Agenda item

(Report of the Chief Executive  - To be introduced by the  Leader of the Council) Cabinet will be asked to note the summary of the consultation feedback, agree the Corporate Plan,  and consider the Council’s finalised Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for the period 2015-2018 with  approval sought  of the following constituent elements of the strategy to be put forward  to Council on 23^rd February 2015:-

·         Proposed summary revenue Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2015-2018 (Annex 1);

·         Proposed General Fund Capital Programme 2015-2018 (Annex 2);

·         Proposed HRA Capital Programme 2015-2018 (Annex 3);

·         Proposed HRA Medium Term Financial Plan 2015-2018 (Annex 4);

·         Proposed Dedicated Schools Budget 2015-16 (Annex 5); and,

·         Overview and Scrutiny Committee Recommendations and Cabinet Responses (Annex 6).

 

The Cabinet considered a report, introduced by the Leader which provided a summary of the budget consultation feedback, sought agreement to the corporate plan and endorsement to the enclosed medium term financial strategy and its constituent elements going forward to Full Council on the 23^rd February for approval.

 

In introducing the report, the Leader thanked the deputation parties for coming forward with their representations and to all the responders’ of the budget consultation. The Leader acknowledged and understood the concerns put forward and emphasised that no one in the Council wanted to be in the situation of making £70m savings.  Government economic plans required local authorities to make deeper and harder cuts leading to some invidious and tough choices.

 

In response to calls for setting a one year budget the Leader re- affirmed that all the political parties were committed to reducing the budget deficit and this meant continuing reductions for local authorities .The Leader and Cabinet felt it was important to fully engage on the challenges facing the borough with residents, staff and partners and this could only be done by setting a three year budget.

 

The budget process was a continuing process and the consultation undertaken had already seen an impact with the withdrawal of the savings proposal to reduce the care packages budget by £5.7m.

 

It was important to note that the Council had already saved £117m over the last 4 years, a 60% reduction of real terms of the budget. In response to the assertion on spend on consultants the Council, much of the spending was  on needed agency social workers  and the council had  to invest  to deliver further savings.

 

In terms of the suggested option of increasing Council tax, in Haringey this tax was already high and increasing it would disproportionately affect the lower paid.  Also the Council received a financial incentive from the government to freeze the Council tax and therefore increasing it would require both a referendum and mean a loss of the financial incentive.

 

The Cabinet Member for Resources and Culture continued to reinforce the importance of the consultation exercise undertaken and developing plans with residents for continual engagement .He further spoke about : having difficult decisions to make , the  strategy for reserves , and emphasised the importance of remaining positive about the future despite the savings being made . This meant continuing to strive for service improvements,  and considering the positive  steps  being taken on protecting libraries, freezing Council tax, investing in a housing licensing scheme , investing in regeneration,  building more homes, keeping roads safe . The Cabinet Member for Resources and Culture concluded by promising that the Cabinet would strive to spend the remaining budget £240m budget wisely and negate impact of the savings.

 

The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing spoke about the budget challenge facing adult social care services and how equality and fairness was at the centre of provision going forward. There would a strong concentration on providing a smooth transition process where provision was changing for people and ensuring the reduced resources were shared equally and fairly with as much integrated services as possible.

 

The Council were aiming to work closely with carers and there was £20k of funding set aside for additional advocacy services; ensuring Adult carers have a strong voice in the system. This was also a requirement under the new Care Act.

 

The Cabinet Member for  Health and Wellbeing  made clear that  re- ablement will  not mean all elderly or disabled people living independently as there was a small proportion of people  that need a carer based setting  .

 

There had been meetings with the voluntary and community sector and the feedback indicated that the Council and voluntary sector partners can work together to deliver on prevention and improve on the lives of people in Haringey. There were opportunities to align the Adults provision needed in the borough.

 

The Cabinet Member for Children and Families further took part in the introduction, and clarified that the Council were not seeking to close Bruce Grove Youth Centre but considering how to better and potentially  differently to deliver services from the centre as a commissioner.

 

There was a Young People Strategy being devised which would encompass services to all young people in the borough, and the Council would be looking for positive youth engagement in the strategy which would deal with all different types of youth activities from employment, education to preventing risky behaviour.

 

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Social Inclusion and Sustainability continued to highlight the high level of funding withdrawn from local government and how important it was to continue to work hard for the residents of the borough and not be reactionary. This would mean focusing on the areas where local government can make a difference and deliver more outcomes.  Councillor Goldberg spoke about early intervention and the challenge for all partners together to do better in this area  and to build on the growth and opportunity available in London through the implementation of the economic growth strategy

 

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration concluded the presentation by advising that the Council were working hard to get as much investment as possible into the borough to make a difference to resident’s lives. The Council would continuing with their new build programme including building new  Council homes, better supporting single homeless people,  making bids to the new  housing  zone to   help with access to homes and jobs in Tottenham .

 

The Leader invited Councillor Morris and Councillor Connor to put forward their questions to the Cabinet.

 

In response to a question about the pilot completed with Age UK and Living Under One Sun, on helping people with learning disabilities live without isolation in the community and the perceived small number rating this pilot as a success had , the findings had still exceeded expectations and the Adults services would be looking to develop neighbourhood commitments for helping disabled people with isolation issues. There would be a further consultation and the plans would be worked up with users and interested parties.

 

In response to the question on experience of other Councils development of a social enterprise model for providing disabled day care services, these models had already been developed and used by Rochdale, Thurrock and Redbridge councils’.

 

In response to a question on supporting families at a crisis point, noted that  that the proposed healthy child programme  would be more focused  providing health checks on children and this service was more likely to pick up on problems  and refer the family to the appropriate service. This would be supported with more health visitors providing outreach to families.

 

In response to a question about the ratio of youth service funding to be spent on non statutory youth services. The Children’s Service would write to Councillor Morris.

 

In relation to Bruce Grove Youth Centre there were not yet developed plans for how Youth Services would be delivered from this centre. Cllr Morris could be updated on this.

 

RESOLVED

 

1. To note the summary of the consultation contained at Appendix 1

 

2. That   final version of the corporate plan Building a Stronger Haringey Together  be agreed as the blueprint for the Council’s vision and outcomes from 2015-2018;

 

3. To propose approval to the Council of the 2015/16 revenue budget and the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2015-2018, pending final inflation allocation to priority budgets as set out in Annex 1;

 

4. To propose approval to the Council of a General Fund budget requirement of £277.034m as set out in Annex 1 but subject to the final decisions of the levying and pre-empting bodies and the final local government finance settlement;

 

 

5. To propose approval to the Council of the General Fund capital programme 2015-2018 detailed in Annex 2;

 

6. To propose approval to the Council of the HRA capital programme 2015-2018 detailed in Annex 3;

 

7. To propose approval to the Council of the HRA Medium Term Financial Strategy 2015-2018 detailed in Annex 4;

 

8. That the housing tenants' service charges set out in Table 5 be approved.

 

9. To note the proposal to introduce additional service charges for tenants in Supported Housing Schemes as set out in Table 6, such proposals to be subject to consultation and equality impact assessments and final decision by the Cabinet or Cabinet Member if they are to proceed;

 

10. That the housing rent increase, of on average, £2.36 (2.2%), as set out in paragraphs 14.5 and 14.6 be approved.

 

11. To propose a Dedicated Schools Budget for 2015/16 of £236.477m as set out in Annex 5

 

12. That  the change to the value of the Secondary Schools lump sum element within Haringey Schools Funding Formula, endorsed by the Schools Forum and set out in paragraph 17.12 be approved;

 

13. That  the responses made to the Overview and Scrutiny committee recommendations following their consideration of the draft budget proposals contained within the MTFS 2015-2018  (Annex 6) be approved;
14. To note that this report will be considered by the Council at its meeting on 23 February 2015 to inform their decisions on the 2015/16 budget and the associated Council Tax for that year;

 

15. To delegate to the Chief Financial Officer any minor adjustments, individually up to £250k, that may be necessary to finalise the 2015/16 budget as a result of the final Local Government Finance Settlement being announced by the government and / final grant figures notified by other bodies. This would impact on the recommendations set out above.

 

Alternative options considered:

There is a need to identify £69m of savings from the Council’s budget over the next three years. This is in addition to savings of £117 million identified over the previous three years.  As we approach the 2015 General Election, it is clear that all of the major national political parties remain committed to reducing the deficit and that the public sector will need to bear its share of the funding reductions needed to achieve this aim.

 

Key principles which have informed our overall approach are:

 

·                     That our focus should be on outcomes, not services, to ensure the Council’s budget is most effectively spent, on the things that really matter to residents;

·                     We must have a long term view on delivery of outcomes and resources, both budget and staff, to ensure the most effective approach and best value for money.

·                     Residents should be at the heart of all our plans.

 

Alternative options considered included a traditional corporate plan, not clearly related to budget; a budget focussed in detail on only 2015/16 and publishing simple proposals for consultation with staff on budget proposals rather than a joined up approach setting out a three year strategy. However, the scale of change required mean that this approach would risk a misalignment between the priorities set out in the corporate plan and the budget, and therefore poor value for money and risk to the achievement of objectives.

 

The Administration made a clear commitment to freezing Council Tax for the duration of the current electoral term in their 2014 manifesto. Consideration has also been given to increasing the Council Tax to contribute to the estimated budget shortfall. If a rise in Council Tax above 2% were proposed, this would require a referendum. Additionally, given that any increase would result in the loss of Council Tax Freeze Grant the benefit of raising Council Tax against the loss of that grant is not considered worthwhile.

 

A 2% Council Tax rise, which is the maximum that could be implemented without requiring a referendum, would generate c£1.6m additional income but would result in the loss of c£1m CT freeze grant, resulting in only a net £0.6m benefit. In addition, over one third of respondents to the consultation also said that they either strongly supported or supported a Council tax freeze. This brings in to question the worth of such an increase and therefore the proposal is not being taken forward.

 

Reasons for Decision

The Council has a legal duty to set a balanced budget. This report sets out the strategic financial issues for the three year financial planning period to 2017/18, and updates on the process for setting the Council’s 2015/16 Budget.