Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Rooms 1,2 & 3, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, HA9 9HD
Contact: Peter Goss - Democratic Services Manager 020 8937 1353 Email: peter.goss@brent.gov.uk
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Declarations of personal and prejudicial interests Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, any relevant financial or other interest in the items on this agenda. Minutes: None declared. |
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Deputations (if any) Minutes: None. |
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Minutes of the previous meeting PDF 107 KB Minutes: RESOLVED:-
that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 11 January 2012 be approved as an accurate record of the meeting. |
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Matters arising (if any) Minutes: None. |
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The draft 2012/13 budget PDF 325 KB A presentation on the administration’s budget proposals.
The Budget and Finance Overview and Scrutiny Committee will discuss and make recommendations on the draft 2012/13 budget, tracking any proposals made during the first reading debate. Councillor Butt, Lead Member for Corporate Resources and Deputy Leader of the Council, will present the draft budget and answer questions from members. While the committee will lead the discussion, this meeting is intended to give all non-Executive members the opportunity to participate in the budget scrutiny process and raise any questions or comments they may have on the draft budget.
Copies of the draft budget report will be circulated to the Budget and Finance Overview and Scrutiny Committee members prior to the meeting. Minutes: Councillor Butt (Lead member for Finance and Corporate Resources) presented the draft budget for 2012/13 by way of a PowerPoint presentation. He opened his presentation by pointing out that the Council was on target to achieve its budget for 2011/12 and had achieved 97.5% of the planned £41.7m 'One Council' savings. He then outlined the financial pressures faced by the Council during 2011/12 and the national economic situation. Councillor Butt presented the 2012/13 grant settlement for Brent and the impact this had on the Council. He stated that it was being proposed that the Council should accept the Council Tax freeze grant on offer but pointed out the implications of this over future years. He reminded members of the budget process that had been undertaken, which had included a widespread consultation exercise and recognition of the recommendations made by the committee following last year's budget process. He emphasised the continuing message that reserves could not be used to support overspending. Councillor Butt outlined the service area budgets for 2012/13 and the planned increase in reserves to bring them up to a more proportionate level. He then presented the schools budget, the HRA and the capital programme. Addressing each of these he added that it was important that all those entitled to free school meals were claiming them, that a report on the future of the housing arms length management organisation would soon be considered by the Executive and the implications of unsupported borrowing within the capital programme. He ended the presentation by summarising the financial position of the Council.
Members asked questions for clarification. Clive Heaphy (Director of Finance and Corporate Services) was asked to explain the new funding arrangements. He stated that the Council would receive little in the way of grant income in future years and the only way it would be able to increase its funds would be to build more houses and attract new businesses. However, many details of the new arrangements were still to be released. He added that the new freedom the Council was expecting to be given to set planning fees at a level which would fully recover costs would need to be balanced against the need to attract new businesses into the area.
Recognising the risks the Council faced, Clive Heaphy was asked if the level of reserves would be sufficient. He explained that each risk had been analysed and the biggest risk was the delivery of the One Council programme savings targets. However, the programme had a very structured approach to how it would meet the targets. In the longer term there was a new threat emerging that even more savings would be required which would be very difficult to achieve.
A question was asked as to how realistic it was to budget for zero price inflation. It was explained that there was some inflation provision within individual contracts but outside of this it was a case of the Council having to negotiate hard with its suppliers to freeze their prices. ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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Discussion on the committee's second interim report PDF 164 KB Members will have the opportunity to finalise their discussions on the content and format of the Committee’s second interim report before it is submitted to the meeting of the Executive on Monday 13 February 2012. A copy of the Panel’s first interim report it attached for information. Minutes: Members were advised that they had the opportunity to finalise the committee's second interim report before its submission to the Executive. There were no further comments so the report, as circulated with the agenda, was agreed. |
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Any Other Urgent Business Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Democratic Services Manager or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 64. Minutes: None. |
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Date of Next Meeting The date of the next meeting of the Budget and Finance Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be agreed at the meeting of Full Council in May 2012. Minutes: Noted that a programme of meetings for 2012/13 would be agreed at the Annual meeting of Full Council in May 2012. |