Agenda item

Iain Watters, Financial Planning Manager, introduced the 2020/21 Budget Planning Report for services within the remit of the Residents, Education and Environmental Services Policy Overview Committee.

Key points from the report were highlighted. The budget gap and savings requirement for the three years to 2022/23 was £28,467k, or 12% of the Council’s current £229,985k budget requirement after allowing for an assumed 2.99% per annum increase in Council Tax. In general, £11,837k of the budget gap reflected normal inflation and demand-led pressures off-set by increased funding. £8,854k was driven by capital financing costs and other investment decisions, while the final £7,776k savings were deferred from earlier periods through the use of reserves.

Members sought clarity on a number of points, including:

Could the officer provide further detail on the potential reduced budgets for services within the remit of the Committee?

Table 2 of the report set out 6 saving ‘themes’ which were: Service Transformation, Zero Based Reviews, Effective Procurements, Preventing Demand, Commercialisation & Maximising Income, and Responsibility & Funding Streams. Service Transformation ensured that the Council was doing things more efficiently, and as part of this, all services were being reviewed.  Zero Based Reviews offered flexibility to redirect funding to areas of demand, while procurement ensured value for money. Commercialisation & maximising Income could be seen through investment in new housing.

Paragraph 9 of the report stated that there was no specific financing strategy within the current capital programme. Could this be elaborated upon?

This referred to capital schemes which did not directly pay for themselves, e.g. the update to LED lighting within the Civic Centre, wherein the borrowing to pay for the update was offset by the energy savings made, or school places which did not result in a direct revenue stream but were a vital Council service.

Was demand still growing for funding for High Need pupils?

It was anticipated that there would be a requirement for further increased spending on High Need in line with the rise on population. This was a national issue, which would likely require additional support from the Government. School contributions toward this need would be discussed though the Schools Forum and would feed into budget setting later in the year.

Could the officer provide further detail on the deficit recovery plan for the redistribution of school balances?

The Deficit Recovery Plan was formulated between the Schools Forum and the Council, and set out a number of actions, including the proposed redistribution of balances from the small number of schools that had disproportionately high balances. However, this was a complicated topic, which required further exploration. Timescales for actions depended on the response received from the Department of Education.

Had Hillingdon achieved success in lobbying Government for funding in other areas?

Additional funding had been secured within Social Care, as a result of lobbying from the local authorities and the LGA.

How were decisions made in relation to Preventing Demand? For example, the introduction of the Supported Living Programme had avoided later costly intervention.

All proposals were looked at. Where initial investment could result in reduced spending later, action would be taken. For example, enabling residents to stay in their existing homes had the benefit of reducing later demand on residential care placements.

Could the officer elaborate on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) investment into expansion?

The HRA had approximately 10,000 homes for social affordable housing need. £56,186k of rental income from the Council’s social housing provision was to be reinvested into maintenance, improvement and the expansion of housing stock. The approved capital programme included funding to acquire 428 new dwellings over the period to 2023/24, and the current operation was seen as sustainable in the long term.

Many schools were reporting difficulties with having to accommodate SEN children without the requisite budget to meet their needs. Could further information on these schools be made available to the Committee?

Further information could be provided following the meeting.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.