Councillors Abdul Mannan and Sabina Khan gave their apologies and joined the meeting online. Jahid Ahmed gave his apologies.

Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, please see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are reminded to declare the nature of the interest and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it’s the Members’ responsibility to declare any interests form and to update their register of interest form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of your interest, you are advised to seek advice prior to the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest were received at the meeting. Cllr Mannan declared that he was a board director at the Bromley by Bow Center.

Minutes of this committee will be present at a future meeting.

The minutes of the committee will be presented at a future committee meeting.

The following items have been considered at the Cabinet meeting on 31 January 2024. The committee is invited to consider the reports below, as part of the council’s budget process:

Cllr Saied Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Resources and the Cost of Living, gave a presented the Budget Report 2024-25 and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2024-27, with Julie Lorraine, Corporate Director for Resources, Abdulzarack Kassim, Finance Director Deputy Section 151 Officer.

The committee made the following comments and questions:

·       What are the main risks to the council carrying out this proposed budget and what are the planned mitigation measures? Officers detailed the potential risks, including reliance on commercial activity and issues raised by housing within the borough. However, mitigation measures include targeting new services for commercial ventures and internal governance procedures to access budgetary issues as they occur.

·       Members stated concern that the council seemed to deliberately delay announcing the greater raise in council tax to later in the budget setting process.

·   The large increase of council tax was not apart of the bulk of the budget consultation with members, why did this proposal come so late? What changed so dramatically to lead to the raise in the council tax?  Officers confirmed that a changing climate in government funding and not wanting to rely on further usage of council reserves, has led to a larger raise in council tax.

·   Does the council consider that they fully understand the level of exception they have in place to ensure the council tax rise does not affect those who are most vulnerable within the borough? Officers stated that they believe they have put in place a scheme that supports residents in the borough, while raising income to fund services. However after a year, members of the council, officers and stakeholders will be able to see what a year of the scheme has done, and it can be reviewed to ensure it is fit for purpose.

·   What does the council have in place to cover the over £2m shortage in funding for services? Cllr Saied Ahmed stated that the council will be focusing on income generation rather than drawing from reserves to fund services.

·   Can you provide a breakdown of savings in the Mayor’s Office? What staff have been redeployed? Officers stated that savings are across different teams and will see a major reduction in the usage of consultants among other areas. A lot of the staff will be part of a single point of resident enquiry, within customer service. Many of the casework staff within the Mayor’s office will now be within general roles within the customer service team.

·   Members expressed concern at the delay at obtaining details of job descriptions and salaries of the Mayor’s Office.

·   What work is being done to ensure that the Granby Community Hub, and Somali Senior Citizens Club and Women’s Group is being funded and supported appropriately? Cllr Saied Ahmed highlighted how more resources have gone into the hub and allow for more services to run for the Somali community. More funding would be welcome but the initial funding supports a growth in support for the hub.

·   Can officers outline the sustainability of budgeting around the Women’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

RESOLVED:

Members noted the forward plan.

To receive verbal updates from Scrutiny Leads.

RESOLVED:

Members noted the Update.

RESOLVED:

Members noted the officer updates on committee action.

To consider any other unrestricted call-ins from the recent Cabinet meeting

Nil items.

Nil items.

To consider and agree pre-decision scrutiny questions/comments to be presented to Cabinet.

Nil items.

To receive any petitions (to be notified at the meeting).

Nil items.

To consider any other unrestricted business that the Chair considers to be urgent.

The Chair highlighted the Scrutiny Lead for Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Challenge Session on Markets on 6 March 2024.

As the agenda circulated had no exempt/confidential reports and there was therefore no requirement to exclude the press and public to allow for its consideration.

Nil items.

Nil items.

Nil items.

Nil items.

Nil items.

Nil items.

To consider any other exempt/ confidential business that the Chair considers to be urgent.

Nil items.