Cabinet Member: Finance

Forward Plan Ref: 2019/059

Contact: Katy Jurczyszyn, Strategic Finance Manager (Finance, Strategy & Monitoring) Tel: 07584 909518

Report by Director of Finance (CA7).

To provide background and context to the service and resource planning process for 2020/21.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)         Note the report;

(b)         Approve the Service and Resource Planning process for 2020/21; and

(c)         Approve a four-year period for the Medium Term Financial Plan to 2023/24 and ten-year period for the Capital Programme to 2029/30.

Recommendations Agreed.

Cabinet considered a report that provided background and context to the service and resource planning process for 2020/21.

Councillor Glynis Phillips, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance welcomed the main report as a useful summary of what had been agreed in the past. She thanked the Finance Team for their work.

Referring to paragraph 5 of the addenda in relation to the delay to longer-term reforms including Business Rates Retention and the Fairer Funding Review Councillor Phillips commented that the uncertainty made it difficult to plan services for communities. What was clear was that savings still had to be made (para 33 of the main report) and that despite that fact, vulnerable families needed the Council to be there for as long as necessary. She contrasted the government’s short termism for local government finance with their approach to health funding.

Councillor Phillips highlighted a number of known pressures and felt that it was to the collective credit of the whole Council that it continued to campaign for funding.

Referring to the Corporate Plan refresh she recognised the challenge in updating it. The outcomes from the Peer Review needed to be included.

Councillor David Bartholomew, Cabinet Member for Finance agreed with the comments relating to the Government’s short-term approach to local government funding and that they continued to press for a longer-term approach.

Councillor Bartholomew added his thanks to the Finance Team and thanked Katie Jurczyszyn in particular who was leaving the Council and who would be missed.

Councillor Bartholomew introduced the contents of the report and moved the recommendations.

RESOLVED:             to:

(a)         note the report;

(b)         approve the Service and Resource Planning process for 2020/21; and

(c)          approve a four-year period for the Medium Term Financial Plan to 2023/24 and ten-year period for the Capital Programme to 2029/30.