meeting

The next Cabinet meeting is scheduled to be held on the 1st of July, 2026, at 10 a .m.
So, can I have agreement to that date, please?
Thank you.
So, for those watching, just to clarify, we will now go into a confidential session to

10 Exclusion of the public (if required)

discuss and note the strategic risk register and the meeting will formally conclude after
we have done that.
So there's a statement I need to read regarding the exclusion of the public to resolve that
under local authorities' executive arrangements, meeting and access to information England
regulations 2012, regulation 42B is that the public be excluded from the meeting for the
following item of business.
on the ground, they are likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined
within Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, and that is the Quarter Force Strategic
Risk Register.
Are we agreed to go into that session?
Agreed.
Thank you very much.
Then please, will you end the webcast?