Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Mr J A D O'Donnell and Mr R P Tomlinson.

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services  in writing or by e-mail indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 18 January 2018).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/e-mail address below.

None.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 16 November 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

As part of the development of the Council's 2018/19 budget, the Overview and Scrutiny Panels had been asked to consider draft budget proposals for areas within their remit.  Panels had previously discussed the budget position and challenges for the current budget year in November 2017.  The Panel's views would contribute to Overview and Scrutiny's overall response to the budget which was being discussed by the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board on 30 January 2018.

The following initial points were made:

·       Concern was expressed about the generic nature of the financial information provided to the Panel.  It was suggested that Members needed to see the actual budget figures and were struggling to extract the relevant information.  The Head of Strategic Infrastructure Finance and Financial Recovery highlighted particular slides which gave a summary of figures and details of the 2017/18 outturn.  Slides 15-21 were relevant to next financial year.  She agreed that information could be presented in a different format next year if Members would find it more useful.

·       It was suggested that a single sheet showing what was in the budget for the current year, what had been achieved and what was included for next year would allow year on year comparison.  The CMR for Transformation and Commissioning suggested that, for her portfolio, this would not be easy to do on a single sheet as the span was too great.

The Panel received a presentation from the Senior Finance Manager (Financial Planning and Reporting).  In the course of the discussion, the following main points were made:

·       Members were reminded that the Council proposed to increase Council Tax by 4.94% in 2018/19.  If Council wished, it could increase this by an additional 1%, a flexibility that had been agreed by DCLG relatively late in the day.  An additional 1% increase would raise c£2.4 million.  It was confirmed that this would have a cumulative effect going forward.  There was no guarantee that this flexibility would be available in future years.

·       Capitalisation of some existing expenditure meant that this would be funded from the capital budget rather than the revenue budget.  It was confirmed that, in the case of highway maintenance, the majority of local authorities already used this method of funding as roads were regarded as a Council asset and the maintenance was being undertaken to extend the life of the asset.  It was confirmed that an asset was not necessarily something that could be sold, but rather something that could give use for a long period of time.

·       In response a question about why this had not been done sooner, the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Communities pointed out that there was a need to be prudent and not everything could be done at once.  Concern was expressed about capitalisation leading to additional borrowing and accumulation of debt.  It was suggested that this would, in the longer term, lead to less money being spent as the condition of the roads would be improved by the investment so less basic maintenance should be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 210.

It was agreed that this item would be deferred to the next meeting.