To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors H. Bramer and Mrs M.D. Lloyd-Hayes.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on this agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 26th January, 2006.

In relation to Minute no 38 the Chief Executive informed the Committee that an Improvement Plan had been prepared in response to the findings of the recent Joint Area Review of services for Children and Young People and submitted to the Chief Inspector of the Commission for Social Care Inspection.  He enquired how it was intended to scrutinise implementation of the Plan, if approved.  In reply the Chairman indicated that progress would be monitored by the Strategic Monitoring Committee.

In explaining that there was no right of reply for Officers at full Council meetings the Chief Executive expressed the hope that it would be accepted that, as the Minute demonstrated, he had reported fully to the Committee on the findings of the Review, had emphasised how seriously he viewed the matter and the importance of addressing the issues raised.  He had also reported fully to Cabinet.

The Chairman remarked on the need for all Members to recognise the importance of the issues raised by the Joint Area Review and their responsibilities with regard to them.

In relation to Minute No 41 on the Pay and Workforce Development Strategy a request was made for a report on staff turnover showing a breakdown of the overall figure.  An update was also requested on the findings from exit interviews.

RESOLVED:   That the Minutes of the meeting held on 26th January, 2006 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To consider suggestions from members of the public on issues the Committee could scrutinise in the future.

There were no suggestions from Members of the Public.

To ask the Strategic Monitoring Committee to consider and comment on the Cabinet’s budget strategy for 2006/07.

The Committee considered the Cabinet’s revenue budget strategy for 2006/07 and proposals for the Capital Programme 2006/07.

The reports on the revenue budget strategy and proposals for the capital programme 2006/07 made to Cabinet on 26th January, 2006 were appended to the report.

Revenue Budget Strategy

The Chief Executive explained the position which had been reached in developing the 2006/07 revenue budget.  He noted that this was the Committee’s opportunity to contribute formally to the process before the Executive presented proposals to Council in March.  A Members seminar had also been arranged to ensure that all Members had the opportunity to consider the strategy before Council met.

The Director of Resources then presented the report.  She commented on the Government’s two year financial settlement for 2006/07 and 2007/08 and the expectation that the next spending review, which would establish a settlement for a three year period: 2008/9-2010/11, would be much tougher for Local Government.

She drew attention to changes to the Government grant formula questioning whether pressures on Social Care, Waste Management and concessionary fares had been fully recognised in the settlement.  She noted that the Council was rated a good Council which made good use of resources and achieved good value for money and was achieving a lot with a low resource base.  However, of the 44 all-purpose authorities the Council remained the 38th lowest funded and it was important that the pressures on the authority were recognised at a local and national level.

She then highlighted the position on the current year’s budget; Cabinet’s proposal to write off overspends and the implication for reserves; the consideration given to how to manage increasing pressures on resources to avoid disruption to service delivery; the need to change the way the Council did things as it was unsustainable simply to do more of the same and the consequent importance of the Invest to Save programme; the base budget pressures; areas identified as essential growth, the intention to establish a contingency in recognition of ongoing financial risk for Adult and Children’s social care budgets and to undertake an independent assessment of future demand to provide a basis for establishing a new base budget; the key principles agreed for future financial management; and the corporate financial risks which had been identified.

In the ensuing discussion the following principal points were made:

·          In response to questions the Director of Resources explained that at the time the report to Cabinet had been prepared information on the grant settlement had been incomplete.  It would now be possible to include full details in the next report to Cabinet, which would form the basis of the report to Council.  She commented in more detail on the changes to the way in which government grant was calculated, explaining how the Government had calculated a notional budget requirement figure for the Council for 2005/06 based on the new formula and how a 4.7% increase in council tax in 2006/07 would translate into a 6.6% increase on that notional figure.  She  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.