Decision details

RESOLVED that:

i)             Cabinet agreed to recommend to full council an overall 4.99% increase in the Council’s element of council tax for 2019/20 with 2% as a precept for Adult Social Care and a 2.99% general increase.

ii)            Cabinet agreed to recommend to full council the General Fund revenue budget for 2019/20, as summarised in Appendix A to the report from the Chief Finance Officer.

iii)          Cabinet noted the cost pressures and technical adjustments detailed in Appendix B to the report from the Chief Finance Officer.

iv)          Cabinet noted the savings detailed in Appendix C to the report from the Chief Finance Officer.

v)            Cabinet delegated authority to the Chief Finance Officer to:

a)        agree(in consultationwiththe Leader)whether toparticipatein theLondonBusinessRatesPool andpilotsfor subsequentyears(notingthat inthis casetheauthority’sexecutiveadministrativefunctionas abillingauthoritypursuanttothe Non-DomesticRating (RatesRetention)Regulations 2013willremain delegatedto theCityofLondonCorporation, asthe LeadAuthority);and

b)        agreethe operational  details ofthepoolingarrangementswiththe participatingauthoritiesfor 2019/20andanysubsequentyearsand enterinto anyMemorandum ofUnderstandingrequired.

vi)          Cabinet agreed that the Leader of the Council would continue to represent the authority in relation to consultations regarding the London Business Rates Pilot Pool undertaken by the Lead Authority pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding and he would respond to the consultations.

vii)         Cabinet noted the report of the Budget Scrutiny Panel provided at Appendix D to the report from the Chief Finance Officer.

viii)        Cabinet agreed to set the HRA budget for 2019/20, as set out in section eight of the report from the Chief Finance Officer.

ix)          Cabinet agreed to set the HRA rents for council dwellings, tenant service charges and garages, as set out in section eight of the report from the Chief Finance Officer.

x)            Cabinet agreed to set the major works and new build development budgets set for 2019/20 and 2020/21, as set out in section eight of this report.

xi)          Cabinet agreed to set the rents set under the Housing General Fund for Brent Housing PFI and traveller’s site pitches and to note the rents for Hillside dwellings as set out in section eight of this report.

xii)         Cabinet noted the Dedicated Schools Grant as set out in section nine of the report from the Chief Finance Officer.

xiii)        Cabinet agreed to recommend to full council the capital programme as set out in Appendix E to the report from the Chief Finance Officer

xiv)        Cabinet agreed to recommend to full council the Treasury Management Strategy, Capital Strategy, Investment Strategy and MRP Policy as set out in Appendices F, G, H and I to the report from the Chief Finance Officer.

xv)         Cabinet noted the advice of the Director of Legal and HR as set out in Appendix J to the report from the Chief Finance Officer.

xvi)        Cabinet agreed to agreed, and where relevant agree to recommend to full council, the schedule of fees and charges set out at in Appendix K to the report from the Chief Finance Officer.

xvii)      Cabinet noted the results of consultation as set out in section 7 and detailed in Appendix L.