Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor P. L. Thomas.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday 19^th January 2022 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday 19^th January 2022 be approved as a true and correct record.

The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board, Councillor C. Hotham, briefly presented the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 17^th January 2022, and in doing so the Cabinet was informed that since the meeting of the Board things had moved on and that items had been discussed and agreed.  It was noted that there were no recommendations from the Board in the minutes.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held 17^th January 2022 be noted.

This report is due to be pre-scrutinised at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board scheduled to take place on Tuesday 15^th February 2022.  Any recommendations on this subject arising from this meeting will be reported for Cabinet’s consideration in a supplementary pack.

The Background Papers for this item have been published in a separate Background Papers Pack for this meeting.

The Head of Community and Housing Services presented a report on the subject of Sustainable Warmth Funding.  Cabinet was informed that the Council was due to receive £429,000 for a sustainable heating grant, which was designed to help fund actions that could be taken to improve the energy efficiency of properties in the district with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating D – G. 

The Head of Community and Housing Services drew Members’ attention to the 2 components to this funding, as detailed on page 24 of the main agenda report:-

·                Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) Phase 1 – these grants were intended for properties that were not connected to the mains gas system.

·                Local Authority Delivery (LAD) Phase 3 – these grants were intended for properties that were connected to the mains gas system.

Cabinet was advised that there had been a typographical error (on page 25 of the main agenda report), the maximum average grant per property was £10,000 for LAD3 and £25,000 (not £15,000 as shown) for HUG. 

There were a range of measures that could be funded, including cavity wall insulation, roof insulation and air source heat pumps.   

The Council was working with Worcestershire County Council and Act On Energy in respect of the administration of the funds and promotion of the funding to eligible residents.

After the report had been presented Members discussed the following points in detail:

·                The deadlines for expenditure of the grant funding and the extent to which the Council was likely to be able to ensure that all funding was spent by those deadlines.  Officers clarified that the HUG Phase 1 and LAD Phase 3 funding needed to be spent by 31^st March 2023 whilst the deadline for expenditure of the previous LAD Phase 2 had been extended to 31^st July 2022.  Members were advised that Officers were anticipating that these deadlines would be met.

·                The potential for park home owners to apply for the HUG Phase 1 and LAD Phase 3 funding, following a change in regulations which meant that they could not apply for LAD Phase 2 funding.  Members were informed that park homes were not eligible for HUG Phase 1 or LAD Phase 3 funding, but officers were monitoring any future funding opportunities that might become available for park home owners.

Cabinet was further advised that action would be taken to promote the funding to eligible members of the public, and that the Council was aiming to target low income households.  A targeted approach to communications was considered preferable in order to ensure that the Council was not inundated with requests and that the funding was provided to those most in need. Support would be made available locally to help eligible households apply for the funding.  Officers explained that Act On energy would be providing this type of support to eligible households and would also be able to help householders identify the most appropriate funding for them and if required would also support householders in obtaining an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55/21

This report is due to be pre-scrutinised at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board scheduled to take place on Tuesday 15^th February 2022.  Any recommendations on this subject arising from this meeting will be reported for Cabinet’s consideration in a supplementary pack.

The Executive Director of Resources presented the draft Council’s 2022/2023 Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for 2022/2023 to 2024/2025.

Cabinet was advised that this was an important budget report which also included the MTFP for a period of 3 years.  The draft report had previously been presented to the Finance & Budget Working Group and was also presented at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting on 15^th February 2022, whereby a good debate was had.  It was noted that following on from the debate that no recommendations had been put forward by the Overview and Scrutiny Board. Good feedback was received from Members of the Board with regard to the new report format.

The Executive Director of Resources highlighted that the new report format added transparency and cut through complexity.  It was a robust and balanced MTFP.  Members’ attention was drawn to the following paragraphs in the report: -

Paragraph 2.5           Financial Context

Paragraph 2.9           Unprecedented Levels of Uncertainty

Paragraph 4.8           Table 2, The Updated MTFP and Annual Revenue Budgets

Paragraph 4.12         Table 3, The Updated (versus Previous) MTFP and

                                General Fund

Paragraph 4.15         Table 4, which showed that the General Fund balance was

                                now forecast total £2.259 million at the end of 2023/2024

                                (compared to £1,735 million in the previous MTFP) and

                                (without further action) reduce to £1,046 million at the end

                                of 24/25 which was below the minimum set levels.

Paragraph 4.17/        Table 4, Reconciliation of Previous and Updated MTFP –

4.18                            Adjustments made to the Annual Budget Forecasts 22/23  

                                and 23/24.

Paragraph 4.22         Pressures

Paragraph 4.23         Resource Planning and Prioritisation (RPP).

Paragraph 4.24         Funding Impact (£0.956m in 22/23)

Paragraph 4.25         Council Tax Increase

Paragraph 4.26         Reallocation of Earmarked Reserves to General Fund

The Executive Director of Resources advised the Cabinet that the report was the draft report and that the final version of the Council’s 2022/2023 Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for 2022/2023 to 2024/2025, would be presented to Council on 23^rd February 2022.

The Leader took the opportunity to express her sincere thanks to officers.

The Deputy Leader echoed this and was pleased to see that the end results had been warmly received by the Overview and Scrutiny Board; this was a credit to the Executive Director of resources and his team.

The Head of Legal, Property and Democratic Services reiterated that the report before the Cabinet was a draft report and that the final report would be presented to the Cabinet and Council on 23^rd February 2022, therefore the report was for noting.

During consideration of this item, the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board, Councillor C. Hotham, briefly stated that the report had been pre-scrutinised at the meeting of the Board on 15^th February 2022.  Board Members had been satisfied with the budget and had appreciated the new format of the report, it was very well received.  Councillor Hotham expressed his thanks to the Executive Director of Resources and his team. 

RESOLVED that as detailed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56/21