To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor P Andrews and P Bettington.

To receive details of any Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee.

None.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

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

(There will be no discussion of the issue at the time when the matter is raised. Consideration will be given to whether it should form part of the Committee’s work programme when compared with other competing priorities.)

There were no suggestions from the public.

To note questions received from the public and the items to which they relate.

(Questions are welcomed for consideration at a Scrutiny Committee meeting so long as the question is directly related to an item listed on the agenda. If you have a question you would like to ask then please submit it no later than two working days before the meeting to the Committee Officer. This will help to ensure that an answer can be provided at the meeting).

There were no questions from the public.

To receive a presentation on the Budget 2013/14 and the Medium Term Financial Strategy and to consider the report to Cabinet on 5 February 2013.

The Committee received a report on the Budget 2013/14 and the Medium Term Financial Strategy from the Chief Officer, Finance and Commercial.  The Chief Officer said that the report would be put to Cabinet on the 5^th of February, and would be debated at Council on the 18^th.  This would allow Council to be in the position to set the Council Tax for the coming year.  During his presentation, the Chief Officer highlighted the following areas:

·           That Herefordshire’s funding from central government would be reduced by £5.45m (6.9%) in 2013/14.  The proposed budget would meet this shortfall and other agreed pressures facing the Council.  Additional savings would need to be made in future years as Government grant was further reduced.   The budget was based on a 1.9% Council Tax increase.  Total savings of £9.142m from the Root and Branch Review programme had been included to meet the budget shortfall as well as demographic and other service pressures that required funding. The funding available for the net budget would be £150.297m. This would be funded by Revenue Support Grant (£42.862m), retained business rates (£22.726m), Government top-up (£6.559m) and Council Tax (£78.911m) less an amount of £761k for a deficit brought forward on the Collection Fund. There was a possibility that government funding could change as the Final Settlement has not yet been announced.

·           That the 2013/14 budget had not increased in terms of overall funding despite moving from £143.359m in 2012/13 to £150.297m in 2013/14.  The “increase” represented money moving from specific grant in 2012/13 to general grant funding in 2013/14.  At the point of transfer between sources central government had cut the amount received by the Council.

·           The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) covered the period 2013/14 to 2015/16 and included the Treasury Management Strategy. The document was part of an integrated set of policy and delivery documents designed to match available resources to corporate priorities as set out in the Corporate Plan.

·           That the government had set a four year Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) over the period 2011/12 to 2014/15.  The latest announcement provided a two year funding position covering 2013/14 and 2014/15.  Within this context a corporate savings and transformation programme had been developed to be brought forward to provide major changes within a reduced funding envelope.

·           The Department of Health had confirmed funding to be transferred to local authorities to support adult social care services which also benefit health services.  The new approach would see funding transferred via the NHS Commissioning Board and Herefordshire would receive £3.152m in 2013/14, compared to £2.274m in 2012/13.  The use to which the money would be put would be agreed between the Council and the Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group through the Health and Wellbeing Board.

·           That the pressures in Adult Services were driven by three challenges.  These were an increase in demand associated with an ageing population and changing expectations, a reduction in the growth of public funding for health and social care and increasing chronic health conditions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.