Agenda item

To receive a report which provides Members with an opportunity to comment on the draft budget proposals and make recommendations to Cabinet Members as part of this process.

Mr Shipton (Head of Finance (Policy, Planning and Strategy)), Ms Hansen (Finance Business Partner (Strategic & Corporate Services)) and Ms Cooke (Corporate Director of Finance) were in attendance for this item.

1.          Mr Shipton introduced the report which set out the draft budget proposals and provided Members with the opportunity to comment on the proposals before they were presented to Cabinet on 28 January 2019 and full Council on 14 February 2019.

Mr Shipton, Ms Cooke and Miss Carey (Cabinet Member for Customers, Communications and Performance) then responded to comments and questions from Members, including the following: -

a)    Mr Shipton said that council tax single person discounts were an increasing proportion of local authority council tax bases nationally. He said that he could provide further information to Members outside of the meeting in relation to council tax discounts.

b)    Mr Shipton referred to Kent County Council’s Medium-Term financial planning and said that there was a significant amount of uncertainty around the matter.  Government had committed to undertaking a review of relative needs and resources and expectations were that the review would be completed in time to inform the 2021 spending review. Ms Cooke reiterated Mr Shipton’s comments and said that much work had been undertaken by Kent County Council’s officers to seek to address spending pressures.

c)    Mr Shipton confirmed that the government were seeking ways in which to reduce the burden of business rates on businesses and were proposing to increase business rate retention to 75% from 2020. Ms Cooke reiterated Mr Shipton’s comments in relation to business rate retention and said that although potential changes to business rates were entirely outside of Kent County Council’s control, it added to the feel of uncertainty and could fundamentally change the rateable value of businesses across the country and significantly impact Kent’s businesses and residents.

d)    Mr Shipton confirmed that Kent County Council had £10.8 million of corporate reserves and a further £3.4 million of directorate reserves which were available to stabilise the budget and smooth fluctuations on spending.  Ms Cooke said that the directorate reserves were used to fund planned matters and were not used to solve directorate budget gaps.

e)    Mr Shipton said that Kent County Council’s total planned capital spend for 2019/20 was £352 million, this was funded by government grants, capital receipts and developer contributions.

f)     Miss Carey (Cabinet Member for Customers, Communications and Performance) referred to the consultation on Kent County Council’s revenue budget and council tax proposals which had been launched on 11 October 2018 and said that it was very well received, although there had been less support than in previous years for the social Care levy. She confirmed that the respondents mainly felt that Kent County Council should spend less money on Members allowances, reducing the number and/or salaries of senior managers and staff pay. She said that Kent County Council worked extremely hard to deliver vital services to Kent’s residents and continued to protect and support vulnerable children and adults throughout the county.

g)    Ms Cooke expressed her views in relation to Brexit and said that Kent County Council were working with district colleagues, partners and relevant government departments to undertake a comprehensive analysis of potential costs that Kent County Council might incur due to Brexit and to secure additional funding.

h)    Mr Shipton said that he would send a copy of the letter that he had received from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in relation to ESFA funding to Members of the Committee outside of the meeting.

2.          RESOLVED that the report be noted.