Agenda item
Budget Strategy 2011/12 to 2014/15
The reasons for the call-in are:-
· to explore the extent to which the strategy is wise in relation to the potential for Invest to Save – such as recycling initiatives that could reduce Landfill Tax, etc.
· to explore further the impact of the decisions in relation to the Council’s stated Corporate Priorities, and public commitments made by Executive members.
The Executive report is attached. The Lead Member and Lead Officer are invited to the meeting to respond to Members’ questions.
Minutes:
The reasons for the call-in were:-
· to explore the extent to which the strategy is wise in relation to the potential for Invest to Save – such as recycling initiatives that could reduce Landfill Tax, etc.
· to explore further the impact of the decisions in relation to the Council’s stated Corporate Priorities, and public commitments made by Executive members.
Councillor Butt (Deputy Leader of the Council and Lead Member for Resources) introduced the report and confirmed that the Budget Strategy had been revised in light of the Government’s Emergency Budget announced on 22 June 2010. The Strategy would be reviewed again following the outcome of the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review to be announced on 20 October 2010, although the Council’s financial position would not be clarified until the Local Government Finance Settlement which was anticipated to be made in early December 2010. Councillor Butt stated that the challenge in delivering the savings required whilst maintaining service levels could not be underestimated, however it was hoped that it could be achieved largely through the One Council Programme.
During discussion, Councillor Van Kalwala raised the issue of Brent’s population and concerns that the Office for National Statistics was underestimating the population in its projections. He asked if the Council was lobbying the Government with regard to how the Brent’s population was measured and in view of Brent’s transient population, whether a realistic base line figure could be provided. Councillor Lorber commented that there had long been concerns that Brent’s official population was underestimated and stated that information from Brent GPs had revealed that there were over 300,000 patients in Brent. Although it was unlikely that all patients necessarily lived in Brent, it suggested that Brent’s population was higher than the official figures, however it was difficult to provide the necessary evidence to the Government that the population was greater.
In response, Councillor John acknowledged that underestimation of Brent’s population had been a long standing issue, with the method of population counting undertaken by the Office for National Statistics of particular concern. She advised that a number of other London Councils had similar concerns and that London in general was particularly affected and it was hoped that through lobbying that future censuses would be more accurate.
Duncan McLeod (Director, Finance and Corporate Resources) advised that the Council was lobbying the Government by all means possible with regard to changing the way Brent’s population was measured and it had also commissioned independent research on the matter. The Select Committee heard that the Census was meant to take transient population factors into account. However the methodology involved for updating Census figures would not include any person who had lived in Brent for less than 12 months. Duncan McLeod stated that independent surveys had suggested Brent’s population was around 289,000 which he felt was more accurate than the Office for National Statistics’ figures. He advised that a total change in methodology of population counting would be required to more accurately reflect Brent’s true population and he suggested that a census every ten years may not be frequent enough in view of the speed by which population can change.
RESOLVED:-
that upon considering the report from the Director of Finance and Corporate Resources, the decisions made by the Executive be noted.
Supporting documents: