The Community, Cultural, and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee met to review the council's Transformation Portfolio and its work programme for the upcoming year. Key discussions included the progress of 15 programmes within the portfolio, covering areas such as adult social care, children's services, waste management, and digital transformation, alongside the committee's planned scrutiny activities for 2025/26.

Transformation Portfolio

The committee received a comprehensive overview of Lancashire County Council's Transformation Portfolio, which has been in place for approximately 12 months. This portfolio consolidates 15 significant programmes of work aimed at driving large-scale change, improving service delivery, and ensuring financial sustainability. The presentation detailed the methodology used for these programmes, which follows a five-step process: define, discover, design, deliver, and realise.

Significant progress has been noted across various directorates:

• Adult Services: Improvements in care pathways have led to a 28% reduction in assessment waiting times and an estimated £840,000 in cost avoidance. A new market shaping strategy for care provision has also been developed, identifying approximately £7.5 million in savings.
• Education and Children's Services: The Where Our Children Live (WOCL) programme has seen the opening of four new children's residential homes and has been nominated for a National CYP Award. The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) programme has secured an additional £7.5 million in recurrent budget to address assessment backlogs and redesign the service model.
• Growth, Environment, Transport and Health (GETH): A county-wide waste strategy is being drafted in partnership with district councils, and cost efficiencies have been achieved through enhanced contract management. The Highways and Transport programme, focusing on home-to-school transport, has already realised £1 million in savings for 2025/26.
• Resources and Cross-Cutting Programmes: The Digital by Design programme has identified £5 million in financial benefits over two years, with a new Directory of Services set to go live by the end of December 2025. The Data programme has completed a council-wide data maturity assessment and is developing a new data strategy, with a particular focus on enhancing data quality in Adult Services, SEND, and Children's Social Care.

Lessons learned from the transformation efforts include the need to strengthen cross-cutting initiatives, empower directorates to lead innovation, and remain flexible in reshaping programmes when necessary. The portfolio is crucial for achieving the council's £60 million savings target for 2025/26, with approximately £30 million embedded within these programmes, two-thirds of which are currently on track.

Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2025/26

The committee reviewed and approved its draft work programme for the 2025/26 municipal year. The programme outlines planned scrutiny activities aligned with the committee's responsibilities, which include cultural services, community services, crime and disorder, and corporate services. Key areas of focus for the upcoming year include the delivery of the Digital Strategy, workforce planning, property strategy and disposal of buildings, and domestic violence. The committee also noted that the efficiency review is expected to conclude by the end of November, with potential for further discussion in subsequent meetings.

The committee also confirmed its constitution, membership, and terms of reference for the 2025-26 municipal year, appointing County Councillor S Crimmins as Chair and County Councillor S Gummer as Deputy Chair.