To seek the views of the general scrutiny committee on the budget proposals for 2020/21 and on the draft corporate plan following the conclusion of consultation and the announcement of the provisional financial settlement.

The Committee’s views were sought on the budget proposals for 2020/21 and the draft corporate plan following the conclusion of consultation and the announcement of the provisional financial settlement.

The Assistant Director People and Performance and the Chief Finance Officer gave a presentation.  A copy of the presentation was attached at appendix 7 to the report.

In discussion the following principal points were made (page number references are to pages in the agenda papers/Corporate Pan (CP) as numbered):

Corporate Plan

·        (p49/CP15)  It was requested that explicit reference be made to protecting and enhancing community based health services and that an appropriate success measure should be included at CP17 along the lines of numbers of people accessing services outside Hereford.

The CMFCS observed that health service partners had responsibility for this issue but the council would seek to use the influence it had.  The Plan did have an emphasis on community centric services noting the development of the Talk Community initiative and community hubs encompassing all aspects of wellbeing including access to health services.

·        (p43/CP7) The following points were made in relation to the “till receipt” showing how the council spent revenue:

·        It was suggested that there were a number or areas where expenditure appeared to be lower than in 2019/20 such as roads and bridges and care of public spaces and libraries, records and customer services and looking after children.

The CMFCS commented that what was shown on the till receipt did not represent the full picture of expenditure.  There were, for example a number of capital projects involving investment in the public realm which would not feature on the till receipt except as revenue expenditure on debt and interest repayments.  She provided a number of examples.

A member proposed that If the till receipt did not represent the complete picture this should be made clear in the accompanying text.

The CMCPA commented that it was proposed that savings of some £250k that had been planned in libraries, records and customer services would not proceed.  She would clarify if the till receipt would need be adjusted to reflect this proposal if it were agreed.

The CFO commented that the till receipt was a summary of a range of services. It covered revenue spend only and did not include capital expenditure.

The CMEES commented that some categories had been modified from the previous financial year so comparing the two till receipts was not necessarily comparing like with like.

·        (P51/CP17)  With regard to the proposed success measures it was proposed that there should be a specific reference to market towns and focusing resources to improve infrastructure and community resilience. 

The CMFCS commented that p19 of the Plan stated that the Council wanted to emphasise the critical role the market towns and villages play in the county’s economy. P20 referred to supporting investment programmes across all the market towns.  A suggested indicator for success in strengthening market towns and communities would be welcome.

·        (p41/CP7) The CFO acknowledged that the paragraph referring to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42