Issue - meetings

Matter for Decision

The outturn report presented reflects the Executive Portfolios for which budgets were originally approved (which may have changed since, for example for any changes in Portfolio responsibilities). Therefore, members of all committees were asked to consider proposals to carry forward budgets and make their views known to the Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources, for consideration at Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee prior to recommendations to Council.

Decision of Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources to recommend to council to:

i. Approve carry forward requests totalling £658,670 of revenue funding from 2020/21 to 2021/22, as detailed in Appendix C of the officer’s report.

ii. Approve carry forward requests of £49,211,000 of capital resources from 2020/21 to 2021/22 to fund rephased net capital spending, as detailed in Appendix D of the officer’s report.

iii. Approve the addition of £85,000 capital funding in 2021/22 to undertake works to the Council Chamber/Committee Rooms to stream meetings/enable hybrid meetings.

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Head of Finance. The Head of Finance referred to a budget proposal which had been published in advance of the meeting regarding additional expenditure to upgrade the Council Chamber and Committee Rooms with equipment to enable livestreaming and hybrid meetings. This proposed as an additional recommendation (c).

Additional recommendation (c):

The Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources is requested to recommend to Council the addition of £85,000 capital funding in 2021/22 to undertaken works to the Council Chamber/Committee Rooms to stream meetings/enable hybrid meetings.

The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:

    i.        Asked whether the decision to reduce car parking charges affected the Council’s ability to reclaim this funding back from the Covid Pandemic funding from Central Government. Noted that the capital spending proposed was a lot of money and queried whether the programme could be delivered.

  ii.        Commented that the decision to reduce car parking charges allowed key workers not to have to travel on buses during the pandemic. 

 iii.        Asked how big the existing capital programme for 2021/22 was in comparison with the requested carry forward of £49m

The Head of Finance said the following in response to Members’ questions:

iv.    The decision to reduce car parking charges did affect the funding the Council was able to claim back from Central Government. Confirmed following the meeting that the total car parking charges the Council reclaimed back was £4.1 million of the £5.9 million sales, fees and charges and that the Council was not able to claim back £1.1million due to the decision to reduce car parking charges.

  v.    A large proportion of the capital programme involved lending funding (£20 million) to the Cambridge Investment Partnership (CIP). Or involved projects that were already in progress, for example Park Street development (£9 million), which were being managed by external companies.

vi.    The capital plan total for 2021/22 in the Budget Setting Report approved in February was £40.9m.

vii.    There were processes in place to ensure that capital projects moved forward as quickly as possible.

viii.    Confirmed that the income compensation the Council applied for was calculated via a Government formula.

The Committee resolved by 4 votes to 0 to endorse the following recommendations.

i) Approve carry forward requests totalling £658,670 of revenue funding from 2020/21 to 2021/22, as detailed in Appendix C of the officer’s report.

ii) Approve carry forward requests of £49,211,000 of capital resources from 2020/21 to 2021/22 to fund rephased net capital spending, as detailed in Appendix D of the officer’s report.

The Committee resolved unanimously to endorse the following recommendation.

iii) Approve the addition of £85,000 capital funding in 2021/22 to undertaken works to the Council Chamber/Committee Rooms to stream meetings/enable hybrid meetings.

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendations.

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.