Issue - meetings

Part of appendix G to the report contains exempt information during which the public is likely to be excluded from the meeting subject to determination by the Council following consideration of a public interest test. This exclusion would be made under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Item covered in 15 February 2024 minutes.

Part of appendix G to the report contains exempt information during which the public is likely to be excluded from the meeting subject to determination by the Council following consideration of a public interest test. This exclusion would be made under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

A supplementary information document was published in advance of the council meeting on pages 19-24 of the Information Pack which updated recommendation 2(c) and the level of council tax for 2024/25 as set out in updated Appendix A(b) and recommendations 2 (g) and (k) as reserve movements were impacted by the final finance settlement.

The Executive presented its budget recommendations as set out in the Council Agenda and as published on the City Council’s website.

The Liberal Democrat Group Members presented the Liberal Democrat Group’s alternative budget as published in the Information Pack.

The Green Group spoke to their budget commentary as published in the Information Pack.

Under the Council’s budget procedure, the Liberal Democrat Group’s alternative budget was deemed to have been moved and seconded as an amendment.

The Liberal Democrat Group’s alternative budget amendment was lost by:

10 votes in favour: Bick, Bennett, Blackburn-Horgan, Flaubert, Hauk, Hossain, Nethsingha, Payne, Porrer, Young

To 24 votes against: Ashton, Baigent, Bird, Carling, Davey, Divkovic, Gawthrope Wood, Gilderdale, Griffin, Healy, Holloway, McPherson, Moore, Nestor, Pounds, Robertson, Smart, A.Smith, S.Smith, Swift, Thornburrow, Todd-Jones, Thittala Varkey, Wade

2 Abstentions: Howard, Tong

It was RESOLVED to agree the Executive’s budget proposals by:

25 votes in favour: Ashton, Baigent, Bird, Carling, Davey, Divkovic, Gawthrope Wood, Gilderdale, Griffin, Healy, Holloway, Hossain, McPherson, Moore, Nestor, Pounds, Robertson, Smart, A.Smith, S.Smith, Swift, Thornburrow, Todd-Jones, Thittala Varkey, Wade

11 abstentions: Bick, Bennett, Blackburn-Horgan, Flaubert, Hauk, Howard, Nethsingha, Payne, Porrer, Tong, Young

To approve the following:

i.    Revenue pressures and bids shown in Appendix D(b) and savings shown in Appendix D(c) of the officer’s report.

ii.  Delegation to the Chief Finance Officer of the calculation and determination of the council tax taxbase (including submission of the national non-domestic rates forecast form, NNDR1, for each financial year) which is set out in Appendix A(a).

iii. The level of council tax for 2024/25 as set out in the updated Appendix A (b) detailed on pages 23-24 of the Information Pack.

iv.Delegation to the Chief Finance Officer authority to finalise changes relating to any further corporate and/or departmental restructuring and any reallocation of support service and central costs, in accordance with the CIPFA Service Reporting Code of Practice for Local Authorities (SeRCOP).

v.  Proposals outlined in Appendix E(a) for inclusion in the Capital Plan.

vi.Subject to (v) above, the revised capital plan for the General Fund as set out in Appendix D(c) and the funding as set out in Section 5, page 20.

vii.   The impact of revenue budget approvals and the resulting contribution to reserves [Updated General reserves table on page 22 of the Information Pack].

viii. The creation of a Civic Quarter Development Reserve with the remit set out in Section 6, page 24.

ix.    The allocation of £20m of general reserves to that reserve.

x.      The allocation of £750k of general reserves to the Climate Change Fund, as set out in Section 6, page 23.

xi.    The resulting level of reserves [Updated General reserves table on page 22 of the Information Pack].

xii.   The Chief Finance Officer’s Section 25 Report, covering the robustness of estimates and adequacy of reserves, included in Section 8 of the BSR [page 32].

xiii. Reconfirm that the incomes below will be disregarded (if above £10 statutory disregard) when calculating entitlement to housing benefit and/or council tax reduction. These schemes are often called local or modified schemes.

• War disablement pension

• War widow, widower or surviving civil partner pension

• Armed Forces Independence Payment

The estimated cost to the council for payments of housing benefit made under the local scheme is £1,777.50 and for council tax reduction less than £50.

xiv. Note the Equality Impact Assessment in Appendix F covering all GF budget proposals.

xv.  Note the schedule of proposed fees and charges for 2024/25 in Appendix G.