Issue - meetings

Joint Report of the Chief Executive and Head of Corporate Resources

Further to Minute No. 123 of the Cabinet Meeting held on 15 February 2018, the Council considered the joint report of the Chief Executive and the Head of Corporate Resources which provided details of the Revenue Budget for the period 2018/19 – 2019/20, and also the level of Council Tax for 2018/19 and information on:- 

·       An assessment of the Council’s current financial position and approach to the 2018/19 to 2019/20 Budget Plan;

·       Progress that has been made during the last year within the Council’s Framework for Change programme;

·       An update on the Government’s announcement of resources that are available to the Council for 2018/19 (subject to final confirmation by the Government);

·       The Council’s current financial position and the assumptions built into the Medium Term Financial Plan;

·       The options available for the Council’s Budget;

·       The proposed Capital Programme for 2018/19 and 2019/20; and

·       The first budget estimate of the funding gap that the Council will face in 2020/21.

As such, the report set out the approach to the financial strategy of the Council and the national and local financial context within which it was operating; indicated that the Council had a statutory requirement to remain financially sustainable; that the Council’s Framework for Change Programme was a comprehensive and ambitious programme that sought to support the delivery of the Council’s core purpose; that as would be expected with a programme of this size and complexity that spanned a number of financial years, the detailed proposals had been and would continue to be the subject of change as they were developed and ultimately implemented; and that within this context, work had been undertaken to confirm that change proposals for 2018/19 were viable and would help deliver financial sustainability.

In respect of the overall financial context for the Council and its approach to the 2017/18 to 2019/20 Budget Plan the report indicated that in 2010, Central Government imposed, what were thought at the time, to be significant reductions in local government financial support; that rather than this being a short term restriction in spending, the austerity programme had extended into a ten-year long period of severe budget reductions; that for Sefton this had resulted in a funding gap of £233m being required to be met by the end of 2019/20, with a direct loss of 51% of government funding which equated to £722 per Sefton household; that due to the scale of this financial challenge (and taking into account the significant savings that had already been made since 2010) the Council undertook a comprehensive review of its role within the Borough, via the Imagine Sefton 2030 consultation and as a result, updated its core purpose; and that it was subsequently determined that the delivery vehicle for the Council’s core purpose and to ensure financial sustainability would be the “Framework for Change” programme, the key pillars of which were detailed in the diagram in paragraph 2.4 of the report.

The report also detailed the progress to date made on the “Framework for Change” programme and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96

Report of the Head of Corporate Resources

The Cabinet considered the joint report of the Chief Executive and the Head of Corporate Resources that provided information on the following issues in connection with Council’s forthcoming consideration and approval, on 1 March 2018, of the Revenue Budget for the period 2018/19 – 2019/20, and also the level of Council Tax for 2018/19:- 

·       An assessment of the Council’s current financial position and approach to the 2018/19 to 2019/20 Budget Plan;

·       Progress that has been made during the last year within the Council’s Framework for Change programme;

·       An update on the Government’s announcement of resources that are available to the Council for 2018/19 (subject to final confirmation by the Government);

·       The Council’s current financial position and the assumptions built into the Medium Term Financial Plan;

·       The options available for the Council’s Budget;

·       The proposed Capital Programme for 2018/19 and 2019/20; andThe first budget estimate of the funding gap that the Council will face in 2020/21.

As such, the report set out the approach to the financial strategy of the Council and the national and local financial context within which it was operating; indicated that the Council had a statutory requirement to remain financially sustainable; that the Council’s Framework for Change Programme was a comprehensive and ambitious programme that sought to support the delivery of the Council’s core purpose; that as would be expected with a programme of this size and complexity that spanned a number of financial years, the detailed proposals had been and would continue to be the subject of change as they were developed and ultimately implemented; and that within this context, work had been undertaken to confirm that change proposals for 2018/19 were viable and would help deliver financial sustainability.

In respect of the overall financial context for the Council and its approach to the 2017/18 to 2019/20 Budget Plan the report indicated that In 2010, Central Government imposed, what were thought at the time, to be significant reductions in local government financial support; that rather than this being a short term restriction in spending, the austerity programme had extended into a ten-year long period of severe budget reductions; that for Sefton this had resulted in a funding gap of £233m being required to be met by the end of 2019/20, with a direct loss of 51% of government funding which equated to £722 per Sefton household; that due to the scale of this financial challenge (and taking into account the significant savings that had already been made since 2010) the Council undertook a comprehensive review of its role within the Borough, via the Imagine Sefton 2030 consultation and as a result, updated its core purpose; and that it was subsequently determined that the delivery vehicle for the Council’s core purpose and to ensure financial sustainability would be the “Framework for Change” programme, the key pillars of which were detailed in the following diagram in paragraph 2.4 of the report.

The report also detailed the progress to date made on the “Framework for Change” programme and that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 123