Lead Member – Councillor Malcolm Pate – Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Strategy, Financial Strategy, Budget and Business Plan

Report of the Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance (Section 151 Officer) TO FOLLOW

Contact: James Walton  Tel: 01743 255001

RECOMMENDED:

              i.        That Council agree the 2017/18 budget of £563.330m including the savings proposals previously approved by Council and the revised proposals to deliver a balanced budget in 2017/18 as outlined in Appendix 3.

            ii.        That the Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance (Section 151 Officer), in consultation with the Leader of the Council, make amendments to the Financial Strategy following receipt of the Final Local Government Financial Settlement. The Council General Fund Balance and/or Financial Strategy Reserve can be used to enable any reduction in resources or increase in costs to be managed through this process. If timing is sufficient, the final position to be approved by Council on 23 February 2017.

           iii.        That the changes required to the 2017/18 budget as a result of the Final Local Government Settlement and revised business rates and collection fund estimates be noted.

           iv.        That the revised funding gap for the years 2018/19 and 2019/20 be noted.

            v.        That the revised Capital Programme, as set out in the report, be agreed and recommended to Council.

           vi.        That the Policy for Flexibility around the use of Capital Receipts, as set out in Appendix 7, be agreed and recommended to Council.

The Leader and Portfolio Holder for Strategy, Financial Strategy, Budget and Business Plan presented the report from the Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance [s151 Officer] on the Council’s Financial Strategy 2017/18 to 2019/20.  He stressed that the Financial Strategy reflected a time of unprecedented uncertainty in local government finance with the impact of significant changes in local government funding making it impossible to calculate the impact on the Council and making the development of a long-term financial strategy impossible. 

He drew attention to the two stage approach to be taken by the Council through the development of a short term financial strategy 2017/18 to 2018/19 based on achievable, lower impact savings proposals and using one-off resources to close the resultant gap; the second stage ahead of the 2019/20 financial year would result in the development of strategies alongside the emerging themes from Central Government.  He stressed that the Council had a vision and a willingness to ‘make things happen’.

The Leader concluded that the Council had, and would continue, to make strong representations to the Government to seek a redistribution of existing finances whilst recognising that the current Government had inherited the financial problems.

Responding to a Member’s query, the Leader stated that the suggested precept was 3.99%.  Referring to the level of consultation responses received, he noted that local people had nevertheless been given the opportunity to comment.  Another Member queried the value of making comment given the demise of local government generally and the impact on services for local people. 

With particular reference to Adult Social Care, he stated that the service provided should be based on ‘need’ rather than ‘outcomes’ and the key issue was the lack of resource.  The Leader agreed that resources did not match demand but new innovations within the Council’s Strategies were being developed.  He added that Central Government had acknowledged that there was a problem with support for elderly care. Returning to the issue of ‘need’, the Portfolio Holder for Adults commented that national criteria for needs assessment had been established by the Government; early intervention was key in order to avoid the level of ‘need’ being reached.

RECOMMENDED:

              i.        That Council agree the 2017/18 budget of £563.330m including the savings proposals previously approved by Council and the revised proposals to deliver a balanced budget in 2017/18 as outlined in Appendix 3.

            ii.        That the Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance (Section 151 Officer), in consultation with the Leader of the Council, make amendments to the Financial Strategy following receipt of the Final Local Government Financial Settlement. The Council General Fund Balance and/or Financial Strategy Reserve can be used to enable any reduction in resources or increase in costs to be managed through this process. If timing is sufficient, the final position to be approved by Council on 23 February 2017.

           iii.        That the changes required to the 2017/18 budget as a result of the Final Local Government Settlement and revised business rates and collection fund estimates be noted.

           iv.        That the revised funding gap for the years 2018/19 and 2019/20 be noted.

            v.        That the revised Capital Programme, as set out in the report, be agreed and recommended to Council.

           vi.        That the Policy for Flexibility around the use of Capital Receipts, as set out in Appendix 7, be agreed and recommended to Council.