Mayor John Biggs moved, the budget and council tax proposals of the Mayor and Executive as set out in the agenda pack. Councillor Candida Ronald seconded the proposals.

Councillor Andrew Wood moved the amendment set out in the supplementary agenda, but, due to the absence of a seconder, this amendment could not be considered.

Following debate, the substantive Budget for 2022-23, the Council Tax Resolution and the Treasury Management Strategy and Investment Statements and the Capital Report submitted by Mayor John Biggs were put to  a recorded vote and were agreed.

DECISION:

Budget Motion

Revenue and Capital Medium Term Financial Plan 2021-24

1.     To note a General Fund Revenue Budget of £389.473m and approve a Council Tax (Band D) of £1,124.39 (Council share) for 2022-23 as set out in the motion and Council Tax Resolution attached at Annex 1 to the Council report. This incorporates a freeze to the Tower Hamlets element of Council Tax and to only levy a 1% Adult Social Care precept for 2022-23.

2.          To note the GLA precept as set out in the Council Tax Resolution.

3.          To note the changes in the budget report appendices to reflect the final Local Government Finance Settlement grant allocations (Annex 2 Appendix 1A, 1B, 2 and 3A)

4.          To note the Capital Programme, Housing Revenue Account budget and Dedicated Schools budget

Treasury Management Strategy Statement, Investment Strategy and Capital Strategy 2022-23

5.     To adopt the Treasury Management Strategy Statement set out in Annex 3 Appendix A attached to the Council report.

6.     To adopt the Investment Strategy Report set out in Annex 3 Appendix B attached to the report.

7.          To adopt the Capital Strategy Report (which incorporates the Minimum Revenue Provision Policy Statement) set out in Annex 3 Appendix C attached to the report.

Section 25, Local Government Act 2003

8.          To note the Section 151 officer’s view on the robustness of estimates and adequacy of reserves required under Section 25 of the Local Government Act 2003, set out in section 2 of the report.

Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme (LCTRS)

9.          To note that the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme will remain unchanged for 2022-23.

BUDGET COUNCIL

2^ND MARCH 2022

COUNCIL TAX REQUIREMENT 2022-23

That Council:

1.             Approve the Council Tax Resolution detailed in Appendix A to this motion.

2.             Agree a General Fund revenue budget of £389.473m and a Council Tax requirement for Tower Hamlets in 2022-23 of £121.674m.

3.             Agree the Council’s 2022-23 Budget Report set out in Annex 2.

4.             Agree the report of the Corporate Director Resources (S151 officer) to the Audit Committee of 27^th January 2022; Treasury Management Strategy Statement Investment Strategy Report and Capital Strategy Report for 2022-23 set out in Annex 3.

Appendix A

LONDON BOROUGH OF TOWER HAMLETS

COUNCIL 2^nd MARCH 2022

COUNCIL TAX RESOLUTION

1.     That the revenue estimates for 2022-23 be approved.

2.         That it be noted that, at its meeting on 18^th January 2022, Cabinet agreed 108,213 as its Council  ...  view the full decision text for item 5

Mayor John Biggs moved, the budget and council tax proposals of the Mayor and Executive as set out in the agenda pack. Councillor Candida Ronald seconded the proposals.

Councillor Andrew Wood moved the amendment set out in the supplementary agenda, but, due to the absence of a seconder, this amendment could not be considered.

Following debate, the substantive Budget for 2022-23, the Council Tax Resolution and the Treasury Management Strategy and Investment Statements and the Capital Report submitted by Mayor John Biggs were put to  a recorded vote and were agreed.

DECISION:

Budget Motion

Revenue 2022-23 and Capital 2022-25

1.     To note a General Fund Revenue Budget of £389.473m and approve a Council Tax (Band D) of £1,124.39 (Council share) for 2022-23 as set out in the motion and Council Tax Resolution attached at Annex 1 to the Council report. This incorporates a freeze to the Tower Hamlets element of Council Tax and to only levy a 1% Adult Social Care precept for 2022-23.

2.          To note the GLA precept as set out in the Council Tax Resolution.

3.          To note the changes in the budget report appendices to reflect the final Local Government Finance Settlement grant allocations (Annex 2 Appendix 1A, 1B, 2 and 3A)

4.          To note the Capital Programme, Housing Revenue Account budget and Dedicated Schools budget

Treasury Management Strategy Statement, Investment Strategy and Capital Strategy 2022-23

5.     To adopt the Treasury Management Strategy Statement set out in Annex 3 Appendix A attached to the Council report.

6.     To adopt the Investment Strategy Report set out in Annex 3 Appendix B attached to the report.

7.          To adopt the Capital Strategy Report (which incorporates the Minimum Revenue Provision Policy Statement) set out in Annex 3 Appendix C attached to the report.

Section 25, Local Government Act 2003

8.          To note the Section 151 officer’s view on the robustness of estimates and adequacy of reserves required under Section 25 of the Local Government Act 2003, set out in section 2 of the report.

Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme (LCTRS)

9.          To note that the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme will remain unchanged for 2022-23.

BUDGET COUNCIL

2^ND MARCH 2022

COUNCIL TAX REQUIREMENT 2022-23

That Council:

1.             Approve the Council Tax Resolution detailed in Appendix A to this motion.

2.             Agree a General Fund revenue budget of £389.473m and a Council Tax requirement for Tower Hamlets in 2022-23 of £121.674m.

3.             Agree the Council’s 2022-23 Budget Report set out in Annex 2.

4.             Agree the report of the Corporate Director Resources (S151 officer) to the Audit Committee of 27^th January 2022; Treasury Management Strategy Statement Investment Strategy Report and Capital Strategy Report for 2022-23 set out in Annex 3.

Appendix A

LONDON BOROUGH OF TOWER HAMLETS

COUNCIL 2^nd MARCH 2022

COUNCIL TAX RESOLUTION

1.     That the revenue estimates for 2022-23 be approved.

2.         That it be noted that, at its meeting on 18^th January 2022, Cabinet agreed 108,213 as its Council Tax base for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5

The Pre-Decision Scrutiny Questions and officer responses were noted and the Scrutiny response to the draft budget presented at Cabinet on Tuesday 18 January was also noted.

DECISION

1.    To propose a General Fund Revenue Funding Requirement of £388.964m for 2022-23 subject to any remaining changes arising from the final Local Government Finance Settlement.

2.    To propose to freeze the Tower Hamlets element of Council Tax and to only levy a 1% Adult Social Care precept for 2022-23. This will result in a Band D Council Tax of £1,124.39 (Council share) 2022-23 to be referred to Full Council for approval.

3.    To propose that the Interim Corporate Director – Resources, after consultation with the Mayor and Lead Member of Resources, makes any changes required to the budget following the final settlement announcement expected in February.

4.    To note that the Council is joining the 8 Authority Pool for Business Rates with seven other London Local Authorities for 2022-23 and note that delegated authority has been given to the Section 151 Officer to implement the Council’s inclusion in the pool.

5.    To approve the 2022-23 transfers to and from corporate reserves as set out in section 3.9 of the report.

6.    To approve the continuation of £1m funding from the Public Health grant to the Key Stage Two extension of Free School Meals.

7.    To approve that the increase in the Social Care Grant for 2022-23 is allocated in full to the services (75% to adult social care and 25% to children’s social care).

8.    To propose the 2022-23 Housing Revenue Account budget as set out in Appendix 6 to the report to be referred to Full Council for approval.

9.    To approve the HRA housing rent and service charge increases as outlined in section 3.11 of the report.

10.To approve the 2022-23 Management Fee payable to Tower Hamlets Homes (THH) of £33.236m as set out in paragraph 3.11.16 of the report.

11.To note that under the Management Agreement between the Council and THH, THH manages delegated HRA income and expenditure budgets on behalf of the Council.  In 2022-23, THH will manage delegated income budgets totalling £98.842m and delegated expenditure budgets totalling £32.128m.

12.To propose the 2022-23 Schools Budget.

13.To agree that the National Schools Funding Formula (NSFF) adopted by Tower Hamlets originally in 2019-20 continues for 2022-23. The only changes included are increases to the factor values in line with the NSFF and the use of the mobility factor in the NSFF for the first time.

14.To agree that the Minimum Funding Guarantee (the mechanism that guarantees schools a minimum uplift in per-pupil funding) is set at 2.0%, the maximum allowed after consideration for growth and factor changes in School allocations.

15.To agree that the structure of the Early Years Funding Formula remains unchanged except that the two year old hourly rates will increase in line with the Early Years National Funding Formula. 

16. To note that the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme will  ...  view the full decision text for item 6

Councillor Candida Ronald, Cabinet Member for Resources and the Voluntary Sector, introduced the report. She highlighted that there were two key changes since the initial draft budget had been presented at the last Cabinet meeting. These were the updated capital programme and a number of new growth bids to support front-line services.

She highlighted that December’s local government settlement had provided more money for the authority which was welcome but as it was only for one year there was a lot of uncertainty for the future. This meant that the Executive was proposing a one-year budget rather than the normal three-year medium term financial plan. She also highlighted £18 million in growth proposals including for services highlighted by residents during the recent budget consultation.

She thanked officers for their hard work to ensure the Council was able to propose the budget set out including freezing the main Council Tax charge and that overall the budget supported the goal of making Tower Hamlets safer, cleaner and fairer.

Councillor Rachel Blake, Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Wellbeing (with responsibility for capital programmes), took Cabinet through the Cabinet Programme set out in the report and appendices. The Council was prudent to make sure resources were appropriately allocated to relevant capital projects.

Councillor Danny Hassell, Cabinet Member for Housing, then took Members through the Housing Investment Plans with significant investment planned to provide new council housing.

Cabinet heard from Councillor Peter Golds, Leader of the Conservative Group, who highlighted concerns about the costs associated with the liveable streets programme and the need to set out the cost of each scheme. 

The Mayor thanked everyone for their comments. He noted the Pre-Decision Scrutiny Questions and officer responses and noted the Scrutiny response to the draft budget presented at Cabinet on Tuesday 18 January.

He proposed the recommendations as set out to forward the budget to Council for agreement, subject to Overview and Scrutiny Committee reviewing those areas which were new to this version of the report (The Capital Schemes and additional growth bids). The recommendations were unanimously agreed by the Members present and it was:

RESOLVED

1.    To propose a General Fund Revenue Funding Requirement of £388.964m for 2022-23 subject to any remaining changes arising from the final Local Government Finance Settlement.

2.    To propose to freeze the Tower Hamlets element of Council Tax and to only levy a 1% Adult Social Care precept for 2022-23. This will result in a Band D Council Tax of £1,124.39 (Council share) 2022-23 to be referred to Full Council for approval.

3.    To propose that the Interim Corporate Director – Resources, after consultation with the Mayor and Lead Member of Resources, makes any changes required to the budget following the final settlement announcement expected in February.

4.    To note that the Council is joining the 8 Authority Pool for Business Rates with seven other London Local Authorities for 2022-23 and note that delegated authority has been given to the Section 151 Officer to implement the Council’s inclusion  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6

DECISION

Cabinet agreed to submit the budget and policy framework aspects of the report for review by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

1.    To propose a General Fund Revenue Funding Requirement of £383.551m for 2022-23 subject to any remaining changes arising from the final Local Government Finance Settlement, which includes a surplus of £5.413m in 2022-23 which will be allocated to one-off projects.

2.    To approve the Council Tax Base calculation for 2022-23 and agree that authority to approve this in future years is delegated to the Section 151 Officer.

3.    To propose to freeze the Tower Hamlets element of Council Tax and to only levy a 1% Adult Social Care precept for 2022-23. This will result in a Band D Council Tax of £1,146.54 (Council share) 2022-23 to be referred to Full Council for approval.

4.    To propose that the Interim Corporate Director – Resources, after consultation with the Mayor and Lead Member of Resources, makes any changes required to the budget following the final settlement announcement.

5.    To note that the Council is joining the 8 Authority Pool for Business Rates with seven other London Local Authorities for 2022-23 and note that delegated authority has been given to the Section 151 Officer to implement the Council’s inclusion in the pool.

6.    To approve the 2022-23 transfers to and from reserves as set out in paragraph 3.9 of the report.

7.    To approve the continuation of £1m funding from the Public Health grant to the Key Stage Two extension of Free School Meals.

8.    To approve that the increase in the Social Care Grant for 2022-23 is allocated in full to the services (75% to adult social care and 25% to children’s social care).

9.    To propose the 2022-23 Housing Revenue Account budget as set out in Appendix 7 to be referred to Full Council for approval.

10.To approve the HRA housing rent and service charge increases as outlined in section 3.11.

11.To approve the 2022-23 Management Fee payable to Tower Hamlets Homes (THH) of £33.236m as set out in paragraph 3.11.16 of the report.

12.To note that under the Management Agreement between the Council and THH, THH manages delegated HRA income and expenditure budgets on behalf of the Council.  In 2022-23, THH will manage delegated income budgets totalling £98.842m and delegated expenditure budgets totalling £32.128m.

13.To propose the 2022-23 Schools Budget.

14.To agree that the National Schools Funding Formula (NSFF) adopted by Tower Hamlets originally in 2019-20 continues for 2022-23. The only changes included are increases to the factor values in line with the NSFF and the use of the mobility factor in the NSFF for the first time.

15.To agree that the Minimum Funding Guarantee (the mechanism that guarantees schools a minimum uplift in per-pupil funding) is set as close as possible to 2.0%, the maximum allowed after consideration for growth and factor changes in School allocations.

16.To agree that the structure of the Early Years Funding Formula  ...  view the full decision text for item 6

The item was considered alongside Agenda Item 6.1 (Mayor’s Foreword to the Council’s Budget Report) and the combined minute is presented here.

The Mayor introduced both reports. He highlighted that this report began the Council’s formal budget review process whereby the Budget would be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The comments of the Scrutiny Committee would then be considered at the next Cabinet meeting. He noted that there may need to be further amendments at that second Cabinet meeting. Finally, a meeting of Council would agree the Budget and Council Tax for the authority.

Looking at the report he highlighted a number of issues including:

·       A lot of work had gone into the proposals.

·       There were still considerable financial pressures for cuts whilst there were also increasing demands on key services such as adult and children’s social care.

·       There were also some proposals for investment in areas such as CCTV and delivering new Council housing.

·       There were proposals to tackle the climate emergency.

·       The need to deal with changes brought about by the pandemic.

Councillor Candida Ronald, Cabinet Member for Resources and the Voluntary Sector, then took Members through the budget proposals in more detail. She highlighted the overarching goal of ensuring a fairer, cleaner and safer Tower Hamlets. She noted a number of points including:

·       The Local Government Funding Settlement in December had provided an increase in funding for the Council but that this was only for one year and there was significant uncertainty beyond that which also extended to other income streams such as Business Rates and the New Homes Bonus.

·       A one year budget was being proposed this year rather than the usual three year plan due to this uncertainty.

·       It was proposed to freeze the Council Tax with the exception of a 1% increase for social care.

·       £5.4 million of surplus was available to meet resident priorities as identified in the recent consultation.

·       The Council was looking to make use of a number of new and continuing grant areas.

·       Some new savings were proposed in the report and a few previous savings are being written off as unachievable.

·       Rent and service charge increases for tenants were set out and work on fire safety was also set out.

Summing up, she highlighted how pleased she was that this year the number of proposed cuts was limited and there were proposals for increases in other areas. She thanked the Mayor and everyone for the excellent budget proposals that were set out.

The Mayor thanked Councillor Candida Ronald for her presentation. He proposed that the draft budget be submitted to Scrutiny. He proposed the recommendations as set out. This was agreed unanimously by the Members present and it was:

RESOLVED

1.    To propose a General Fund Revenue Funding Requirement of £383.551m for 2022-23 subject to any remaining changes arising from the final Local Government Finance Settlement, which includes a surplus of £5.413m in 2022-23 which will be allocated to one-off projects.

2.    To approve the Council Tax  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6