Northamptonshire County Council: second commissioners' report
Commissioners’ second report to the Secretary of State.
Applies to England
Documents
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Commissioners’ second report to the Secretary of State in the form of a letter setting out their view that they expect to declare a balanced budget on 31 March 2019. They have also set out clear steps to continue to stabilise the council’s finances in the 2019 to 2020 financial year.
They also describe the measures that they and the new chief executive have put in place to improve governance and scrutiny at the council.
The second commissioner’s report sets out the steps that have been taken to understand the full picture of the deficit; tackle the deficit in the 2017 to 2018 financial year and forecast deficits in 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020.
This has involved developing and delivering a stabilisation plan which sets out how required savings in 2018 to 2019 were to be achieved in that year and identifying further savings for 2019 to 2020. The commissioners have also led recruitment of key senior officers at the council and worked with them to improve governance and scrutiny at the council, including starting to strengthen individual service delivery.
In his response, the Secretary of State thanks the commissioners for their report and notes the excellent progress that they have made. He endorses their plan to attend the local authorities’ joint committees as observers.