Finance and Sustainability Committee Assurance Report
Meeting: Public Meeting
Date: 10 July 2024
Report Title: Finance and Sustainability Committee Assurance Report
Agenda Item: PUB24/07/6.3
Committee Date: 26 June 2024
Meeting Chair: Chris Brook, Non-Executive Director
Meeting Quorate: YES
Purpose: Assurance
Recommendation: The Board is asked to receive assurance from the business discussed at the meeting and to review the matters for escalation and referral.
Link to Strategic Objective:
- Be an exceptional place to work, volunteer and learn
- Provide outstanding quality of care and performance
- Be excellent collaborators and innovators as system partners
- Be an environmentally and financially sustainable organisation
Summary of Items Considered at the Meeting
Financial Delivery
Consideration: Financial Performance for the Trust is ahead of plan, with a surplus of £1,118k, which is a positive variance of £416k. The year end position is expected to break even.
Resolution/Outcome: There is a good level of assurance on the financial performance of the Trust, which is tightly managed. It is crucial that the Executive team manage their budgets closely and deliver upon the Quality Cost Improvement Programme (QCIP) expectations for the year ahead.
Assurance: Good
Financial Modelling and Planning
Consideration: The finance team have modelled some long-term scenarios to show how the Trust can reduce their long-term deficit of £5.5m through a continued focus on QCIP delivery.
Resolution/Outcome: The committee welcomed the model and early discussion on the long-term financial plan. The assumptions were realistic within the model to ensure the deficit is reduced. QCIP delivery is essential to reducing the deficit and there is a mixture of confidence levels at this moment in time that the model assumptions would be delivered in reality. Some in the committee had a level of optimism that this can be delivered through the connected planning work being undertaken, whilst others felt less confident due to the disappointing levels of recurrent cost savings in recent years. That said, the committee welcomed the forward planning and modelling, which can ultimately help reduce the deficit.
Assurance: Moderate
Transformation
Consideration: The Transformation programme provided an update on three core areas: Integrated Transformation Planning; Digital and the Quality Cost Improvement Programme.
Resolution/Outcome: The committee felt that the focus on the QCIP was behind expectations for this time of year. It was felt that the team should be in full delivery mode now against the target, but some areas where still debating and discussing the numbers. It is important that the budget holders at the Executive level are fully committed to delivering the expectations. Progress was noted on Integration, and future papers were encouraged to provide greater clarity on the alignment between the Trust’s change ambitions, the BAF and the project deliverables.
Assurance: Concern
Group Assurance
Consideration: The paper provided a summary of the Trust’s sustainability activities, which varied in nature from EV Infrastructure to Climate Champions and reporting needs.
Resolution/Outcome: The committee noted the varied progress, whilst asking for greater clarity on the activities through a change in the reporting format to align with the Transformation reporting.
Assurance: Moderate
Matters for Escalation or Referral
QCIP
To: Executive Board
Reason: Increase assurance in QCIP delivery by assessing the opportunities from the Connected Planning work, and other analysis, to ensure that efficiencies can be made in the appropriate areas. Communicate clearly with teams the art of the possible and use benchmarks where helpful. Ensure the plan moves to delivery as quickly as possible to build momentum.
