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Minutes of a meeting of the Cabinet |
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held on Tuesday 19 December 2023at 10.30 am
in Meeting Room 1, Abbey House, Abbey Close, Abingdon, OX14 3JE
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Open to the public, including the press |
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55. Apologies for absence
Councillors Andy Crawford and Neil Fawcett had sent their apologies for absence.
56. Minutes
RESOLVED: to adopt as a correct record the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 10 November 2023 and agree that the chair signs them as such.
57. Declarations of interests
None
58. Urgent business and chair's announcements
None
59. Public participation
None
60. Recommendations and updates from other committees
Cabinet noted updates from the Scrutiny Committee, the Joint Scrutiny Committee, and the Climate Emergency Advisory Committee.
Councillor Hayleigh Gascoigne, chair of the Climate Emergency Advisory Committee, asked if the Cabinet member for environmental services and waste could provide an update after the Cabinet meeting on the previously proposed maintenance depot at Great Western Park and if there were any plans going forward. The committee was unable to make a recommendation to Cabinet without the facts.
61. Corporate Performance Report and the Climate Action Plan Performance Report - Quarter 2, 2023/24
Cabinet considered the corporate performance report and climate action plan performance report for quarter 2, 2023/24.
Cabinet welcomed the reports, which highlighted the council’s achievements and the matters where further work was required. This provided evidence of the council’s work. Overall, the council was ahead of schedule against its corporate plan objectives; members were proud of this. Officers were thanked for their work in compiling the reports. Members and officers were working on the next corporate plan to set more measurable targets and to introduce shorter performance reports.
RESOLVED: to note the Corporate Performance Report and Climate Action Plan Performance Report for quarter 2, 2023/24.
62. Budget Monitoring - quarter 2 2023/24
Cabinet considered the head of finance’s report, being the budget monitoring report for April to September 2023.
Cabinet noted that there was a forecasted overspend at the financial year end of £1.2 million, but estimated increases in treasury income should largely offset this. This showed that the council’s finances were stable.
RESOLVED to note the Budget Monitoring Report for April to September 2023.
63. Budget setting 2024/25
Cabinet considered the head of finance’s report, being the budget setting update report for 2024/25.
The report set out the starting position for the council to set its 2024/25 budget. There would be inflationary pressures but there was likely to be treasury income from high interest rates. The government had published its draft settlement figure for the Vale at an increase of 3.81 per cent, although there was no clarity for later years. This left uncertainty in compiling the medium term financial plan, which covered the next five years. A revenue and capital budget challenge was underway, to analyse the draft figures in detail before Cabinet would be required to recommend its draft budget to Council in February 2024.
Cabinet noted that the council would be limited to increasing its council tax by £5 per Band D property in 2024/25; any further increase would require a referendum. As for business rates, the council could only retain a small proportion of the total collected, the remainder being retained by the government and distributed to other councils. Members asked that the mechanics of business rates’ retention was more widely publicised.
Members also asked that the council’s low cost per resident was more widely communicated. The council was efficient in providing its services for low cost compared to some other councils.
Members thanked the officer for his report.
RESOLVED to note the budget setting report 2024/25.