Agenda, decisions and minutes

Purpose:       To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 26 January 2016 (copy enclosed).

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 January 2016 had been circulated with the agenda. 

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Purpose:       To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

Councillor Chris Dolphin declared a personal interest in minute number 90 (Council Fund Revenue Budget 2016/17) as his son worked for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

            Councillor Richard Jones declared a personal interest in minute number 90 (Council Fund Revenue Budget 2016/17) as his wife ran a business in Buckley.

Purpose:       To receive the communications as circulated.

            That a letter be sent from the Council to express sadness at the decision to disband the Llwynegrin Singers and to give congratulations for their work. 

A copy of the Chairman’s communications had been circulated to all Members before the meeting.

                        The Chairman explained that he had attended a concert by the Llwynegrin Singers and expressed his surprise and disappointment that it had been announced that the concert would be the last show by the Llwynegrin Singers as they were disbanding due to reducing numbers.  He commented that they had raised over £38,500 for charities and had been well respected.

                        Councillor Peter Curtis, the Vice-Chairman, suggested that a letter should be sent from the Council to express sadness at the decision to disband and to give congratulations for their work.

            RESOLVED:

            That a letter be sent from the Council to express sadness at the decision to disband the Llwynegrin Singers and to give congratulations for their work. 

Purpose:       To receive any Petitions.

No petitions were received.

Purpose:       To receive any Public Questions.

The Chief Officer (Governance) confirmed that no public questions had been received.

Purpose:       To note the answers to any questions submitted in accordance with County Council Standing Order No. 9.4(A).

The Chief Officer (Governance) confirmed that no questions had been received. 

                        Councillor Nigel Steele-Mortimer referred to the minutes of the previous meeting where it was indicated that a question had been received after the deadline for the 26 January 2016 meeting.  The Chief Officer (Governance) advised that this meeting was to consider budget items and that the question would be submitted to the Council’s next meeting on 1 March 2016. 

Purpose:       To consider any Notices of Motion.

The Chief Officer (Governance) confirmed that none had been received. 

(a)          That the Council approves a balanced budget for 2016/17 based on a combination of the previously adopted Stage One proposals, and the new Stage Two proposals of £3.517M as set out within Table 1 of the Cabinet report; and

(b)          That Council calls on Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to allocate a proportion of the additional Intermediate Care Fund monies granted by Welsh Government to assist the Council, in its capacity as a commissioner of care, in meeting the increasing provider costs within the local residential, nursing and specialist provider independent care sector to both sustain the provider market and protect the secondary and acute health sector from increased demand.

The Chief Executive introduced a report to provide Members with the recommendations of the Cabinet for the Council Fund Revenue Budget 2016/17.

The presentation to be provided to Members at this meeting would focus on the process of closing the budget gap and Cabinet had agreed a two part recommendation to this meeting and copies of this had been circulated to Members.  The Chief Executive advised that the Corporate Finance Manager would briefly comment on the risk assessment of the proposals and provide Members with his statutory opinion as Section 151 Officer, which would override any other opinions, and the Chief Executive asked that the opinion be respected. 

The Corporate Finance Manager and the Finance Manager – Corporate Accounting and Systems provided a detailed presentation, and commented on the following areas:-

·         Content

·         Cabinet Recommendations

·         Budget Stages

·         Budget Stage 1

·         Summary of Revised Gap: Stage One Phase 1

·         Summary of Revised: Stage One Phase 1

·         Budget Stage 2

·         Final Work to Balance the Budget

·         Additional Service Issues

·         Review of New and Emergent Pressures

·         Workforce Efficiencies

·         Council Tax

·         Use of Reserves

·         Other adjustments

·         Summary of Final Balanced Position

·         Risk Summary for In-year management

·         Professional Opinions

·         Looking Ahead

·         Final settlement

·         Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP)

At the close of the presentation the Chief Executive referred to the unquantifiable risk of the level of support that would need to be given to commissioned care providers as a consequence of their inflationary costs. This was recognised in the second recommendation from Cabinet to secure extra funding from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) from the Intermediate Care Fund (ICF) for this purpose.  He confirmed that the Final Settlement had not yet been received and that the budget assumptions and the advice given by the Corporate Finance Manager and Finance Manager – Corporate Accounting and Systems was based on the settlement not changing materially from the Provisional Settlement.  The final details would not be received until early March 2016 but a macro Welsh budget had been recommended by Welsh Government and an updated draft had been provided which reflected only a slight change to the settlement for Flintshire and therefore the recommended budget from Cabinet should be unaffected.  The current Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) would end in 2017/18 and any budget pressures which were being financed from the Council Reserves would need to be settled within the base from 2017/18.  Figures for 2017/18 were based on a notional reduction in Revenue Support Grant of 1.5% and an increase in Council Tax of 3% along with the reserves being repaid from 2016/17 prior to new pressures and efficiencies.  Based on these figures the Council was still facing a gap of around £11m for 2017/18.  In referring to the Local Government Bill which had been discussed at the previous meeting of Council the Chief Executive explained that the next MTFS would cover to the period 2018/19.  If the Bill was enacted, then 2019 would be the year of Shadow Authorities; therefore planning up to that point was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 90.

(a)          That the Council approves the allocations in paragraph 1.07 of the Cabinet report at its 16 February 2016 meeting for Statutory/Regulatory and Retained Assets sections of the Council Fund Capital Programme 2016/17 – 2019/20;

(b)          That the Council approves the schemes included in paragraph 1.11 of the Cabinet report at its 16 February 2016 meeting for the investment section of the Council Fund Programme 2016/17 – 2019/20; and

(c)          That the Council continues to support the existing process of allocating capital receipts to fund capital schemes generally only when the receipts have been actually received (paragraphs 1.03 and 1.04 of the Cabinet report at its 16 February 2016 meeting.

The Chief Officer (Organisational Change) introduced a report to propose the 2016/17 Council Fund Capital Programme and Indicative Programme for 2017/18 – 2019/20.

                        Councillor Mike Peers asked when the details referred to in paragraph 1.08 would be available.  In response the Chief Officer (Organisational Change) explained that 2016/17 would be a transitional year in terms of the business cases and specific programmes of work.  He indicated that business cases would be presented throughout the year and therefore the information in table 3 would expand as further information became available. 

                        Councillor Bernie Attridge proposed the acceptance of the recommendations within the report and this was duly seconded by Councillor Helen Brown. 

                        On being put to the vote, Members voted unanimously in favour of the recommendations. 

            RESOLVED:

(a)          That the Council approves the allocations in paragraph 1.07 of the Cabinet report at its 16 February 2016 meeting for Statutory/Regulatory and Retained Assets sections of the Council Fund Capital Programme 2016/17 – 2019/20;

(b)          That the Council approves the schemes included in paragraph 1.11 of the Cabinet report at its 16 February 2016 meeting for the investment section of the Council Fund Programme 2016/17 – 2019/20; and

(c)          That the Council continues to support the existing process of allocating capital receipts to fund capital schemes generally only when the receipts have been actually received (paragraphs 1.03 and 1.04 of the Cabinet report at its 16 February 2016 meeting.

            That the Council approve the recommendations of Cabinet from its meeting held on 16 February 2016 as set out in the report attached to the Council report.

The Chief Officer (Community and Enterprise) introduced a report to provide Members with the final proposals for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and Capital budget for the 2016/17 financial year including proposed rent increases.

                        The Chief Officer and Senior Manager - Council Housing Services provided a joint presentation and commented on the following areas:-

·         Content

·         Self-Financing

·         30 year business plan

·         Housing Revenue Account

·         Other Income

·         Service Charges 2016/17

·         Future phasing of service charges

·         Principles Underpinning Efficiencies

·         HRA Efficiency Proposals

·         HRA Pressures

·         HRA Capital Programme 2016/17

·         Funding for HRA Capital Programme 2016/17

·         Council house building programme

Councillor Helen Brown proposed the recommendation from Cabinet to approve the HRA budget for 2016/17.  She said that the HRA had gone from strength to strength and services had improved particularly routine repairs and the time taken to let empty properties.  She welcomed the self-financing initiative introduced in April 2015 and indicated that the increase of 1.4% (plus up to or minus £2) in rent was the lowest for a number of years.  The report had been submitted to a recent meeting of the Community and Enterprise Overview & Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet earlier today.  The increase in garage rent was also recommended to be 1.4%.  Councillor Brown was proud to be proposing a £21m budget for the investment in the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) and commented that the annual budget had been less than £10m five years ago and that each Council house could achieve WHQS by 2020.  The SHARP project would provide at least 200 new council homes and work would commence on site to build 12 properties in the coming weeks and a further 40 will be built later in the year.  The work would provide opportunities for apprenticeships and work for local people and Councillor Brown referred to the Training Academy which had been the subject of a report to Overview & Scrutiny Committee recently and Cabinet earlier today.  The Council would continue to work in partnership with tenants to receive feedback on the quality of the service.  The proposal was duly seconded by Councillor Tony Sharps.

Councillor Neville Phillips sought clarification on the proposal to build bungalows as part of the Council house building programme and queried whether these would be one or two bedroom dwellings.  Councillor Brown confirmed that a local market assessment would be undertaken to establish whether there was need for one or two bedroom bungalows in line with the needs of the area.  In welcoming the investment in Council housing, Councillor Ron Hampson commented on the significant progress made and praised the decision to retain the housing stock in-house.  He congratulated the Chief Officer (Community and Enterprise) and her team for their hard work.  Councillor Aaron Shotton, said that the budget would enable the Council to build council housing and said that this was an example that lobbying worked.  It had enabled the Council to bring in the self-financing initiative to enable 200 new council properties to be built.  He also welcomed the achievements for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.

            That the following documents be approved:-

• Treasury Management Strategy 2016/17
• Treasury Management Policy Statement 2016-2019
• Treasury Management Practices and Schedules 2016-2019
• Treasury Management Mid-Year Report 2015/16

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report to present the Treasury Management Strategy 2016/17 for approval, along with the Treasury Management Policy Statement 2016-2019, Treasury Management Practices and schedules 2016-2019 and the Treasury Management Mid-Year Review 2015/16.

                        The various policy statements and practice and schedules were refreshed for approval every three years and Audit Committee reviewed the report in detail at its meeting on 27 January 2016.  Some minor adjustments were recommended and adopted into the final version before submission to Cabinet earlier today where there were no changes or verbal updates to report to Council. 

                        Councillor Bernie Attridge proposed the acceptance of the recommendations as outlined within the report.  This was duly seconded by Councillor Chris Bithell.

On being put to the vote, Members voted unanimously in favour of the recommendations. 

            RESOLVED:

            That the following documents be approved:-

• Treasury Management Strategy 2016/17
• Treasury Management Policy Statement 2016-2019
• Treasury Management Practices and Schedules 2016-2019
• Treasury Management Mid-Year Report 2015/16

(a)          That the Council approve the Prudential Indicators for 2016/17 – 2018/19 as detailed in Section 1 of the report to Cabinet on 16 February 2016; and

(b)          That Delegated Authority be given to the Corporate Finance Manager to effect movements between the separately agreed limits within the authorised limit for external debt and the operational boundary for external debt (paragraphs 1.07.1 and 1.07.2 of the report to the 16 February 2016 meeting of Cabinet).

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report to present to Council the recommendations of the Cabinet in relation to the setting of a range of Prudential Indicators.  He confirmed that Cabinet had not made any comments for consideration by Council. 

                        Councillor Bernie Attridge proposed the acceptance of the recommendations as outlined within the report.  This was duly seconded by Councillor Kevin Jones.

On being put to the vote, Members voted unanimously in favour of the recommendations. 

            RESOLVED:

(a)          That the Council approve the Prudential Indicators for 2016/17 – 2018/19 as detailed in Section 1 of the report to Cabinet on 16 February 2016; and

(b)          That Delegated Authority be given to the Corporate Finance Manager to effect movements between the separately agreed limits within the authorised limit for external debt and the operational boundary for external debt (paragraphs 1.07.1 and 1.07.2 of the report to the 16 February 2016 meeting of Cabinet).

(a)          That Members approve for the Council Fund:

·         Option 1 (Regulatory Method) be used for the calculation of the MRP for all capital expenditure funded from supported borrowing; this represents a continuation of the approved and adopted policy for 2015/16

·         Option 3 (Asset Life Method) be used for the calculation of the MRP in 2016/17 for all capital expenditure funded from unsupported (prudential) borrowing or credit arrangements; this represents a continuation of the approved and adopted policy for 2015/216

(b)             That Members approve for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA):-

·         Option 2 (Capital Financing Requirement Method) be used for the calculation of the HRA’s MRP in 2016/17 for all capital expenditure funded by debt; this represents a continuation of the approved and adopted policy for 2015/16.

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report to seek Council approval in setting the annual policy for prudent Minimum Revenue Provision for the repayment of debt, which Local Authorities were required to do each year.

            Councillor Bernie Attridge proposed the acceptance of the recommendations as outlined within the report.  This was duly seconded by Councillor Kevin Jones.

On being put to the vote, Members voted unanimously in favour of the recommendations. 

            RESOLVED:

(a)          That Members approve for the Council Fund:

·         Option 1 (Regulatory Method) be used for the calculation of the MRP for all capital expenditure funded from supported borrowing; this represents a continuation of the approved and adopted policy for 2015/16

·         Option 3 (Asset Life Method) be used for the calculation of the MRP in 2016/17 for all capital expenditure funded from unsupported (prudential) borrowing or credit arrangements; this represents a continuation of the approved and adopted policy for 2015/216

(b)             That Members approve for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA):-

·         Option 2 (Capital Financing Requirement Method) be used for the calculation of the HRA’s MRP in 2016/17 for all capital expenditure funded by debt; this represents a continuation of the approved and adopted policy for 2015/16.

There was one member of the press and no members of the public present.