Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Operational Director, Finance, which outlined a recommendation to Council in respect of the Budget, Capital Programme and Council Tax for 2017/18.

          It was noted that at the time of writing, the Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner, the Cheshire Fire Authority had not set their budgets and Council Tax Precepts. However, final figures would be reported to Council when the information was available.

The Government announced the Final Local Government Finance Settlement figure for 2017/18, which was in line with the Provisional Settlement announced on 15 December 2016. The Council, as part of the Liverpool City Region (LCR), will pilot a new scheme of 99% business rates retention. A ‘no detriment’ policy would apply to the pilot scheme, whereby the Council would be no worse off as a result of being part of the pilot. It was reported that, from 2019/20, the Business Rates Retention Scheme would be rolled out on a national basis in conjunction with a Government review of the needs and resources of Local Government, where the business rate baselines for each Council would be reconsidered.

The Board was advised that the Medium Term Financial Strategy, approved on 17 November 2016, had identified a funding gap of around £11m in 2017/18, £11.7m in 2018/19 and £9.2m in 2019/20. The Strategy had the following objectives:

·       Deliver a balanced and sustainable budget;

·       Prioritise spending towards the Council’s five priority areas;

·       Avoid excessive Council Tax rises;

·       Achieve significant cashable efficiency gains;

·       Protect essential frontline services; and

·       Deliver improved procurement.

In terms of consultation, it was noted that the Council used various methods to listen to the views of the public and Members’ own experiences through their Ward work as an important part of that process. Individual consultations had taken place in respect of specific budget proposals and equality impact assessments would be completed where necessary.

On 7 December 2016, Council approved initial budget savings totalling £7.9m for 2017/18, and further proposed savings were shown at Appendix B. The departmental analysis of the budget was shown in Appendix C, and the major reasons for change from the current budget were outlined for Members’ information in Appendix D. It was noted that the proposed budget total was £102.700m.

The Board was advised that the proposed budget incorporated the grant figures announced in the provisional Grant Settlement and included £2.414m for the New Homes Bonus and £0.548m of Improved Better Care Funding, paid to Councils for the first time in 2017/18.

Further information was provided on the budget outlook. As part of the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2016/17, the Government had published indicative Settlement Funding Allocations for the three years up to 2019/20. Local authorities had been asked to produce and publish an efficiency plan setting out their forecast budget position through to 2019/20 along with their proposed efficiency measures to achieve annual balanced budget positions. The Council’s efficiency plan was published on 14 October 2016. The Medium Term Financial Strategy had been updated to take  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96