Agenda, decisions and minutes

That Councillor Peter Curtis be appointed Chair for the meeting.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Peter Curtis be appointed Chair for the meeting.

Purpose: To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

No declarations of interest were made.

No declarations of interest were made.

That the Corporate Financial Stewardship proposals, as set out as part of Stage 2 of the Council Fund Budget for 2017/18 be accepted and that this be reported to  the Cabinet and the County Council at the meetings to be held on Tuesday, 6^th December 2016.

The Chair welcomed Members and the contributors to the meeting.

            The Chief Executive outlined the purpose of the meeting, which was to:-

• Present, in detail the Corporate Financial Stewardship Proposals (Part 2 of the Strategy) to the Committee;
• Provide the Committee with the opportunity to review, scrutinise and comments on the proposals to be reported back to Cabinet on 6 December, 2016; and
• Set out the further work to be done to conclude the budget proposals for 2017/18.

The Chief Executive, Finance Manager (Corporate Accounting and Systems) and Finance Manger (Technical Accountancy) provided a detailed presentation on the following areas:-

• The Forecast ‘Budget Gap’ 2017/18
• Where we left off in November
• Corporate Financial Stewardship Proposals
• Apprentice Tax Levy
• Central Loans and Investment Account
• Summary of Overall Budget Position
• Corporate Financial Stewardship – Ongoing work
• Final Stages of 2017/18 Budget Setting

Members thanked the Finance Manager (Technical Accountancy) for the detailed and clear presentation of the proposed changes to the Central Loans and Investment Account. 

A summary of the observations made by Members is attached at Appendix 1 of the minutes.

Budget 2017/18 Proposals – Potential public impacts and impact mitigation

            The Chief Executive advised that the Council Fund Budget 2017/18 Stage 1 proposals had been approved at County Council on 15^th November, 2016.  A copy of the business planning efficiencies for each portfolio had been circulated to Members prior to the start of the meeting.

Planning and Environment Portfolio

            Councillor Richard Jones raised concerns that the numbers next to each specific proposal differed from the original document provided to Members and therefore it was difficult to undertaken an audit trail of the previously proposed budget efficiencies to see if they were being met.  He referred to the proposed self-financing of Public Protection Services and the proposed increase in Planning and Application fees and asked why the efficiencies had been reduced from the initial proposals.  The Chief Officer (Planning and Environment) explained that the additional income from increases in Planning and Application fees and the proposed self-financing of Public Protection Services were part of a three year efficiency programme, and therefore, the additional income shown for 2017/18 did not show the overall total figure.

Streetscene and Transportation Portfolio

            Councillor Richard Jones commented on the heading ‘In-house Service Productivity Improvement’ and asked why this heading had been amended since the efficiencies were presented to Overview & Scrutiny and also why the proposed efficiencies had reduced by £600,000.  The Chief Executive explained that the initial efficiency proposal included looking at all aspects of the service with one of the options being to out-source the service.  Since then a decision to keep the service in-house had been taken.  Councillor Kevin Jones (Cabinet Member for Waste Strategy, Public Protection and Leisure) explained that Streetscene had achieved over 30% efficiency savings whilst increasing the level of service.

            The Chairman suggested that if Councillor Richard Jones had a number of questions he could provide them in writing to the Chief Executive who would provide a written response.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

There were no members of the public and one member of the press in attendance.

There were no members of the public and one member of the press in attendance.