Issue - meetings
General Fund Capital and Revenue Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan 2012-15 (Revised Proposals)
Meeting: 18/02/2013 - Overview & Scrutiny Committee (Item 3)
To consider the revised proposals for General Fund, Capital and Revenue Budgets and Medium Term Financial Plan 2013/14 - 2015/16 (CAB 075/123) in accordance with the Council’s Budget and Policy Framework.
Members are advised that the initial report and appendices concerning this item have been previously circulated to all Members as Cabinet Agenda 13 February 2013 “Item 10.2”.
Papers included in this agenda are:
· The tabled Cabinet amendments concerning General Fund, Capital and Revenue Budgets and Medium Term Financial Plan 2013/14 - 2015/16.
· The decision of the Mayor in Cabinet at the meeting held on 13 February 2013 concerning General Fund, Capital and Revenue Budgets and Medium Term Financial Plan 2013/14 - 2015/16
Additional documents:
- 3.1b Cabinet 13th February Amendment Appendix - Accelerated delivery Proformas- PDF final (2), item 3
PDF 281 KB
- 3.2 Cabinet Meeting 13th February 2013 Decision - Item 10.2, item 3
PDF 77 KB
Minutes:
The Committee considered the revised proposals for General Fund, Capital and Revenue Budgets and Medium Term Financial Plan 2013/14 – 2015/15 in accordance with the Council’s Budget and Policy Framework. In this connection, the Committee received papers comprising:
- The tabled Cabinet amendments concerning General Fund, Capital and Revenue Budgets and Medium Term Financial Plan 2013/14 – 2015/16.
- The decision of the Mayor in Cabinet at the meeting held on 13 February 2013 concerning General Fund, Capital and Revenue Budgets and Medium Term Financial Plan 2013/14 – 2015/16.
Financial implications
At the request of the Chair, Councillor Alibor Choudhury (Cabinet Member for Resources) introduced a summary of the revised proposals in the Mayor’s amended recommendations as indicated in the table shown below.
In response to concerns expressed by the Chair, Councillor Choudhury indicated that reserves had been allocated to future years to reduce budget gaps and ensure that deficits were not a large as those incurred by other local authorities. Financial planning was ongoing for future years and a team of Officers was engaged in identifying further areas to reduce the budget gap.
The Chair expressed concerns relating to management of the vacancies policy, particularly regarding possible effects on the social care services. Councillor Choudhury stated that care would be taken to ensure that front line services were not affected.
The Committee raised queries with regard to the proposed spending allocations as follows:
Boroughwide Deep Clean
Members made the point that funding had been taken from this service in previous years and there was some surprise that the proposed allocation was considered necessary, in view of claims that Tower Hamlets was a clean Borough. Councillor Choudhury undertook to provide further written comments to the Committee.
Bursary
Very strong concerns were expressed regarding:
· the need for fairness in carrying out assessments for and allocations of bursary payments;
· the criteria for any means test that would be used; the need to ensure that students whose parents were just above the benefits range would not be excluded and;
· how many Tower Hamlets students gained university places each year and whether the proposal was aimed at encouraging more students to secure places at university or reducing drop-out rates of existing university students.
Councillor Choudhury undertook to provide further written comments to the Committee.
THEOs
Members asked whether funding might best be allocated to securing more Police Officers and whether the Metropolitan Police had been approached with this in mind under the existing arrangements. Councillor Choudhury undertook to provide written comments to the Committee.
The Chair raised concerns that the SNT was hugely vulnerable in the face of cuts being made by the Metropolitan Police to service hours and counter facilities. She also queried whether it was appropriate to consider directing funding towards an organisation that appeared to be in a period of instability and flawed working.
Burial Grounds
Members expressed concerns relating to:
· the locations of the two sites under consideration;
· whether they would be for the use of all Tower Hamlets residents;
· how many ... view the full minutes text for item 3
Meeting: 13/02/2012 - Overview & Scrutiny Committee (Item 4)
To consider the revised proposals for General Fund, Capital and Revenue Budgets and Medium Term Financial Plan 2012-2015 (CAB 071/112) in accordance with the Council’s Budget and Policy Framework.
Members are advised that the report and appendices concerning this item have been previously circulated to all Members as a Supplemental Cabinet Agenda (8 February 2012) “Budget 2012/2013 Document Pack”
Please bring the document pack to the meeting.
The decision of the Mayor in Cabinet at the meeting held on 8 February 2012 is included in this agenda
Minutes:
The Committee received a summary of the amended budget proposals 2012-13 based on the decisions of Cabinet at its meeting on 8 February 2012.
The Committee noted Councillor Choudhury’s apologies and his invitation to the Chair to meet informally to respond to any further questions.
Funding for Proposed Alternative Options:
Funding for Alternative Options (a) to (f) agreed by Cabinet was based on the resources identified by the Corporate Director, Resources. Details were circulated at Appendix 1 of the report.
Peter Hayday, the Service Head, Financial Services, Risk and Accountability, explained the decisions made by Cabinet on 8 February.
There was a difference between the sum published for proposal (e) which was due to a rounding up of the sum for the delivery of ESOL classes; actual funding for this proposal was £245,000.
Further clarity was provided on proposal (f) as follows:
- £1.3 million from Area Based Grant reserves which were currently unallocated and could be used for other matters
- £100,000 from Partnership monies previously earmarked to fund redundancies but no longer required for this purpose.
- £280,000 of monies earmarked for employment initiatives in last year's budget which had yet to be allocated.
- £350,000 from a saving in the Authority's staffing budget resulting from the industrial action on 30 November 2011.
An update of the list of earmarked reserves at Appendix 6.3 “Projected Movement in Reserves March 2011 to March 2015” on p. 188 of the budget papers would be provided to the Committee after the meeting.
Committee’s Areas of Enquiry:
The Committee was informed that:
- Selected alternative options were identified by the Mayor and funding sources agreed through the Chief Executive.
- Earmarked Area Based Grant reserves - monies identified in the category of other corporate earmarked reserves listed at appendix 6.3 of the budget document pack 2012 – 13 (8th February) totalling £1.3 million are unused monies from the previous year. The original purpose of funds was not outlined in the budget proposal.
- Projected future reserves - sums shown at Appendix 6.3 of the Budget 2012/13 Document Pack (Cabinet 8 February) are indicative therefore the profile of the data will change as reserves are drawn down.
- The composition of the £151.8 million reserves at 31 March 2011 are published in the Council's final audited accounts and have been available since September 2011.
Proposal to Fund 17 Police Officers for 3 Years:
Collaborating with the Borough Commander, additional police officers have been secured. £1.485 million is to be allocated to fund 17 the officers over the next three years. Officers would be subject to joint tasking by the Borough Commander and the Council's Community Safety Team and focus on drug related crime, organised crime and antisocial behaviour.
Committee’s Areas of Enquiry:
- The use of these additional officers would be covered by existing partnership arrangements. Through the existing biweekly joint tasking meetings with the Metropolitan Police; the Council will have influence on how officers are deployed.
- The Partnership Taskforce was monitored on a fortnightly basis and presently comprised one ... view the full minutes text for item 4