Agenda item

The Executive Director for Finance and Corporate Resources presented the Medium Term Financial Plan 2015/16 to 2017/18.  During presentation of this report the following areas were highlighted for Members’ consideration:

·         The report had been amended slightly by comparison to the version that had been presented at the Cabinet meeting earlier in the month. 

·         These amendments took into account the revision that was required to the released from balances in 206/17 and 2017/18.  The impact of the Council Tax freeze on future years had not been built into the Cabinet recommendations and therefore the figures were different by £136k per annum.

·         In future years Officers were assuming that the Council would increase Council Tax by 1.9%.

·         The Council was one of three local authorities to generate levy to the Business Rates Pool and therefore benefit financially from this.

·         £87,000 had been proposed to be allocated to the New Homes Bonus scheme.  This represented 25% of Government funding that related specifically to the increase in grant from 2014/15 and Cabinet was recommending that this should be allocated to community schemes.

·         Worcestershire County Council had received £500,000 from the Government for welfare reform and social care.  The County Council had decided to pass this funding to all the districts in the county, divided according to need reported in previous years.  This equated to £53k for Bromsgrove.

·         Worcestershire County Council had also agreed to match fund the £30,000 Essential Living Fund (ELF) bid that had been proposed by the District Council.

·         Officers were assuming that the Government grant settlement in future years would be reduced by 5%.

·         Balances were due to fall from £3.7 million to £1.7 million unless further savings were made during 2016/17 and 2017/18.

·         An internal audit review of the budget setting process had been launched to enable Officers to learn lessons that could help to improve the process in future years.  The Chairman of the Board confirmed that he had contributed to this (and was positive about the improvements to Scrutiny of the budget this year).

Following presentation of the report Members proceeded to discuss a number of points in further detail:

·         The involvement of Planning Officers in monitoring housing growth and the financial implications for the district.

·         The potential for ward Councillors to submit capital bids on behalf of local communities if appropriate.

·         Funding available to groups such as Two Pennies and NewStarts which provided advice and support to residents struggling to manage their finances.

·         The Council’s continuing support for the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).

·         The potential impact of the closure of the Redditch branch of the CAB on demand for Bromsgrove services and the need to ensure that grant funding from the Council was not used to subsidise services received by residents outside of the District.

·         Financial support available to The Lounge in Alvechurch.  The Chairman explained that this support had been provided by the Bromsgrove Local Strategic Partnership.

·         The potential impact of further budget savings on the sustainability of Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS).  Officers expressed confidence that the savings could be achieved without having a detrimental impact on services.

·         Proposals to change the governance structure of WRS, which was due to be considered at the next meeting of the Worcestershire Shared Services Joint Committee, and the beneficial impact that this might have on the sustainability of the partnership.

·         The recent securing of contracts by WRS to deliver services on behalf of other organisations. 

·         The potential for a larger reduction than 5% to the Government grant to occur in future years.  By 2019/20 Officers advised that it was possible that local authorities would be expected to be self-funding.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.