Issue - meetings

Before consideration of this item, the Leader reminded those present that as a number of the budget savings proposals (as set out in Appendix B) would be subject to public consultation at the relevant Select Committees, he did not intend to open them up for questioning t this evening’s meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented a report setting out the high level revenue budgets and savings proposed for 2015/16 to 2017/18, within the context of the Government funding reductions.

The report focused on:

·  A summary of the national funding position and the provisional finance settlement;

·  The Medium Term Financial Strategy and a three year summary level financial model for the Council;

·  The current net budget gap for 2015/16 to 2017/18 of £53.5m, although that may change significantly when the Government announces the finance settlement;

·  Proposed savings representing changes to services which are operational and/or organisational and do not represent a change in policy and/or have front line service implications that could be implemented following Cabinet approval. Those savings would still be subject to consultation with the relevant stakeholders, such as staff and the Trade Unions in line with Council policy, and

·  Proposed savings that require formal public consultation prior to Cabinet taking a decision on implementation.

The Cabinet Member for Finance highlighted the financial pressures that the Council faced, which amongst other things included addressing the financial implications of the Care Act 2014, the Children and Families Act 2014 and changes to regulations governing the use of CCTV for parking enforcement.

A wide range of savings proposals had been put forward and were before Members in Appendix A (savings proposals for Cabinet approval) and Appendix B (savings options requiring public consultation before the Select Committees in October and November 2014).  The outcome of the public consultation would be fed back to Cabinet in December to enable final decisions to be made, which would then feed into the main Budget Framework and Council Tax setting report to both the Cabinet and the Assembly in February 2015.

The Cabinet Member for Finance advised that if all the proposed savings were made, the Council would still be short of funding and therefore officers have been instructed to come up with more saving proposals to meet the challenging targets set by the Government.

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration enquired as to the anticipated costs the Council may be facing in relation to implementing the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Care Act 2014, as well as the potential loss of income from the changes around CCTV parking enforcement.  The Chief Finance Officer advised that the estimated costs of the legislative changes could mean needing to identify an additional £1.25m, whilst the potential loss of income from CCTV parking enforcement was currently estimated at £1.5m, although that could rise.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Schools sought more details on the funding reduction of £1.823m on the business rates deficit which the Chief Finance Officer clarified was based on assumptions of income against  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31