Agenda item

As detailed in the recommendations.

The Chief Executive introduced the report on the Council Fund Revenue Budget 2017/18 Stage One which was the first step in planning the annual Council Fund Revenue Budget for 2017/18, including details of how the forecast gap of £13.7M could be bridged.  The forecast gap between predicted income levels and the projected expenditure requirement reported in July 2016 stood at £14.4M which was an increase of £0.7M on the April forecast.

A set of service portfolio business plans had been developed by Cabinet and reviewed extensively by Cabinet Members and Chief Officers with annualised efficiency proposals forming the basis for recommendations for the annual budget.  The proposals for budget efficiencies and income charging within the business plans for 2017/18 were reported in full to the Overview and Scrutiny Committees throughout the June/July meeting cycle.  Those Committees were supportive of the efficiency and charging proposals overall with the cumulative total of the proposals estimated to be £5.921M.

At the Overview and Scrutiny Committees presentations were delivered on assessments of the efficiency and resilience status of the services within their respective portfolios which reviewed the efficiency of each service.  Those assessments demonstrated the limited options which remained for achieving further efficiencies of scale without having to reduce services to unpredictable levels of provision or running the risk of service failure. 

The review of the portfolio business plans was the first of the three part strategy for Medium Term Financial Planning:-

·         Service reform;

·         Corporate financial stewardship; and

·         Working with Welsh Government

The Corporate Finance Manager highlighted the details in Table 1 on the financial forecast 2017/18 – 2018/19, referring to a number of assumptions such as pay inflation, Council Tax annual increase and national and local pressures.  The forecast for 2017/18 was under continuous review and would be updated later in the year. 

Following on from the Chief Executive’s comments on the revised forecast gap, the Corporate Finance Manager explained that the figure had been reduced, following a comprehensive review, due to (1) the removal of or change to options which were not considered to be acceptable and / or workable; and (2) the review and refinement of detailed cost estimates per proposal based on detailed planning and cost method calculations.

Moving forward the key focus was on seeking to offset or reduce cost pressures through corporate financial stewardship.  Work was ongoing on the following areas and a report would be submitted to Cabinet in October 2016 which would provide the outcome of the work:

·         Inflation;

·         Pay inflation, and incremental pay progression provision;

·         The outcomes of the triennial review of the Clwyd Pension Fund currently underway with the Fund Actuary, and the employer funding contributions required for future years;

·         Provision within the Central Loans and Investment Account (CLIA) for capital financing charges including interest on debt and Minimum Revenue Provision for debt repayment and any income returns made from investments;

·         The use of reserves and balances

·         Detailed assessment of national and local cost pressures including latest intelligence on risks to the continuation of national specific grants to current levels of funding; and

·         The impacts of the 2016/17 projected out-turn for 2017/18 and future years.

Councillor Shotton said the Council was actively involved in national discussions on the Welsh Government (WG) Budget for 2017/18 including the Local Government Settlement, both as part of the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and as an individual Council.  Key issues under debate included:

• The need for medium term financial planning at a national level;
• Sufficient and sustainable levels of Revenue Support Grant (RSG) and the option for the WG to set a zero-reduction or ‘flat-line’ RSG for 2017/18 at 2016/17 levels;
• Reform of specific grants and retention of sufficient current grant funding levels to maintain services;
• Relaxing charging levels for services including domiciliary care;
• Meeting cost pressures of national legislative and public demand in key services such as social care;
• Recognition of the workforce cost impacts of the Living Wage in both directly provided services and commissioned services; and
• Local retention of Non Domestic Rate Relief (NNDR) growth by the collecting authority.

He commented on the importance of continued lobbying, particularly on the case of Flintshire being a low funded Council, to seek the relief required in the interests of the public.

Councillor Kevin Jones asked for an update on progress being made in national discussions.  Councillor Shotton explained that individual and collective meetings had been held with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Mr Mark Drakeford who appeared receptive to the challenges faced.  The WG draft budget proposals would be published on 19^th October 2016 and lobbying of WG would continue until the final budget was announced.

On a question on specific grants, the Chief Executive explained that details on grants were received at a later stage in the process.

Councillor Attridge urged colleagues to lobby AM’s and MP’s as much as possible in the coming weeks, particularly with a number of Ministerial visits scheduled.

Members hoped that the lobbying of WG would be successful and commended the level of work that had been undertaken to date.

The Chief Executive concluded that the report would be considered at a special meeting of Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 28^th October to which all Members of the Council were invited to.  A special County Council meeting had been arranged for 15^th November 2016 which would recommend formal sign off of Stage 1 of the budget.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the service portfolio efficiency proposals listed in the appendices to the report be recommended for adoption by Council as Stage 1 of setting the  Council Fund Revenue Budget for 2017/18; and

(b)       That the ongoing work on reviewing corporate financing options, and the national activity around the funding formula and Local Government Settlement, be noted.