Agenda item

As detailed in the recommendation 1.  Recommendation 2 to be “To agree a timetable in the New Year for recommendation of the budget in stages through January to March 2016 including the further development of ‘fall back’ options to reach a balanced budget”.

Councillor Shotton introduced the report on the Provisional Local Government Settlement and explained that the headline figures, which had not been available at the time of preparing the report, had been shared at the last meeting of the Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee.  He pointed out that a significant challenge remained for the Council despite the scaling down of cuts from Welsh Government (WG).

The Chief Executive delivered a presentation on the initial analysis of the Provisional Settlement and its implications for Flintshire, covering the following:

·         Settlement Context

·         Settlement Headlines

·         Flintshire Position in the Settlement

·         Known Impacts for Flintshire

·         Ongoing Local Budget Work

·         Ongoing National Budget Work

·         Timescale for Phasing the Budget

A reduction of 1.5% in the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) - slightly above the average reduction and an improved position against the forecast - put Flintshire in 12^th place out of the 22 Authorities in Wales.  However, under the current funding formula, Flintshire was ranked 19^th as its funding per capita was below the Welsh average.  If this was brought up in line with the Welsh average, Flintshire would benefit by an additional £17.455M per annum in the RSG.

Under the Intermediate Care Funds (ICF), the amounts ringfenced for mental health and older people would require discussion in the New Year on how these could be accessed.  It was indicated that many specific grants would remain the same or decrease marginally, although details were subject to change.  There was some protection given for the Supporting People Grant and an increase in the Pupil Deprivation Grant, however the Single Environment Grant was to be cut by 6.4% across Wales and the Families First grant reduced by at least 10%.  The Council was currently working through the implications of these reductions.

Councillor Kevin Jones said that concerns would be raised with WG on the significant reduction to the new Single Environment Grant and its implications for the Council.

Following comments on the impact of cuts to the Families First grant on the provision of playschemes, Councillor Christine Jones spoke about the impact on contributions from town and community councils.  Whilst she welcomed the additional funding for social care, she pointed out that this was not extra money as it was already part of the RSG allocation and should be used to benefit ongoing projects rather than new initiatives.

Councillor Shotton said that the Council would engage with the Welsh Local Government Association to make representations on the negative impact from the funding formula on per capita spend and referred to recognition by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) on the high performance and low funding of Flintshire.  Whilst he said that the Council’s strong representations on restricting cuts to the RSG had proved successful, more needed to be done on lobbying for a review of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme and greater flexibility on fees and charges.

In response to comments from Councillor Bithell on the importance of senior officers and Members’ input to the Independent Commission on Local Government Funding in Wales, Councillor Shotton said that Flintshire was one of the more vocal councils in recognising the importance of the commission.

The Chief Executive hoped that the contributions being made by individuals through various routes would prove influential on the Commission and that the Medium Term Financial Strategy had been well received and demonstrated the need for a review of the funding formula.  He spoke about the negative effect on rural counties in receipt of low per capita funding, based on the formula for population growth and deprivation.

Councillor Attridge praised the approach taken by Flintshire on lobbying for positive changes which he felt had achieved positive outcomes for all, through the joint efforts of Cabinet Members and the Chief Officer team.

Members were reminded by Councillor Shotton that this was a draft settlement only at this stage, with important aspects to be discussed before finalising early in March 2016.  The final settlement was not expected to change significantly from the draft stage.

On the second recommendation in the report, the Chief Executive said that more clarity could be given on the precise timetable in the New Year.  This was supported by Members.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the initial assessment of the Provisional Local Government settlement be received as the basis for a fuller report for Cabinet and Overview and Scrutiny Committees in January 2016 to inform (1) the annual budget setting process and (2) a revision of the Medium Term Financial Strategy; and

(b)       To set out a timetable in the New Year for recommendation of the budget in stages through January to March 2016 including the further development of ‘fall back’ options to reach a balanced budget.