Agenda item

To consider the Interim Head of Finance’s report (to follow).

The budget 2021-22 Cabinet report was introduced by Cabinet member for Finance and Corporate assets, Councillor Andrew Crawford. The Interim Head of Finance, Simon Hewings, was present to answer questions.

He explained that the budget required a thorough review of all budget codes. Gratitude was expressed to officers who worked on this. There were no cuts to frontline services. Comments from Scrutiny were welcomed before presentation to Council.

The Interim Head of Finance added that budget setting was a statutory duty, and the council was required to set a council tax.

A question was asked on page ten of the report. The estimate of total capital expenditure was £12 million. Why were the estimates lower in later years? It was responded that the affordable homes commitment part of the growth deal is a large commitment with £8 million budgeted to contribute to affordable homes delivery. This was a one off. There were Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payments also, to Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for this year and next. These distort figures for this year and next.

What were the long-term plans to improve the budget?

The Cabinet Member for Finance said that a cautious approach was taken to determining what funding from government we would get. The council is going ahead with projects despite Covid-19, which will contribute positively to the budget. The corporate plan was now in place, and we will plan to tackle the unsustainability of the current council tax rate and the caps that were in place. We had not accounted for capital receipts that we do not have yet. There was opportunity to save money and make income from council property.

The Interim Head of Finance added that a raft of items across all services will be needed to balance the budget.

Councillor Avery had connection issues and had no questions on the paper because he was unable to hear the meeting until half an hour into the meeting.

On page 16, an explanation was sought regarding small staff increments, reduction in training, the Beacon.  The Interim Head of Finance explained that items in Appendix A2 were previously agreed decisions in last year’s budget.

Paragraph 16 – New Homes Bonus (NHB) – when will we have clarity on the figures?

The Interim Head of Finance answered that the final settlement figures were just published and will be debated in Parliament, so are unlikely to change.

It was clarified that in paragraph 25, we had made allowance in 2022/23 for NHB legacy payments. Core revenue spending power has been estimated forward over the life of the MTFP period. In reference to line 48 in the MTFP it was noted that there was uncertainty over what a future scheme will look like at this stage.

Waste collection service on page 23 – increase in contract cost. What was the cost of garden waste collection to the council? Cabinet member answered that there was an indexation increase in the Biffa contract. Biffa collected from more properties. Brown bins collection was discretionary, and the council was charged by Biffa per bin and there was a small surplus.

On page 16 – regarding the climate emergency budget. Why was there no budget in future years? It was responded that in opening budget adjustments – this was a one-off budget last year, a one-off programme of work. There was new staffing for climate emergency. The corporate plan supported this area of work and it will be revisited in due course.

The chair summed up that there was no formal recommendation for scrutiny to make. The committee were informed that the Cabinet member for finance noted feedback from the committee.

Cabinet member and officers were thanked for their work and time.