Skip to content

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Suite - County Hall

Contact: Wendy Simpson 01392 384383  Email: wendy.simpson@devon.gov.uk

Media

Items
Note No. Item

*

163.

Minutes

Minutes of the meeting held on 26 November 2019 (previously circulated).

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 26 November 2019 be signed as a correct record.

*

164.

Items Requiring Urgent Attention

Items which in the opinion of the Chair should be considered at the meeting as matters of urgency.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There was no matter raised as a matter of urgency.

*

165.

Public Participation

Members of the public may make representations/presentations on any substantive matter listed in the published agenda for this meeting, as set out hereunder, relating to a specific matter or an examination of services or facilities provided or to be provided.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no oral representations from members of the Public.

*

166.

Budget 2020/21 and Capital Programme for 2020/21 to 2024/25 pdf icon PDF 417 KB

Overall Approach

 

The 2020/21 budget proposals will be scrutinised with consideration of relevant service area budgets by Scrutiny Committees with the Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Scrutiny Committee considering both its own budget responsibilities as well as any issues raised by the Children’s Scrutiny Committee and the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee, to produce a single set of recommendations from all Scrutiny Committees.

 

This approach enables all Scrutiny Members to question and challenge the budget proposals across services, to better understand the implications of the budget proposals across the Council and to speak with one voice to make effective recommendations to Cabinet and Council.

 

The proceedings of all Scrutiny Committees will be webcast and publicised through normal channels including Twitter and Facebook.

 

The Council must have full regard to and consider the impact of any proposals in relation to equalities prior to making any decisions, as set out in equality impact assessments, and any identified risks and mitigation action required.

 

Public Participation

 

There will be an opportunity for members of the public to address each Scrutiny Committee meeting and make oral representations/presentations on any matter relating to the proposed budget, in line with the public participation scheme.

 

This Meeting

 

At this and other Scrutiny Committees in the current cycle, Members are asked to identify salient issues within each Committee’s areas of responsibility, to examine the general thrust of the budget and take an overview of priorities and prospects.

 

At this meeting Chief Officers/ Heads of Services will report on

 

·         the Cabinet’s Target Budget for Services and likely implications of the 2020/21 target for individual areas of service (e.g. in percentage terms compared to current levels) and how those areas have been prioritised;

 

·         any comparisons between the current year and next year’s proposals for the major service areas, to illustrate the scale of change within those activities and how the budget has been allocated across services in those years (to illustrate changes of emphasis or priority);

 

·         any “alternative delivery models” or other initiatives contemplated for given services and how it is thought that these may reduce costs; and

 

·         impact assessments undertaken in relation to the draft budget.

 

In addition, the Chairs of both the Children’s Scrutiny Committee and Health & Adult Care Scrutiny Committee will be invited to summarise their Committee’s deliberations – in the context of any wider corporate issues that might be incorporated into any recommendations from that Committee to Cabinet and the Council

 

Report and Budget 2020/21 and Impact Assessment

 

Report to follow.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee welcomed the proposed budget for the 2020/21 financial year being scrutinised by individual Scrutiny Committees.

 

The Chairs of the Children’s Scrutiny Committee and the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee would present any relevant resolutions and an overview of those issues arising to the Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Committee.  This Committee will also consider the draft budget proposals within its own remit, providing an opportunity for Scrutiny Members to comment on proposals for the Council’s Budget in its entirety. The resulting resolutions from Scrutiny will be reported to Cabinet and Council.

 

This would follow the opportunity for individual Scrutiny Committees – at this meeting – to have an initial overview of the budget proposals and examine them to identify any specific issues or areas of interest that might be considered at the Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Committee for incorporation into recommendations to Cabinet and Council.

 

The Committee then considered the joint report of the County Treasurer, the Chief Executive, the Head of Public Health, Environment and Prosperity and the Head of Highways, Infrastructure Development and Waste (CT/20/04) on the 2020/21 Budget which included sections on the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement made by Government and the budget targets set by the Cabinet for each service area which included inflation, commitments and savings. The Report also detailed the proposed medium-term capital programme for the Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services and how it was funded.

 

The Cabinet, at its meeting of 11th December 2019, had set Revenue Budget targets for 2020/21 which totalled £529.974 millions. 2019/20 had been the last year of the four-year Local Government Financial Settlement and 2020/21 was hoped to be the first year of a new multi-year settlement that would contain the outcome of the Fairer Funding Review, the Business Rates reset and 75% or 100% Business Rates Retention, but this had not happened.  In September, the Chancellor announced a one-year Spending Round (badged as a ‘Roll-forward’ for Local Government) but it did contain some proposals for additional funding including the SR19 Social Care Support Grant, Schools funding and SEND High Needs Block The Fairer Funding Review along with both the Business Rates reset and Retention plans were delayed until at least 2021/22.

 

On the 20th December, the Secretary of State for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, The Rt. Hon. Robert Jenrick MP, made a written statement to Parliament on the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2020/21. This was as expected and gave an opportunity to increase the Spending Targets that were previously set. The settlement was for one year only. The targets were revisited by the Cabinet on 15th January 2020.

 

In relation to Council Tax, the referendum limit was 2% with social care authorities allowed a 2% social care precept. The three elements of the Business Rates Retention system (Baseline Need, NNDR Baseline and Tariff/Top Up amounts) had all increased by 1.63%, in line with the September 2019 CPI inflation figure. The Revenue Support Grant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 166.


Top