Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Delyn Committee Room, County Hall, Mold CH7 6NA

Contact: Maureen Potter 01352 702322  Email: maureen.potter@flintshire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

22.

Declarations of Interest (Including Whipping Declarations)

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

23.

Financial Forecast and Stage One of the Budget 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 113 KB

To provide the Committee with the current financial forecast position for 2018/19 and consult on the Stage 1 Council Fund Revenue budget proposals for 2018/19.

Additional documents:

Decision:

That the Committee is satisfied with the approach to the Budget within the Organisational Change portfolios.

Minutes:

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced the report which set out the current financial forecast for 2018/19 and emergent options and financial pressures for the Organisational Change portfolio.

 

            The financial forecast as detailed in section 1.04 of the report had been revised to take into account decisions made as part of the 2017/18 budget, and updated with the latest information on pressures from service portfolios.  A settlement at or similar to the 2017/18 financial baseline was used as the basis for calculating the forecast for 2018/19 and no modelling for raised Council Tax levels had been included at this stage.

 

            The Corporate Finance Manager concluded that stage one service portfolio proposals were being presented throughout October to all Overview & Scrutiny Committees for review.  The Provisional Settlement for Local Government in Wales was due to be announced on 10 October, 2017.  The Final Settlement was expected later in the calendar year and would follow the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s budget statement which was due to be made on 22 November, 2017. 

 

            The Chairman invited the Chief Officer (Organisational Change 1) to present the Resilience Statement and Operating Models for the Organisational Change portfolio.            

 

Organisational Change 1

The Chief Officer outlined the Resilience Statement as appended to the report, which detailed efficiencies which had been made to date and the impacts these efficiencies had on the services within the Organisational Change 1 portfolio.  The Chief Officer also detailed the proposed efficiencies for 2018-19 which totalled £416,000, as detailed within the Future Operating Model, shown at Appendix 1.  The proposed efficiencies included, continuation of previous year’s business plan for Leisure, Libraries and Heritage, to develop an employee owned company.

 

Councillor Aaron Shotton, Leader of the Council, welcomed the Resilience Statements which were being presented to each of the Overview & Scrutiny Committees which were helpful for benchmarking efficiencies to date and highlighting the risks to service areas.  He outlined the current funding gap of £11.7M and that the total stage one budget proposals at this stage only amounted to £3M which evidenced the challenged ahead.  He also commented on the need to continue to lobby National Government to highlight the impacts of austerity.                

 

            The Chairman welcomed the budget consultation process with Overview & Scrutiny Committees which gave Members the opportunity to have an impact on final budget decisions.

 

            Councillor Ian Dunbar thanked officers for the update on the financial position and welcomed the increased visits to Flintshire libraries.  He commented on the reduced funding to Theatr Clwyd from the Arts Council for Wales and asked if the Council would have to contribute more as a result of this.  The Chief Officer explained that the Arts Council for Wales were also under pressure to find efficiencies and reduce their budget.  The Theatr will have to deal with any reduction in funding from the Arts Council for Wales and were currently working on options to maximise income.

 

            In response to a question from Councillor Paul Shotton on service charges, the Chief Officer advised that charges within the leisure  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

24.

Members of the press and public in attendance

Minutes:

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