Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member: Finance & Property

Forward Plan Ref 2009/135

Contact: Lorna Baxter, Assistant Head of Finance (01865 323971)

Report by the Chief Executive, Assistant Chief Executive – Strategy and Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer (CA6)

This report is the first in a series on the service and resource planning process for 2010/11 to 2014/15, providing councillors with information on the budget issues for 2010/11 and the medium term.  The report presents the current Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) as agreed by Council on 10 February 2009 and the assumptions on which it is based.  It sets out the known and potential financial issues for 2010/11 and beyond which impact on the existing MTFP and the proposals for planning to meet these pressures, which were endorsed by Cabinet in July 2009.

This report sets out the Service and Resource Planning process for 2010/11, although it is mostly concerned with finance and the implications are set out in the main body of the report.  The Council is required under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 to set a budget requirement for the authority and an amount of Council Tax.  This first report forms an initial basis for those requirements that will lead to the budget requirement and Council Tax being agreed in February 2010.

Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)              note the report;

(b)              approve the Service and Resource Planning Process for 2010/11; and

(c)               provide advice on the development of the Financial Strategy

Councillor Armitage shared some advice from a conference he had recently attended, in that it seemed every council had reconciled itself to making savings of 10% to 20%.  He suggested several options for making savings, including the ‘budget airline’ model where a very basic service is provided with everything extra being charged; a local income tax; reducing the council’s carbon footprint as a way of making efficiency savings; better use of buildings, vehicles and desk space.

The Cabinet considered a report (CA6), the first in a series on the service and resource planning process for 2010/11 to 2014/15, providing councillors with information on the budget issues for 2010/11 and the medium term.  The report presented the current Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) as agreed by Council on 10 February 2009 and the assumptions on which it was based.  It set out the known and potential financial issues for 2010/11 and beyond which impact on the existing MTFP and the proposals for planning to meet these pressures, which were endorsed by the Cabinet in July 2009.

The report set out the Service and Resource Planning process for 2010/11, although it was mostly concerned with finance and the implications were set out in the main body of the report.  The Council is required under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 to set a budget requirement for the authority and an amount of Council Tax.  This first report forms an initial basis for those requirements that will lead to the budget requirement and Council Tax being agreed in February 2010.

RESOLVED:            to:

(a)               note the report;

(b)               approve the Service and Resource Planning Process for 2010/11; and

(c)               provide advice on the development of the Financial Strategy