In regard to the Revenue Budget, having taken
account of the comments made by Executive Members, and all the
relevant information provided at the informal meeting of Executive
Members on 25 January 2022, the Chief Executive Officer agreed to
use his emergency delegated powers to recommend to Full Council
that:
a) Note the Section 25 assurance statement provided by the
Corporate Director, Strategic Resources regarding the robustness of
the estimates and the adequacy of the reserves (paragraph 9.13) and
the risk assessment of the MTFS detailed in Section 10.
b) A combined council tax increase for 2022/23 of 3.99% be
agreed;
c) Agree that in the event that the level of overall external
funding (including from the final Local Government Settlement)
resulted in a variance of less than £5m in 2022/23, then the
difference be addressed by a transfer to / from the Strategic
Capacity Unallocated Reserve in line with paragraph 4.2.6, with
such changes being made to Appendix E as appropriate.
d) Authorise the Corporate Director – Children and Young
People’s Service, in consultation with the Corporate
Director, Strategic Resources and the Executive Members for Schools
and Finance, to take the final decision on the allocation of the
Schools Budget including High Needs, Early Years and the Central
Schools Services Block (paragraph 3.1.19).
e) Approve the Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2022/23 to
2024/25, and its caveats, as laid out in Section 3.0 and Appendix
G, in line with the proposed council tax option.
f) Authorise the Corporate Director – Business &
Environmental Services, in consultation with the Executive Members
for BES, to carry out all necessary actions, including consultation
where he considers it appropriate, to implement the range of
savings as set out in Appendix B1 (BES 1 to 3).
g) Authorise the Corporate Director – Health and Adult
Services, in consultation with the Executive Members for HAS, to
carry out all necessary actions, including consultation where he
considers it appropriate, to implement the range of savings as set
out in Appendix B1 (HAS 1 to 6).
h) Authorise the Corporate Director – Children and Young
People’s Services, in consultation with the Executive Members
for CYPS, to carry out all necessary actions, including
consultation where he considers it appropriate, to implement the
range of savings as set out in Appendix B1 (CYPS 1 to 4).
i) Agree, in consultation with the Executive Members for Central
Services, to carry out all necessary actions, including
consultation where he considers it appropriate, to implement the
range of savings as set out in Appendix B1 (CS 1 to 5).
j) Agree that any outcomes requiring changes following
Recommendations f), g), h) and i) above be brought back to the
Executive to consider and if necessary, where changes are required
to the existing major policy framework, make recommendations to
full Council.
k) Retain the existing policy target for the minimum level of the
General Working Balance and set at £28m in line with
paragraphs 4.5.4 to 4.5.5 and Appendix F.
l) Approve the attached pay policy statement (Appendix I) covering
the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 as set out in Section
7.
m) Approve the updated LGPS Employers Discretion Policy as
described in paragraphs 7.6 to 7.8 and as set out in Appendix
J
n) Agree the delegation arrangements referred to in Section 12 that
authorise the Corporate Directors to implement the Budget proposals
contained in the report for their respective service areas and for
the Chief Executive in those areas where there are cross-Council
proposals.
o) Give regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty (identified in
Section 8 and Appendix K) in approving the Budget proposals
contained in the revenue budget section of the report.
In regard to the Capital Plan MTFS 2022-2023, having taken account
of the comments made by Executive Members, and all the relevant
information provided at the informal meeting of Executive Members
on 25 January 2022, the Chief Executive Officer agreed to use his
emergency delegated powers to:
a) Approve the refreshed Capital Plan summarised at paragraph 3.4,
and recommend it for approval to County Council;
b) Approve the proposal to carry forward £500k of the
Property Rationalisation underspend at 31 March 2022 for a further
two financial years (2022/23 to 2023/24) as set out at paragraph
3.18, and recommend it for approval to County Council;
c) Delegate authority to the Corporate Director, Business &
Environmental Services in consultation with the Corporate Director,
Strategic Resources; the Executive Member for Open to Business; and
the Executive Member for Finance to allocate the £3.5m of
funding should it be required as a local contribution towards
schemes for submission into the Levelling Up Fund as set out in the
Table in paragraph 5.2;
d) Agree that no action be taken at this stage to allocate any
additional capital resources (paragraph 6.7)
In regard to Treasury Management, having taken account of the
comments made by Executive Members, and all the relevant
information provided at the informal meeting of Executive Members
on 25 January 2022, the Chief Executive Officer agreed to use his
emergency delegated powers to recommend to County Council:
a) The Treasury Management Strategy at Annex 1, including:
b) The Capital Prudential Indicators (Appendix A), Borrowing
Strategy and Treasury Prudential Indicators (Appendix B) and Annual
Investment Strategy 2022/23 (Appendix C), and in particular;
i. an authorised limit for external debt of £566.3m in
2022/23;