Agenda item

Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Finance & Governance.

Executive Members received the report from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Budget Scrutiny Panel which met on 29 November 2022 to consider the provisional Budget proposals for 2023/24 and to make recommendations to the Executive in line with the Council’s budget and policy procedure rules. This had been discussed at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 8 December 2022. The Committee’s observations and recommendations were set out below.

Councillor Harrison, Chair of the Budget Scrutiny Panel, introduced the report. It was a full report in terms of a balanced revenue budget which was an improvement from the previous year

• There were still uncertainties about government grants so Overview and Scrutiny Committee will consider this item again at its January meeting
• The main recommendations in the Budget report were agreed from (i) to (vii). The Panel noted the £1.5m budget for staff salary growth.
• Recommendations (viii) to (x) set out that the budget proposals were achievement, realistic and based on sound financial practices.
• Recommendation (xi) to (xiii) noted proposed savings would not be expected to have a significant impact on services, inflation cost pressures had been addressed and earmarked Reserves would be used, as necessary, with analysis requested on how they are used over previous years.

There had been 60 plus questions from Panel Members which all received full responses with supplementary questions asked at the Panel. He thanked the Portfolio Holder, Councillor Schofield and officers for these responses and for helpful changes in the way the information in the report was presented.

Councillor Brunt, Leader of the Council, thanked the Budget Scrutiny Panel and Overview and Scrutiny Committee members for their work on scrutinising the Budget for the coming year. Good feedback had been received through the scrutiny process and useful points had been raised which could be taken forward for the final Budget & Capital Programme 2023/24 report to Executive on 26 January 2023 and to Council on 9 February 2023.

RESOLVED that the Executive note the following observations from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee following recommendations from the Budget Scrutiny Panel in response to the Service and Financial Planning 2023/24 report:

       i.                     The national and local policy context and significant financial uncertainties at this stage in the budget-setting process were noted, along with the associated uncertainties and risks.

      ii.                     The service proposals set out in the report which seek to respond to this context and deliver corporate policies be endorsed.

    iii.                     The draft service business plans for 2023/24 to 2025/26 be approved, and that Heads of Service be authorised to finalise their plans for their service areas in consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holders.

    iv.                     The following be approved for consultation under the Council’s budget and policy framework: a) Medium Term Financial Plan Forecasts and proposed actions to address the forecast Revenue Budget gap; b) Service Revenue Budget growth proposals totalling £0.442 million, savings of (£0.828) million and additional income of (£1.186) million; c) Central Revenue Budget Savings proposals totalling (£0.897) million. The Panel noted that the £1.500 million budget for pay increases was not specifically referenced in this Recommendation but acknowledged that it was included in the supporting tables and narrative in the body of the report. d) Revenue Issues, Risks and Opportunities totalling £2.407 million, to be funded from earmarked Reserves as necessary; e) Revenue Reserve Balances at 1 April 2022 of £45.596 million; f) Forecast balanced Revenue budget for 2023/24, subject to final confirmation of the outstanding items; and g) Capital Programme Growth proposals totalling £7.683 million. With the provision of a clearer explanation for the £1.5million for staff salary growth under c) Central Revenue Budget Savings proposals.

     v.                     The Fees & Charges Policy was noted.

    vi.                     The Reserves Policy was noted.

  vii.                     The Local Council Tax Support Scheme be reviewed during 2023/24 and the outcome be reported as part of Service & Financial Planning for 2024/25.

 viii.                     Assumptions and individual budgets were to be reconsidered following the December Government financial settlement announcement; consequently the Panel did not draw a final conclusion on the overall Budget proposals for 2023/24.

    ix.                     The final Service and Financial Planning 2023/24 report to Executive on 26 January will also be an agenda item for discussion at Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 19 January 2023.

     x.                     The Panel considered the explanations in the Budget report for year on year changes in the budget and found the Budget proposals to be achievable, realistic and based on sound financial practices and reasonable assumptions, subject to the outstanding matters set out in (1), (2) and (3) above.

    xi.                     The Panel noted that the proposed savings were not expected to have a significant impact on service scope or quality.

  xii.                     The Panel noted that inflation cost pressures had been addressed in the Budget on a case by case basis. The Panel expressed concern about recent inflationary pressures which put short-term inflation well above the Bank of England target and suggested this would put unbudgeted upward pressure on the cost of goods and services and on personnel costs.

 xiii.                     The Panel noted that the Budget for 2022/23 included the use of £2.407 million funding from earmarked Reserves, as necessary, and that the use of these Reserves was necessarily a one-off source of funding.