Issue - meetings

That the update on the work of the Cross Party Working Group on Local Government Finance and presentation be noted.

The Chief Executive gave a verbal update on the position of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), the national position on budgets, and the completion of the work of the Cross Party Working Group on Local Government  Finance.  He provided a presentation on the Cross Party Working Group on Local Government Finance which covered the following points:

·         our context

·         purpose of the Group

·         work to date

·         available resources

·         overall position

·         making the case

·         summary of cost pressures

·         indexation for inflation – schools

·         indexation for inflation – non-schools

·         budget process

·         immediate next steps

During the presentation the Chief Executive referred to the Wales Centre for Public Policy report ‘At the tipping point’ which he suggested would be of interest to Members.  It was agreed that this would be circulated to the Committee following the meeting.

            Councillor Aaron Shotton referred to the work of the Cross Party Working Group regarding the funding formula and asked if there could be an opportunity  to look at the allocation of funding for social care across local authorities based on weighting and deprivation.  The Chief Executive acknowledged the points raised by Councillor Shotton and commented on the need to  think about the budget as a whole.  He said that at the Cross Party Working Group reference had been made to more rationale about the base costs for schools. Councillor Carolyn Thomas said Flintshire had some of the lowest funded schools in Wales and reiterated the importance of schools having a baseline of funding going forward.  She said she would be putting the case for funding for Education at the WLGA Executive meeting next week.

Councillor Patrick Heesom commented that in his opinion there needed to be a different perspective and a way of weighting or prioritising certain pressures that were not being achieved at the moment. He said he had concerns that disaggregation in the Authority was not potentially change centred and the way that some services had been  disaggregated was not helpful.  He also said there needed to be a much greater awareness of the expenditures in portfolios.  He welcomed the work of the Cross Party Working Group but said that the Authority had to be more centralised and democratic in the disaggregation of services.

RESOLVED:

That the update on the work of the Cross Party Working Group on Local Government Finance and presentation be noted.