Agenda item

(1)         The Chairman reminded Members that any Member of a Local Authority who was liable to pay Council Tax, and who had any unpaid Council Tax amount overdue for at least two months, even if there was an arrangement to pay off the arrears, must declare the fact that they were in arrears and must not cast their vote on anything related to KCC’s Budget or Council Tax.

(2)        The Chairman moved, and the Vice-Chairman seconded that:

(a)         Procedure Rule 1.28 be suspended in order that the Leader and the Cabinet Member for Finance be allowed to speak for a maximum of 12 minutes in total and the Leaders of the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Independents Groups speak for 6, 5 and 4 minutes respectively.

(b)         Procedure Rule 1.35 (1) be suspended in order to allow Members to speak more than once during the debate, at the discretion of the Chairman, the Cabinet Member for Finance and Traded Services, as seconder of the motion be allowed to speak again at the end of the debate.

(3)           The Chairman put the motion set out in paragraph (2) above to the vote without a debate and the voting was as follows:

For (61)

Mrs A Allen, Mr M Angell, Mr M Balfour, Mr P Barrington-King, Mr P Bartlett, Mrs C Bell, Mrs P Beresford, Mrs R Binks, Mr R Bird, Mr T Bond, Mr A Booth, Mr D Brazier, Mr D Butler, Miss S Carey, Mr P Carter, Mrs S Chandler, Mr N Chard, Mr I Chittenden, Mrs P Cole, Mr G Cooke, Mr P Cooper, Mr D Daley, Mrs T Dean, Mr D Farrell, Mr R Gough, Ms S Hamilton, Mr M Hill, Mr T Hills, Mrs S Hohler, Mr P Homewood, Mr A Hook, Mr E Hotson, Mrs L Hurst, Mr P Lake, Mr B Lewis, Ida Linfield, Mr R Long, Mr S Manion, Mr A Marsh, Ms D Marsh, Mr J McInroy, Mr P Messenger, Mr D Monk, Mr D Murphy, Mr M Northey, Mr P Oakford, Mr J Ozog, Mr M Payne, Mrs S Prendergast, Mr K Pugh, Miss C Rankin, Mr H Rayner, Mr A Ridgers, Mr C Simkins, Mrs P Stockell, Dr L Sullivan, Mr B Sweetland, Mr I Thomas, Mr M Whiting, Mr M Whybrow, Mr J Wright.

Against (0), Abstained (0)

Motion Carried

(4)          The Chairman then invited Mr Shipton, Head of Finance, to give a presentation to provide context for this item.

(5)      Mr Carter moved and Mr Oakford seconded the following motion:

“The County Council is asked to:

a)    ENDORSE the application of capital receipts in 2017-18 and to date in 2018-19 to fund revenue costs as set out in table 1

b)    RECOGNISE the progress made towards setting a balanced budget for 2019-20 based on robust estimates and the remaining unidentified gap

c)    NOTE that Corporate Directors will need to be authorised to make the necessary arrangements to be able to deliver savings once the final budget has been approved in February

d)    NOTE that Cabinet and Corporate Directors need to develop further proposals to resolve the unidentified gap and resolve additional issues which may arise.

(6)        Mr Bird proposed and Mrs Dean seconded the following amendment:

“The County Council is asked to:

a)    RECOGNISE that the scope for making further deliverable savings has dramatically reduced and calls on the Government to maintain Kent’s Revenue Support Grant and other Government funding of council services at levels necessary to fulfil our statutory duties and to protect services from unacceptable cutbacks.

b)    ENDORSE the application of capital receipts in 2017-18 and to date in 2018-19 to fund revenue costs as set out in table 1        

c)    RECOGNISE the progress made towards setting a balanced budget for 2019-20 based on robust estimates and the remaining unidentified gap

d)    NOTE that Corporate Directors will need to be authorised to make the necessary arrangements to be able to deliver savings once the final budget has been approved in February

e)    NOTE that Cabinet and Corporate Directors need to develop further proposals to resolve the unidentified gap and resolve additional issues which may arise.”

(7)         Mr Carter as proposer of the original motion, with the agreement of his seconder, agreed to amend the original motion as follows:

The County Council is asked to:

a)     RECOGNISE that the scope for making further deliverable savings has dramatically reduced and calls on the Government to make available the extra resource to allow the continuation of the in-year social care grants of £405m for one more year in advance of the Local Government funding changes in 2020/21 and beyond plus truly reimburse the full cost of supporting asylum seeking youngsters up to the age of 25, maintain Government funding of council services at levels necessary to fulfil our statutory duties and to protect our frontline services.

b)     ENDORSE the application of capital receipts in 2017-18 and to date in 2018-19 to fund revenue costs as set out in table 1

c)      RECOGNISE the progress made towards setting a balanced budget for 2019-20 based on robust estimates and the remaining unidentified gap

d)     NOTE that Corporate Directors will need to be authorised to make the necessary arrangements to be able to deliver savings once the final budget has been approved in February

e)     NOTE that Cabinet and Corporate Directors need to develop further proposals to resolve the unidentified gap and resolve additional issues which may arise.  

(8)       Mr Bird, with the agreement of his seconder, accepted the amended original motion and withdrew his amendment.

(9)         Following the debate, the Chairman put the substantive motion set out in paragraph (7) above to the vote and the voting was as follows:

For (56)

Mrs A Allen, Mr M Angell, Mr P Barrington-King, Mr P Bartlett, Mrs C Bell, Mrs P Beresford, Mrs R Binks, Mr R Bird, Mr T Bond, Mr A Booth, Mr A Bowles, Mr D Brazier, Mr D Butler, Miss S Carey, Mrs S Chandler, Mr N Chard, Mr I Chittenden, Mr N Collor, Mr G Cooke, Mr P Cooper, Mr D Daley, Miss E Dawson, Mrs T Dean, Mr G Gibbens, Mr R Gough, Ms S Hamilton, Mr M Hill, Mr T Hills, Mrs S Hohler, Mr S Holden, Mr P Homewood, Mr A Hook, Mr E Hotson, Mrs L Hurst, Mr P Lake, Mr R Long, Mr S Manion, Ms D Marsh, Mr P Messenger, Mr D Monk, Mr D Murphy, Mr M Northey, Mr P Oakford, Mr J Ozog, Mr M Payne, Mrs S Prendergast, Mr K Pugh, Miss C Rankin, Mr A Ridgers, Mr C Simkins, Mrs P Stockell, Mr B Sweetland, Mr I Thomas, Mr M Whiting, Mr M Whybrow, Mr J Wright.

Abstained (5)

Mr Dhesi, Mr D Farrell, Mr B Lewis, Ida Linfield, Dr L Sullivan.

Against (0)

 Substantive motion Carried

(10)       RESOLVED That the County Council:

a)      recognises that the scope for making further deliverable savings has dramatically reduced and calls on the Government to make available the extra resource to allow the continuation of the in-year social care grants of £405m for one more year in advance of the Local Government funding changes in 2020/21 and beyond plus truly reimburse the full cost of supporting asylum seeking youngsters up to the age of 25, maintain Government funding of council services at levels necessary to fulfil our statutory duties and to protect our frontline services

b)      endorses the application of capital receipts in 2017-18 and to date in 2018-19 to fund revenue costs as set out in table 1 in the report

c)      recognises the progress made towards setting a balanced budget for 2019-20 based on robust estimates and the remaining unidentified gap

d)      notes that Corporate Directors will need to be authorised to make the necessary arrangements to be able to deliver savings once the final budget has been approved in February

e)      notes that Cabinet and Corporate Directors need to develop further proposals to resolve the unidentified gap and resolve additional issues which may arise.