Apologies were received from Councillor Greenow; Councillor EPJ Harvey (Vice-Chairman); Councillor Brig P Jones CBE, Mr P Sell.

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

Councillor MAF Hubbard substituted for Councillor EPJ Harvey.

Councillor PJ Watts substituted for Councillor DW Greenow.

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

Councillor JG Jarvis declared a non-pecuniary interest as the Council's representative on the Hereford Futures Ltd Board as Lead Director.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2012.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held 10 December 2012 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 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.)

No issues were suggested by 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). 

No questions were received from the pulic.

To receive a presentation on the Medium Term Financial Strategy and consider the report to Cabinet and make recommendations to Cabinet.

The Committee received a presentation on the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and considered a report to Cabinet on 17 January 2013.

The Chief Officer Finance and Commercial (COFC) informed the Committee of the position regarding the Medium Term Financial Strategy. The Committee had previously been circulated with copies of the report to Cabinet (17 January) entitled ‘Draft Medium Term Strategy and update on the provisional Local Government Settlement 2013/14’. At the meeting the Committee were also supplied with copies of the presentation by the Chief Officer Finance and Commercial, a copy of which has been placed in the minute book.

The Chief Officer Finance and Commercial (COFC) highlighted the following principal points:

·         The Strategy included the local and national policy, financial context and covered 2013/14 to 2015/16.

·         The provisional settlement on 19 December indicated for 2013/14 a reduction of £5.45m (6.9%).  The final settlement was still to be confirmed but if it followed the pattern of previous years it is not expected to alter the indicated position.

·         Under the new Business Rate system from 2013/14 Herefordshire will be a ‘top-up’ authority and will receive £6.5m.

·         The Government had offered a further Council Tax Grant of 1% but for only 2 years.

·         Comparisons were made with other authorities to seek the national context and assess any impact or significant changes.

·         The strategy included an assessment of the Council’s future funding including: estimated Council Tax rates, inflation, and local approach to reserves and capital funding.

·         Treasury Management covered borrowing and investment; addressed key risks; bank base rates and the external economic and political environment.

·         The Financial Model was the heart of the strategy.  The model assumed that in 2013/14 £9.142m of ‘Root and Branch’ budget reductions would be delivered with further reductions in future years.  It also recognises £5.18m of pressures in 2013/14 with further pressures in future years.  It assumed 1.9% council tax increase (£1.66m) in 2013/14 with no increase in future years.

·         In 2013/14 the Model also included a contribution of £2m to reserves and an additional £1m for change management with £2.6m for inflation.

In the course of discussion the following principal points were noted:

·         The report charted how Herefordshire’s funding equated in the national context.  It was noted that government lobbing via the SPARSE Rural Network Group was undertaken in an attempt to emphasise to government the particular funding issues faced by rural authorities and thereby seek to raise funding levels for rural authorities.  The Strategy identified pressures due to increased life expectancy and future demand for adult social care due to an increasing ageing population in the county.

·         From April 2013 funding (£3.15m) will be transferred from NHS Commissioning.  This was already ring-fenced to projects identified through the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. The Council will be responsible for managing contracts and ensuring value for money.  This will need to be considered in the wider context, not just within adult social care but across the whole of council services.  The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

To update the Committee on the governance and oversight arrangements of Hereford Futures Ltd.

To consider the Committee work programme.

The Committee considered its work programme.

Following on from the previous minute (No.17) a point was made that the Council has an arms-length company and a number of major partners through which public services were delivered and it was questioned whether clarity could be sought on the status of information held by these external organisations.

RESOLVED: that the programme be noted and a report setting out how information held by the Council; its arm’s length company and major partners may be effected by the Freedom Of Information Act be presented to a future meeting.