Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:

(1)   the type of interest concerned; and

(2)   the nature of the interest concerned

If any member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

To consider the draft General Fund Revenue Budget and draft service estimates for 2015/2016.

Members will have the opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification from officers regarding the draft budget. Specific observations and comments can be made that will be passed to the Executive for consideration at its meeting on 23^rd February 2015. Feedback will also be reported to the meeting from the Finance and Audit Committee and Non Domestic Rate Payers consultation meeting and the Finance and Audit Committee and Unions consultation meeting by the Finance and Audit Committee Chairman.

All non-Executive Members have been invited to attend this meeting.

Note: Members are requested to bring a copy of the budget papers to the meeting. These were distributed under separate cover on 30^th January 2015.

Councillor Callow, Chairman of the Finance and Audit Committee, provided the Committee with an update from the consultation meetings that had been held earlier in the day with the Trade Unions and Non-Domestic Rate Payers. He outlined the key points and concerns raised.

The Chairman invited questions from the Committee on the feedback from the two Finance and Audit Committee consultation meetings. Members queried the potential benefit in terms of New Homes Bonus to be gained from the completion of the Foxhall Road housing project.  When the houses were complete and occupied the Council would receive additional bonus, assuming that it was to continue.

Members discussed the comments made by the unions and noted that, unlike in the previous year, they had not put forward a counter proposal. The Committee commented that the ongoing dialogue from July 2014 between the Council and the Unions regarding the budget had been beneficial.

Mr Thompson, Director of Resources, provided the Committee with a summary of the draft General Fund Revenue Budget and service estimates for 2015/2016.

The extent of the required budget savings over the previous four years was reported as £68m with a further requirement for savings of £58m over the next three years.  Mr Thompson explained the challenges in meeting the budget savings since 2010 which equated to approximately four times the cost of all back office functions.

He commented that the Council could not continue to rely on the same processes of delivering budget savings and that more radical transformation of services would be needed.

Mr Thompson outlined the key principles of the Medium Term Financial Strategy which included resourcing of services in line with Council priorities, achieving value for money and efficiency savings, keeping Council Tax levels as low as possible and ensuring that risks were identified and mitigated, for example in ensuring sufficient financial reserves. It was noted that the Council would continue to freeze Council Tax for 2015/2016 and would therefore receive a Council Tax Freeze Grant for doing so from Government.

Mr Thompson further advised that Blackpool was the sixth most deprived local authority in the country with disproportionate demands on services such as Children’s Social Care. The Department for Work and Pensions had advised that they would be withdrawing a two-year grant to support the local welfare provision. However, following a public consultation to which a large number of objections were received, the grant had been reinstated, albeit at a much lower level.

The Committee was informed that following the localisation of business rates, the Council now retained 49% of everything collected as an incentive to promote economic development and growth. However, it was noted that when an appeal against business rates was successful the Council had to meet 49% of the total sum even if the appeal preceded the introduction of the new system. Members queried how many appeals were likely to be successful and were advised that it was difficult to predict, but that the Council had made provision for between 5 and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.