Agenda item

(1)       Mr Simmonds introduced a report which explained that due to the late announcement of the Local Government Finance arrangements for 2013/14 the final draft budget was not available in time for inclusion in this report.  Mr Simmonds stated that the net effect of the funding arrangements for 2013/14 was a shortfall of £16m above the sum that the County Council went out to consultation on, the County Council’s proposals in response to this would be published on 16 January 2013. 

(2)       Mr Shipton provided a verbal update on the settlement which had produced a £16m greater reduction in funding than for the County Council that consulted upon in September/October.  However, the Council Tax base was higher than anticipated therefore overall the reduction to the County Council was £15m more than had been anticipated in the draft proposals.  He pointed out that this was still a provisional figure, as there were still one or two more grants to be announced including the funding for Public Health and no date had been set for this announcement.  Prior to the settlement being announced the County Council had required £60m in savings to balance its budget, it now required £85m of savings which was a 7 – 8% reduction.  The draft budget would be published on 16 January 2013 to include the latest financial position available.  Mr Simmonds stated the draft proposals in the consultation had been subject to Equality Assessment and he was mindful that any adjustments to be made to take account of the £16m reduction should not impact on the Equality Assessment already carried out.

(3)       Members discussed the budget consultation process and the balance to be struck between a quick and simple consultation on the budget which might attract more responses but be of limited value and the two MORI run workshops of people representative of the population of Kent which provided detailed qualitative data from people who, as a result of this process were better informed.  It was accepted that it had been right to go out to consultation in September, earlier than in previous years. Mr Shipton confirmed that the 2 MORI run workshops had cost £14,000; the majority of this cost was the expenses paid by MORI to those that attended. MORI provided an assurance that the groups were representative of the overall population of Kent.   In previous years the County Council had tried to run similar sessions themselves, they did not offer a fee and had not attracted a broad cross section of the Community.

(4)       A Member referred to the Local Government Information Units (LGIU) published description of the spending power for Kent as being – 1.9% of net spend, Mr Shipton explained that this was based on governments estimate of notional spending power not real spending power e.g. adjustment for spending on academies, the simple pro-rata reduction did not reflect the County Council’s actual spend.  The County Council’s position was closer to - 4% of net spend.     

(5)       RESOLVED that: (a) the late announcement of the provisional local     government finance settlement and the impact on budget timetable be      noted;

            (b)       the comments made by Members on the issues raised in the    consultation and Cabinet’s response be noted;

            (c)        a meeting of the IMGon the Budget be arranged to consider    the final budget proposalsaffecting the Finance and Business            Support, Business Strategy, Performance and Health Reform,             Democracy and Partnerships and Environment, Highways and             Waste (Commercial Services) portfolio(s) in advance of County     Council meeting on 14^th February 2013.  All Members of the             Committee will be notified of the date of this meeting. 

(Post meeting note – Meeting of the Budget IMG held on 23 January 2013)