The Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the Request Management Annual Report, the development of the Council Strategy, corporate performance, risk and financial monitoring, ICT service improvements, and an update on the council's local government reorganisation and devolution programme. The committee approved recommendations relating to the award of a contract for Community Autism Support and Advice (CASA) Services to Gloucestershire Rural Council and Communities (GRCC), and for the Gloucestershire Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) Programme Modified Framework Round Twelve.

Here's a breakdown of the key discussion points:

Gloucestershire Holiday Activity and Food Programme

The Executive Director of Children's Services agreed to appoint new providers to the framework for the Summer and Winter 2025 Gloucestershire Holiday Activity and Food Programme (HAF) following a mini competition. The allocations for Lot Two were confirmed at £146,803, and Lot Three Provider allocations at £52,565 for the summer and winter periods. Countywide HAF Community Connector allocations were assigned at £52,565 for the summer and winter periods.

Community Autism Support and Advice Service

The Director of Integrated Commissioning approved the award of a contract for the provision of Community Autism Support and Advice (CASA) Services to Gloucestershire Rural Council and Communities (GRCC), the existing provider. The contract will run for two years, with the option to extend for a further year.

ICT Service Improvements and Digital Strategy

Mandy Quayle, Director of People and Digital Services, and Jim Donaldson, Head of ICT Service Management, provided an overview of Gloucestershire County Council's ICT improvement programme and the approach to digital innovations moving forwards, as detailed in the ICT Service Improvements Digital Strategy July 2025 report.

Key points included:

• A history of poor ICT service, underinvestment and security vulnerabilities prior to 2021.
• An initial transformation between 2021 and 2024 which saw a new operating model developed, several IT services brought in house, core infrastructure replaced, and the introduction of Microsoft 365.
• A new operating model to enable ICT to deliver services effectively, focused on agility, standardisation, efficiency, resiliency, effectiveness, continuous service improvement, digital transformation, integration, strategic partnerships, and talent and skills development.
• Service performance improvements between 2022 and 2025, including a reduction in the average time to resolve requests.
• The GCC Digital Strategy 2024-2028, which aims to digitally enable the workforce, residents, and services through innovative use of technology and data.
• Examples of digital innovation, such as Magic Notes (an AI pilot for children's social work), complaints automation, and digital household grant applications.
• A digital skills programme, including digital smarties, a data academy, and Power App University.

The committee was informed of the four objectives of the strategy:

• Developing digital residents
• Developing digital services
• Delivering a digital council
• Developing a digital workforce

The Digital Strategy Roadmap Overview 2024 and Digital Strategy Roadmap Overview 2025 were presented.

Council Strategy Development

Darren Skinner, Head of Planning Performance and Insight, advised the committee that the cabinet is developing a new Council Strategy, with the intention of bringing it to Full Council for approval in November 2025. The Council Strategy will set the strategic direction for the council for the next four years, subject to any changes resulting from Local Government Reorganisation. The cabinet welcomes the help of scrutiny in developing the draft strategy and has included two opportunities for the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee to discuss the strategy during its development, on 31 July and 24 September 2025.

Corporate Performance, Risk and Financial Monitoring - Quarter 4 2024/25

Paul Blacker, Finance Director, and Rob Ayliffe, Director of Policy, Performance & Governance, presented the Corporate Performance Risk and Financial Monitoring Q4 2024-25 COSC report.

Key points from the report included:

• The overall revenue outturn position for 2024/25 is an underspend of £13.836 million.
• The largest directorate underspend is within Children's & Families Services, which reports an underspend of £11.262 million.
• The Dedicated Schools Grant deficit carried forward from 2023/24 was £45.751 million, and in year the deficit has increased by £32.786 million, giving a year-end deficit of £78.537 million.
• The savings programme for 2024/25 had a target of £32.453 million, including £9.424 million of unachieved savings from prior years. The year-end savings achievement is £26.445 million (81.49%).
• During 2024/25, debts totalling £630,356 were written off.
• As of 31 March 2025, overdue debt (more than 30 days old) stood at £21.27 million, compared to £23.89 million as of 31 March 2024.
• The final re-profiled capital budget for 2024/25 is £147.385 million.
• Almost three-quarters of measures were within tolerance or better than target at the end of Quarter 4 (74%).

The committee also reviewed the Council Strategy Progress Q4 2024-25, Overview of Performance Q4 2024-25, Performance Scorecard Q4 2024-25, and Strategic Risk Monitoring Report Q4 2024-25.

Request Management Annual Report

The committee considered the Requests Management Annual Report for 2024/25, which provided details on formal requests received and responded to by the council, covering:

• Freedom of Information (FOI) requests
• Environmental Information Regulation (EIR) requests
• Subject Access Requests (SAR)
• Individual Rights Requests (IRR)

Key statistics from the report:

• The council received 1551 FOI/EIR requests, a decrease of 42 from 2024/25.
• 93.4% of all FOI/EIR requests were released on time, a decrease of 2.1% from 2023/24.
• The council received 437 Subject Access Requests (SAR) and 27 Information Rights Requests (IRR).
• 84% of all SARs requests were released on time, a decrease of 7% from 2023/24.
• 63% of all IRRs were responded to on time, a decrease of 12% on 2022/23.

Update on the Council's Local Government Reorganisation & Devolution Programme

Nina Philippidis, gave an update on the Council's Local Government Reorganisation & Devolution programme. The COSC LGR BRIEFING JULY 2025 001 document outlined the following key points:

• The council is working together on three proposals indicated by the March 2025 'Interim Plan' letter to the Local Government Minister:
  • Partnership principles
  • Programme plan to proposal stage
  • Key risks
  • Government grant funding
  • Overarching timeline
• The partnership principles being considered by the joint leaders group reflect a complexity in joint working.
• A total of £266,855 was allocated from MHCLG to Gloucestershire Councils to assist in the proposals process for LGR.
• The submission made to the Minister in November is highly dependent on the positions taken by different councils.

Work Plan

The committee reviewed the Work Plan September 2025 and suggested items for consideration at future meetings.