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RESOLVED: Cabinet;
 

a)   
Noted the information contained at Appendix A that
reflects requests from Reform UK but is information that is already
in the public domain and accessible to all interested
parties.

b)   
Subjected to the satisfactory completion of all due
diligence checks considered necessary by the Chief Executive
Officer and completion of the relevant legal agreements referred to
in recommendation C, approve the sharing of information detailed
within Appendix Two;

c)    
Delegated Authority to the Director of Governance
and Monitoring Officer to undertake all necessary due diligence
checks of third parties and to negotiate and enter into the
appropriate legal agreements with the third parties prior to the
sharing of any data detailed in Appendix Two to ensure that the
Council’s information and data security is protected and the
Council is indemnified against any potential loss or damage;
and

d)   
Delegated authority to the Chief Executive Officer
in consultation with the Executive Director of Resources and the
Director of Governance and Monitoring Officer to agree any further
sharing of data subject to the parameters and constraints set out
within this report.
 
REASONS RESOLVED:
 

1.    
The Council is a best value authority and has a duty
under Section 3 (1) of the Local Government Act 1999 to
“make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the
way in which its functions are exercised, having regard to a
combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.” By
law the Council is required to set a balanced budget year on
year.

2.    
The sharing of data may help the council to identify
efficiencies which would enable potential future savings in the
furtherance of this statutory requirement, ensuring that the
Council is able to continue delivering services above the minimum
statutory requirements for the residents of West
Northamptonshire.

3.    
The Council is already in the process of commencing
its detailed financial work required for setting the budget for
2026-27 and will be seeking significant efficiencies from service
directors, managers and budget holders to reduce the budget deficit
for 2026-27. The approach taken for 2026-27 will not be
fundamentally different from previous years where to date almost
£115m of efficiency savings have been driven out of the base
budget in order to protect service levels and produce a balanced
budget.

4.    
But we recognise that as a Council which is already
lean and has many services which benchmark as low spenders, finding
new savings is getting harder. Therefore, the Council is right to
consider other resources and tools available to see if there are
further savings that can be identified in order to close the gap
and protect services. Not finding new ways to improve productivity
and efficiency creates a greater risk that the Council would have
to move to a minimum level of service provision in the
future.
 
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS:
 
The Council does not have to
share any data with any third party and could choose not to.
However, the Council does have a duty to meet its best value
obligations and does face a challenging financial landscape that
increasingly requires new thinking, new ideas and different skills
in order to keep finding efficiencies when the Council is already
operating at a low cost in most areas (according to benchmarks) and
in the face of the growth of the demand led services. The
opportunity to share limited data in a protected and controlled way
may assist the Council is meeting that duty whilst also supporting
the Council to drive forward its Transformation Programme and
support the setting of a balanced budget at no additional cost to
the Council.