Agenda, decisions and minutes

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting held on 20 December 2018 be agreed as an accurate record.

1.2    Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting held on 20 December 2018 be agreed as an accurate record.

·         Cllr Ingleby declared a non-prejudicial interest as a Director of Lewisham Homes in relation to item five.

·         Cllr Hall declared a non-prejudicial interest in relation to item five as a Member of the London Cooperative Council.

·         Cllr Mallory declared a non-prejudicial interest in relation to item five as the Chair of the Pupil Referral Unit.

Resolved: that the response be noted.

3.1      The Mayor and Cabinet response to the committee’s referral on the Children and Young People (CYP) budget was considered alongside the update on CYP finances as part of the council budget item.

4.1      The committee did not consider this item as the report presenter was not present.

Resolved: The Committee agreed to note the report; and to receive further information on the detail of the 2019/20 budget for adult social care.

5.1      Damien Egan (Mayor of Lewisham) addressed the Committee. The following key points were noted:

·         Lewisham is a borough with growing poverty and growing need.

·         Government austerity is leaving frontline services critically underfunded.

·         Progress is being made in housing, both in terms of social housing targets and getting more from housing developers.

·         There are plans for more pop-up developments like PLACE/Ladywell to provide support for homeless families and reduce the cost to the council of nightly-paid accommodation.

·         The property acquisition programme continues to buy homes on the open market to bring into public ownership.

·         Lewisham is aiming to be London’s lead borough for refugee resettlement.

·         The council is insourcing again, having insourced the council’s maintenance contract.

·         The council is committed to working closely with secondary schools to improve results.

·         Lewisham is among London’s fastest improving recycling boroughs with new innovations with food recycling supporting improvement in this area.

·         The Early Years Review is being launched to take a rounded view of all of the services around young people.

·         It is difficult to see how major cuts can continue to be made to services.

·         Councils in London are critically underfunded.

·         The government is currently consulting on the Fair Funding Review and is considering removing deprivation as one of the indicators. This could see real terms funding reductions of 23% across London. Shire counties could see a 47% increase.

·         There is a distribution away from London and this is one of the reasons for the decision to raise council tax by the maximum amount allowed.

·         The Mayor thanked officers for their work and members for their engagement.

5.2      Councillor Amanda De Ryk (Cabinet Member for Finance, Skills and Jobs) addressed the Committee. The following key points were noted:

·         The budget for 2019/20 is £243.012m. This is slightly more than last year, which is mainly due to being part of the London business rate levy.

·         Budget cuts of £7.9m have been approved for 2019/20, with a further £1.3m of cuts to be re-presented to Mayor and Cabinet for approval.

·         The 2019/20 budget assumes a 4.99% increase in council tax. A 2.99% core element increase and a 2% increase from the social care precept.

·         The full £6.5m of pressures money for 2019/20 will be allocated in advance.

·         £5m of the New Homes Bonus will be transferred to the general fund for 2019/20.

·         £2.5 reserves will be used to meet the budget gap in 2019/20.

·         Reserves continue to be used to smooth the implementation of cuts and pressures.

·         Budget cuts of £8.5m have been approved for 2020/21, with a further £440k to be re-presented to Mayor and Cabinet for approval.

·         The council needs to find cuts in the region of £28m over 2020/21 and 2021/22.

·         School funding is flat which leaves schools to absorb inflation.

·         There are 14 schools in deficit, some with reserves, but 9 with loans.

·         Pupil premium funding could drop as there has been a drop in pupil numbers.

·         Cabinet Members have regular finance improvement meetings as part of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Resolved: The committee agreed to consider the referral from the audit panel on the Catford Regeneration Partnership (item 4) at its next meeting as part of the audit panel update.

6.            Select Committee work programme

Resolved: The committee agreed to consider the referral from the audit panel on the Catford Regeneration Partnership (item 4) at its next meeting as part of the audit panel update.

There were no referrals.