Agenda and minutes

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at the meeting.

NOTED the meeting was recorded for future broadcasting on the Council’s website.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Dhiren Basu and Councillor Karen Alexander, who was substituted by Councillor Jim Jenks.

An apology for lateness was received from Councillor Joseph Ejiofor.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with at item 7 below).

There were no such items.

A member with a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature of that interest at the commencement of that consideration, or when the interest becomes apparent.

A member with a personal interest in a matter also has a prejudicial interest in that matter if the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the member's judgment of the public interest and if this interest affects their financial position or the financial position of a person or body as described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct and/or if it relates to the determining of any approval, consent, licence, permission or registration in relation to them or any person or body described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct.

Helena Kania declared a personal interest in Item 6 – Budget Planning – line 48 – Close In House Home Care Service / Create Reablement Service – as her Mother had utilised the reablement service.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, paragraph 29 of the Council’s constitution.

There were no such items.

To update Members on the financial planning position for 2011/12 to 2013/14.

Kevin Bartle (Lead Finance Officer and Deputy Chief Finance Officer) introduced the Review of Budget Planning document for 2011/12 to 2013/14 as presented to Cabinet in December 2010 and highlighted key factors in the report including that if all the changes and variations set out in the report were agreed the Council would still have a shortfall of £33,989 million in 2011/12 and £86,878 million over the 3 year financial plan (Appendix 1). 

The reason for such significant financial difficulties related mainly to the unprecedented reduction in government grant along with significant  growth/ increased costs which results in the level of savings required to fill the funding gap. The Committee noted that on-going work on a number of additional proposals was continuing with a view to having a balanced budget for 2011/12 by the end of February 2011.

The Committee commented on the difficulty of scrutinising the Budget when the papers provided only covered a proportion of proposed cuts with many more to follow as they could not get a sufficient overview. The Committee was also told that there remained uncertainty surrounding the level of future financial resources (as the financial settlement from central government was still only provisional).

The Committee requested further information (including what other options had been considered) on the following aspects of the budget:

New Revenue Investment Proposals

There were no new items of urgent business.

Further Budget Scrutiny meetings are scheduled for:

Monday 17^th January 2011 (10am)

Wednesday 19^th January 2011 (provisional - time to be confirmed)

All meetings will be held at the Civic Centre.

The next Budget Scrutiny meeting will be held on Monday 17^th January 2011 at 10am at the Civic Centre.

A further provisional Budget Scrutiny meeting has been set for Wednesday 19^th January 2011 at 4.30pm.

The meeting ended at 19:00 hrs.