Caroline Holland introduced the report that included the updated Medium Term Financial Strategy and accounted for changes to major items, price inflation, issues regarding the pension fund and the grant settlement received. There has been a reduction in the grant expected as well as a review of council tax and an increase in the council tax base and collection rates. The revised capital programme was also presented alongside early service plan drafts. Further revisions to the service plans will be brought to the next round of scrutiny meetings for consideration.

Alternate proposals have been brought forward where there have been difficulties in generating savings agreed. New targets have been produced based on the council wide budget gap of £32 million. These savings will be brought to scrutiny in January for consideration.

Councillor David Dean asked why the savings target was so significant and the impact on the total budget. Caroline Holland explained that there had been an increase in the population which had impacted on the amount of dedicated schools grant received. There have also been additional responsibilities to be accounted for in public health and also in nursery provision. Legal shared services, regulatory shared services and the costs of transfer of staff have also resulted in additional costs and pressures. There is a downward trajectory with savings, however, there are increasing pressures resulting from demographic change. Caroline Holland added that one of the recommendations on Morden Leisure Centre was to rephase the capital programme. In this the costs would be spread over a greater number of years. This update will appear in the budget report in January 2015.

Councillor John Sargeant asked about structural changes to services that Cabinet were considering, for example, the MAE options appraisal. The budget and service implications did not appear to be outlined in this report. He added that the potential impact should be considered by the Panel at their January 2015 meeting. Chris Lee explained that the impact would only need to be considered from April 2017 onwards and that the service and budgetary implications would be reflected in the 2017 budget. 

Caroline Holland added that the MAE options appraisal and outcomes of the consultation could be brought to scrutiny in due course. Similarly, decisions to be taken on the waste contract would need to be factored into the budget in 2017 at the earliest when the contract is envisaged to start.

Councillor John Sargeant added that performance monitoring alone doesn’t give an opportunity to get into the detail of the structural changes proposed and that the panel should have an opportunity to comment to enable them to deliver on their duties to their residents.

Councillor Imran Uddin asked what discretion the council had over the restricted spending outlined. Caroline Holland explained that the council had no discretion over the dedicated schools grant as it was a demand based grant.

Councillor Peter Southgate joined the meeting and proposed that the Panel hold a special meeting to consider the MAE options appraisal in more detail.

Caroline Holland added that monitoring reports are received by Cabinet on the budget and that the financial monitoring task group also undertake analysis by department and by service of the service and budgetary implications of proposals.

Chris Lee explained that there was an expectation there would be an increase in charges for development control. However, this is not going ahead as planned due to legislative changes which have resulted in £200,000 worth of identified savings no longer being achievable. Shared services will offer an opportunity to generate income, as well as fast tracking applications for planning. In building and development control deleting  1FTE in 2016/17 will enable a £40,000 saving.

Councillor David Dean asked about the government response to local authorities setting their own planning charges. John Hill explained that government are still investigating this. A decision is not expected on this anytime soon. Councillor David Dean asked if it was worth discussing this with MP’s to fast track a decision. John Hill confirmed that the London Borough Planning Officers Group would have made representations to Government on this.

Chris Lee added structural changes that may be of concern to the Panel in the future are:

·         Traffic and highways;

·         Phase C procurement;

·         Automatic number plate recognition

RESOLVED: 

Panel agreed that they did not wish to forward any comments to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission in this instance.

Panel requested that a special meeting be set up to consider the detail of the MAE Options appraisal proposals before the next round of budget scrutiny in January 2015.