The Executive Head of Finance gave a brief presentation to the Board outlining the 2012/13 Budget. The Board heard the context of the 2012/2012 Budget and heard how the Comprehensive Spending Review (2010) carried a headline of 28% reduction in funding, which is an £11m budget gap for the Authority in 2012/13. The Governments autumn statement highlighted ongoing savings were essential throughout the coming financial years 2013/ 2014 and 2014/ 2015 and that the Board should take this into consideration when making decisions and suggested that the Board may wish to put forward alternatives if they do not agree with the savings proposed.

The Executive Head reminded the Board that the elected Mayor announced provisional spending targets at Full Council on 8 December 2011 which outlined the proposed net budget of £122m. Services across the Authority have worked to identify savings (consisting of a mixture of efficiency savings, income generation opportunities and cuts) required to meet the target. The Council’s has carried out public budget consultation which started in September 2011.

The Board were advised that the final settlement is to be confirmed at the end of January by Central Government. With the final Budget Proposals presented to Full Council in February.

The Board questioned how inflation had been applied through the budget setting process and were advised by the Executive Head of Finance that Inflation was kept high on items such as gas, electricity and fuel and kept low on items such as stationary. The Board were advised a further £500,000 of fundingcould be lost in relation to Academy Schools, but this was subject to confirmation from Government which is expected in the next few weeks.

The Board raised concerns around whether the right level of paperwork had been issued in preparation for the scrutiny of the budget proposals 2012/2013. The Board were advised that much of the information relating to business units, business plans and their targets are available on the performance management system SPAR- which all councillors have access to and that the information available on this system may assist with the scrutiny of the budget proposals. The Board were advised that the amount of paperwork issued for the process of scrutinising the budget proposals had attempted to be reduced, without hindering the process, with a view of looking to keep print and paper costs to a minimum. 

The Board discussed the potential benefit of budget building and planning over a number of years rather than the current approach which concentrates on one year at a time.

Resolved:

1)    The current one year approach to budget building and planning for future financial years was discussed - recommending that the Councils give consideration to using 3 or even 4 year Business Plans, to include strategic and operational information.

2)    That for future Overview & Scrutiny meetings consideration should be given that more financial information should be provided, including business plans (where available).

The Board requested details of how many Councillors can access the system SPAR and whether usage figures could also be made available to the Board. This information will be provided.