RESOLVED

That Cabinet agrees to:

1.    consider and agree the response to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission;

2.    resolve that, having considered all of the information in this report and noted the positive assurance statement given by the Director of Corporate Services based on the proposed strategy, the Council Tax in 2017/18, equating to a Band D Council Tax of £1,135.31 be approved and recommended to Council for approval.

3.    consider all of the latest information and the comments from the scrutiny process, and makes recommendations to Council as appropriate

4.    resolve that the Business Plan 2017-21 including the General Fund Budget and Council Tax Strategy for 2017/18, and the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2017-2021 as submitted, along with the Equality Assessments (EAs), be approved and recommended to Council for approval subject to any proposed amendments agreed at this meeting;

5.    resolve that, having considered all of the latest information and the comments from the scrutiny process, the Capital Investment Programme (as detailed in Annex 1 to the Capital Strategy); the Treasury Management Strategy (Section 5), including the detailed recommendations in that Section, incorporating the Prudential Indicators and the Capital Strategy (Section 4) as submitted and reported upon be approved and recommended to Council for approval, subject to any proposed amendments agreed at this meeting;

6.    note that the GLA precept will not be agreed by the London Assembly until the 22 February 2017, but the provisional figure has been incorporated into the draft MTFS

7.    request officers to review the savings proposals agreed and where possible bring them forward to the earliest possible implementation date

8.    note that there may be minor amendments to figures in this report as a result of new information being received after the deadline for dispatch and that this will be amended for the report to Council in March

9.    consider and approve the Risk Management Strategy

Cabinet agreed to discuss Items 6,7 and 8 together.

The Cabinet member for Finance presented the report on the Business Plan 2017-21. He then thanked Councillor Southgate for the for all the work done by the Commission and Scrutiny panels in considering the budget savings plan and agreed that the views of  Scrutiny Panels and Commission were broadly similar to the Cabinet’s thinking. However the Cabinet did not wish, at this stage, to raise the LBM element of  Council Tax in the current climate of uncertainty around future maximum Council Tax levels. He agreed with the view that Cabinet should give its full support to the LGA and London Councils in their efforts to secure a properly funded settlement from Government.

Cabinet noted that a proposed saving for the Planning Department to stop sending out consultation letters has been withdrawn and an alternative saving will be considered.

The Director of Corporate Services explained that the Government had not yet given the Council its final settlement figure, this was expected  on 23.2.17, without this figure there is uncertainty going forward.  She added that; the budget is balanced for 2017-18, but there is currently a £3 million gap in 2018-19, Budget savings that could be brought forward have been identified, and a complete survey of reserves has been made

RESOLVED

That Cabinet agrees to:

1.    consider and agree the response to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission;

2.    resolve that, having considered all of the information in this report and noted the positive assurance statement given by the Director of Corporate Services based on the proposed strategy, the Council Tax in 2017/18, equating to a Band D Council Tax of £1,135.31 be approved and recommended to Council for approval.

3.    consider all of the latest information and the comments from the scrutiny process, and makes recommendations to Council as appropriate

4.    resolve that the Business Plan 2017-21 including the General Fund Budget and Council Tax Strategy for 2017/18, and the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2017-2021 as submitted, along with the Equality Assessments (EAs), be approved and recommended to Council for approval subject to any proposed amendments agreed at this meeting;

5.    resolve that, having considered all of the latest information and the comments from the scrutiny process, the Capital Investment Programme (as detailed in Annex 1 to the Capital Strategy); the Treasury Management Strategy (Section 5), including the detailed recommendations in that Section, incorporating the Prudential Indicators and the Capital Strategy (Section 4) as submitted and reported upon be approved and recommended to Council for approval, subject to any proposed amendments agreed at this meeting;

6.    note that the GLA precept will not be agreed by the London Assembly until the 22 February 2017, but the provisional figure has been incorporated into the draft MTFS

7.    request officers to review the savings proposals agreed and where possible bring them forward to the earliest possible implementation date

8.    note that there may be minor amendments to figures in this report as a result of new information being received after the deadline for dispatch and that this will be amended for the report to Council in March

9.    consider and approve the Risk Management Strategy