Agenda, decisions and minutes

That the minutes of the meeting of the Public Accounts Select Committee held on the 2^nd December be agreed as an accurate record of proceedings.

1.1       RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting of the Public Accounts Select Committee held on the 2^nd December be agreed as an accurate record of proceedings.

There were no declarations of interest.

2.1       There were no declarations of interest.

3.1       Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham addressed the Committee highlighting the following key points:

·         The provisional settlement in December had been significantly different to what was anticipated. Although the overall scale of the cuts was not reduced, they were now spread over additional years. This allowed more scope for reducing year on year expenditure.

·         Difficult judgements had to be made and it was felt to be right to make further use of reserves and the New Homes Bonus because of the damaging effect the additional cuts would have.

·         The New Homes Bonus would continue for at least 4 years.

·         There had been a significant change in approach by the Government in effectively encouraging local authorities to increase Council Tax by the addition of the 2% “Social Care Precept” and the reduction of the bonus for freezing council tax.

·         There was less confidence that the provisional settlement would be the final settlement than in previous years. There was the possibility that significant changes may be proposed following lobbying particularly by many of the shire counties. The final situation would be clarified by 10 February at the latest.

3.2       David Austin, Head of Corporate Resources, presented to the Committee highlighting the following key points:

·         The Annual Budget would go to the Full Council meeting on the 24February 2016.

·         The report included all budget components and not just the General Fund.

·         The 2016/17 Capital Programme stood at £129m.

·         The Dedicated Schools Grant allocation of £283.5 million and the estimated Pupil Premium Grants of £18 million meant that the Schools budget was larger than the General Fund.

·         The Housing Revenue Account would be affected by the Government Policy of a rent reduction of 1% on all social homes.

·         The General Fund 2016/17 was proposed as £236 million on assumptions that: the £17 million of previous savings proposals were met; an assumed Council Tax increase of 3.99%; the use of once off reserves of £6 million to balance the savings shortfall and the use of £5 million from the New Homes Bonus.

·         There was a £3.75 million allocation in the 2016/17 budget for pressures and risks. This could include pressures such as from the introduction of the Living Wage.

·         Council would be asked to approve changes to the treasury management strategy including approving that minimum sovereignty rating of investments be reduced from AA to AA- and granting permission to invest for longer than one year.

·         The Section 151 statement was still to be published. In addition to this, Business Rate Payer and Housing Consultations were on-going.

3.3       Councillor Alan Hall, Chair of Overview and Scrutiny addressed the Committee and highlighted the following key points:

·         The shift in approach by the Government in terms of appearing to encourage raising taxation and the increased uncertainty regarding the potential for the provisional statement to be further changed, made this a particularly challenging time.

·         The policy implications of reductions in the Housing Revenue Account were not fully understood and this could be an area of increased pressure.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

That the report be agreed subject to a clarification on the item on the Financial Forecasts scheduled for the meeting on 16^th March 2016: This should include an update on the Lewisham Future Board as part of the report.

RESOLVED:

That the report be agreed subject to a clarification on the item on the Financial Forecasts scheduled for the meeting on 16^th March 2016: This should include an update on the Lewisham Future Board as part of the report.

There were no referrals to Mayor and Cabinet.

RESOLVED:

5.1       There were no referrals to Mayor and Cabinet.