Lead Member – Mr David Turner – Portfolio Holder for Resources, Finance and Support and I.T.

Report of the Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance is attached, marked 6.  TO FOLLOW

Contact – James Walton  Tel: 01743 255001

RESOLVED:

i)             That the revised savings for 2016/17 be approved as set out in Appendix 3;

ii)            That the savings to be managed on a one off basis in 2016/17 be noted;

iii)           That a precept of 2% for Adult Social Care from 1 April 2016 be recommended to Council in February 2016;

iv)           That an increase in Council Tax of 1.99% be recommended to Council in February 2016; and

v)            That a permanent virement of £1.382m from Corporate Budget to Adult Services in 2015/16 be recommended to Council on 17 December 2015.

84.1    The Portfolio Holder for Performance presented a report by the Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance (Section 151 Officer) – copy attached to the signed Minutes – on the next stage in developing a sustainable financial strategy for the Council.

84.2    Referring to paragraph 9 of the report, he stated that the development of a sustainable business model would be considered in more detail at the Cabinet meeting in January 2016.  He made particular reference to the feedback received from the Scrutiny Committees [agenda item 5] and the summary of feedback from each of the Scrutiny Committees.

84.3    A Member commented on the use of ‘one off’ resources throughout the paper.  The Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance (Section 151 Officer) stressed that this illustrated the changing face of local government finance and assured Members that one off resources were used wisely in order to facilitate smooth transitions and there was never any assumption that they would always be available.  The Chief Executive added that this was new territory and not all savings would be achievable by redesigning services.  Members understood that Adult Social Care was the most significant cost to the Council.

84.4    Referring to paragraph 9.6 of the report, the Portfolio Holder for Adult Services and Commissioning [South] commented that the ‘Star Chamber’ events that had taken place to review savings proposals and options for future delivery had been valuable and challenging.  He stressed the need for the Council to look at demographic increases and to respond to the resultant pressures.

84.5    RESOLVED:

i)    That the revised savings for 2016/17 be approved as set out in Appendix 3;

ii)   That the savings to be managed on a one off basis in 2016/17 be noted;

iii) That a precept of 2% for Adult Social Care from 1 April 2016 be recommended to Council in February 2016;

iv) That an increase in Council Tax of 1.99% be recommended to Council in February 2016; and

v)   That a permanent virement of £1.382m from Corporate Budget to Adult Services in 2015/16 be recommended to Council on 17 December 2015.