Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet

Meeting of Full Council, Tuesday, 7th February, 2017 10.00 am (Item 47.)

Minutes:

Paragraph 1 –Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources

47.1 Under Standing Order 23, the Council agreed that the speeches of the Leaders of the six groups (or their nominees) on paragraph 1 of the Cabinet’s report should be extended beyond five minutes.

47.2 Councillor Elkin moved the adoption of paragraph 1 of the Cabinet’s report.

47.3 The following amendment was moved by Councillor Tutt and seconded:

Delete paragraph 1.78 of the Cabinet’s report and replace with:-

(1) approve, in principle, the draft Council Plan at Appendix 1 and authorise the Chief Executive to finalise the Plan in consultation with the relevant Lead Members;

(2) approve the net Revenue Budget estimates for 2017/18 as set out in Appendix 2 with the following amendments

1. Reinstate early help savings in 2017/18 - £0.610m

2. Reinstate Standards and Learning Effectiveness Service savings in 2017/18 - £0.122m

3. Reinstate East Sussex Better Together savings by investing to support the establishment of integrated locality teams to reduce the call on acute care- £1.957m

4. Reinstate Connecting 4 You savings (for carers, substance misuse, working age adult care, directly provided services and older people community care) totalling £0.581m

5. Reinstate core funding for SPARK - £0.045m

6. Provide additional investment into village maintenance support - £0.050m

Total of proposed revenue amendments - £3.365m

To be funded by:

7. Reduce the Revenue Contribution to Capital by a further £1.0m to £3.0m - £1.0m

8. Transfer in part the New Homes Bonus contribution to capital to revenue - £1.175m

9. Capitalise investment into highways drainage - £1.0m

10. Recognising that items 7-9 have an associated cost relating to increased borrowing reducing the sums available by – (£0.700m)

11. Reduce the budget for communications - £0.500m

12. Use parking surplus for existing transport services - £0.150m

13. Increase target savings for BSD/Orbis - £0.200m

14. Delete post for Culture Strategy - £0.040m (part year) in 2017/18

Total of proposed revenue funding amendments - £3.365m

(3) in accordance with the Local Government Finance Act 1992 to agree that:

(i) the net budget requirement is £365.0m and the amount calculated by East

Sussex County Council as its council tax requirement (see Appendix 7) for

the year 2017/18 is £257.4m;

(ii) the amount calculated by East Sussex County Council as the basic amount

of its council tax (i.e. for a band D property) for the year 2017/18 is

£1,314.36 and represents a 4.99% (3% of which relates to the Adult Social

Care precept) increase on the previous year;

(4) advise the District and Borough Councils of the relevant amounts payable and council tax in other bands in line with the regulations and to issue precepts accordingly in accordance with an agreed schedule of instalments as set out at Appendix 7

(5) authorise the Chief Operating Officer, in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer, Leader and Deputy Leader, to make adjustments to the presentation of the budget to reflect the final settlement and budget decisions;

(6) approve the fees and charges set out in Appendix 6 and delegate authority to the Chief Finance Officer to approve an increase to all other fees and charges by up to 2%;

(7) approve the Capital Programme for 2016 – 2023, including a commitment to a 5 year Highways maintenance programme of £91.3m as set out at Appendices 2 and 8; with the following amendments:

1. Additional capital investment in highways maintenance - £1m in 2017/18

2. Capital allocation of £10m for Property Investment Strategy to fund primary care and sheltered accommodation, to produce revenue surplus of £200K in due course

(8) Without binding future budget setting decisions of the Council, make the following amendments to the planning assumptions within the Medium Term Financial Plan forecast for the period 2018/19 to 2020/21 as set out in Appendix 3:

in 2018/19:-

1. Delete ISEND savings - £0.332m

2. Delete locality social worker savings - £0.304m

Total of proposed revenue amendments in 2018/19 - £0.636m

To be funded by:

3. Additional use of New Homes Bonus - £0.325m

4. Use of Transformation & Delivery Risk provision - £0.127m

5. Savings to be realised from moving to a full highways client function - £0.170m

6. To reflect the full-year savings of Culture Strategy Post - £0.014m

Total of proposed revenue funding amendments in 2018/19 - £0.636m

(9) note the comments of the Chief Finance Officer on budget risks and robustness as set out in Appendix 9;

(10) note the draft Strategic Investment Plan for East Sussex Better Together as set out in Appendix 5; and

(11) note the comments from the engagement exercises as set out in Appendix 10

47.4 A recorded vote on Councillor Tutt’s amendment was taken. The amendment was LOST, the votes being cast as follows:

FOR THE AMENDMENT

Councillors Blanch, Butler, Charman, Daniel, Field, Forward, Lambert, O’Keeffe, Rodohan, Rogers, Shuttleworth, St Pierre, Tutt, Ungar, Webb, and Wincott

AGAINST THE AMENDMENT

Councillors Barnes, Belsey, Bennett, Bentley, Buchanan, Charlton, Clark, Davies, Chris Dowling, Claire Dowling, Earl, Elkin, Ensor, Galley, Glazier, Howson, Maynard, Pragnell, Sheppard, Simmons, Standley, Stogdon, Taylor, Tidy and Whetstone

ABSTENTIONS

Councillor S Shing

47.5 The following amendment was moved by Councillor Webb and seconded

Delete paragraph 1.78 of the Cabinet’s report and replace with:-

(1) approve, in principle, the draft Council Plan at Appendix 1 and authorise the Chief Executive to finalise the Plan in consultation with the relevant Lead Members;

(2) approve the net Revenue Budget estimates for 2017/18 as set out in Appendix 2 with the following amendments

1. East Sussex Better Together Strategic Investment Plan reinstatement of savings - £1.232m

2. Adult Social care – Connecting 4 You reinstatement of savings:

Older People Independent Sector Budget – review of older people service funding: delete proposed saving £0.093m

Older People Independent Sector Budget – review of older people mental health service funding: delete proposed saving £0.011m

Working Age Adult Independent Sector Budget – review of mental health service funding: delete proposed saving of £0.010m

Working Age Adult Independent Sector Budget – review of learning disability service funding: delete proposed saving of £0.067m

Carers – Adult Social Care contribution to the Better Care Fund: delete proposed saving of £0.173m

Supporting People – review of Home Works and Steps services: reduce proposed savings by £0.014m

3. Children’s Services reinstatement of savings; Standards and Learning Effectiveness Service £0.122m, Safeguarding unit £0.023m, SWIFT Specialist Family Service and Youth Offending Team posts £0.180m and early help £0.098m - £0.423m

Total of proposed amendments - £2.023m

To be funded by:

1. Remove Transformation and Delivery Risk provision (2017/18 only) - £0.127m

2. Remove Economic Development Grants (2017/18 only) - £1.0m

3. Reduce Revenue Contribution to Capital by a further £1.0m to £3.0m (£0.175 of which will support additional borrowing) - £0.825

4. Remove budget for Your County - £0.071m

(3) in accordance with the Local Government Finance Act 1992 to agree that:

(i) the net budget requirement is £365.0m and the amount calculated by East Sussex County Council as its council tax requirement (see Appendix 7) for the year 2017/18 is £257.4m;

(ii) the amount calculated by East Sussex County Council as the basic amount of its council tax (i.e. for a band D property) for the year 2017/18 is £1,314.36 and represents a 4.99% (3% of which relates to the Adult Social Care precept) increase on the previous year;

(6) approve the fees and charges set out in Appendix 6 and delegate authority to the Chief Finance Officer to approve an increase to all other fees and charges by up to 2%;

(7) approve the Capital Programme for 2016 – 2023, including a commitment to a 5 year Highways maintenance programme of £91.3m as set out at Appendices 2 and 8;

(8) note the Medium Term Financial Plan forecast for the period 2018/19 to 2020/21 as set out in Appendix 3; and

(9) note the comments of the Chief Finance Officer on budget risks and robustness as set out in Appendix 9;

(10) note the draft Strategic Investment Plan for East Sussex Better Together as set out in Appendix 5; and

(11) note the comments from the engagement exercises as set out in Appendix 10

47.6 A recorded vote on Councillor Webb’s amendment was taken. The amendment was LOST, the votes being cast as follows:

FOR THE AMENDMENT

Councillors Buchanan, Charman, Daniel, Forward, O’Keeffe, Rogers, S Shing, Webb, and Wincott

AGAINST THE AMENDMENT

Councillors Barnes, Belsey, Bennett, Bentley, Charlton, Clark, Davies, Chris Dowling, Claire Dowling, Earl, Elkin, Ensor, Galley, Glazier, Howson, Maynard, Pragnell, Sheppard, Simmons, Standley, Stogdon, Taylor, Tidy and Whetstone

ABSTENTIONS

Councillors Blanch, Butler, Field, Lambert, Rodohan, Shuttleworth, St Pierre, Tutt and Ungar

47.8 The following motion was moved by Councillor Elkin to adopt paragraph 1 of the Cabinet report:

(1) approve, in principle, the draft Council Plan at Appendix 1 and authorise the Chief Executive to finalise the Plan in consultation with the relevant Lead Members;

(2) approve the net Revenue Budget estimates for 2017/18 as set out in Appendix 2;