Issue - decisions

The Committee received a report from Head of Corporate Strategy regarding the process for scrutiny of the council's budget.

Councillor O’Connell proposed an amendment to option A:

       i.          That the Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee and the Executive meet on 11 February 2019.

     ii.          That budget amendments to be considered at S&R Scrutiny Committee are submitted by 1 February.

   iii.          Budget amendments consequential to Executive amendments made at the Executive meeting are submitted to Council at least 4 days before the meeting.

With the permission of the Chair, Councillor Bick spoke to the amendment:

   iv.          Explained that the amendment would afford opposition groups a similar timeframe to produce budget amendments as under the current process.

    v.          The Liberal Democrat Group preferred option B to option A.  Option A saved time pressure on officers and ruling group members, at the expense of opposition members.

   vi.          Expressed concern about the reduction in opportunity for scrutiny of the BSR set out in the timeline in the Officer’s report.

 vii.          Asked that the amount of time available to amend the budget be reviewed. Consideration of budget amendments could not start until the BSR was published.

a.    Opposition Councillors had 4 weeks to consider amendments under the current 2018/19 arrangements.

b.    Option A would give less than 3 weeks for budget amendments. This was a significant change.

viii.          Asked Civic Affairs to consider the amendment, which would move the proposed Executive and Strategy & Resources Committee dates, plus amendment submission dates.

The Committee was advised by the Chief Executive that the amendment was workable, in terms of timings, from an officer perspective.

Councillor Robertson stated that the proposal looked reasonable and could see why it would be reasonable to give opposition members adequate time to produce budget amendments.

Councillor O’Connell sought clarification how revised submission dates would be affected by Part 4C Budget and Policy Framework Procedure Rules amendments set out on p130 of the Officer’s report. The Democratic Services Manager stated that the re-wording of Part 4C to accommodate the tabled amendment would be circulated to the Committee prior to it being published for Council’s approval on 18 October.

The Committee unanimously supported the amendment.

Unanimously resolved to recommend to Council the changes to the Council’s budget and policy framework procedure (part 4c) and Council Procedure Rules appendix 2 budget recommendations and amendments (part 4a) as set out in Appendix A of the Officer’s report and as amended below:

       i.          That the Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee and the Executive meet on 11 February 2019.

     ii.          That budget amendments to be considered at S&R Scrutiny Committee are submitted by 1 February.

   iii.          Budget amendments consequential to Executive amendments made at the Executive meeting are submitted to Council at least 4 days before the meeting.