Issue - meetings

a)    Questions to the Leader

To last for a total of 15 minutes, the first three minutes available for announcements from the Leader.

b)   Questions to the Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources

To last for a total of 15 minutes, the first three minutes available for announcements from the Cabinet Member.

c)    Scrutiny Business Report

To last for a total of 10 minutes, the first two minutes available for announcements from the Chair of Scrutiny and Overview Committee.

d)   Council Tax Debate

The mover of the budget recommendations shall have 10 minutes to speak, followed by the Leader of the Opposition who shall have 10 minutes to speak. There shall then be five further Members from each group called to speak for no more than three minutes each. The debate shall conclude with a right of reply from the Leader of the Council or other Cabinet Member for not more than five minutes.

At the conclusion of the debate the following recommendations will be taken through a recorded vote:

               i.        A 1.99% increase in the Council Tax for Croydon Services (a level of increase Central Government has assumed in all Councils’ spending power calculation).

              ii.        A 2.00% increase in the Adult Social Care precept (a charge Central Government has assumed all councils’ will levy in its spending power calculations).

            iii.        The GLA increase of 3.6%.

With reference to the principles for 2020/21 determined by the Secretary of State under Section52ZC (1) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended) confirm that in accordance with s.52ZB (1) the Council Tax and GLA precept referred to above are not excessive in terms of the most recently issued principles and as such to note that no referendum is required. This is detailed further in section 3.5 of the covering report (at Appendix 6.1).

Questions to the Leader

Madam Deputy Mayor explained that the Council Tax and budget item would commence with questions to the Leader, Councillor Newman, for a total of 15 minutes.

The Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Tim Pollard, noted the funding in the budget for Brick By Brick for this and future years. Clarification was sought on how it was possible to be confident that the budget was on a safe footing when the detail of the Brick By Brick funding remained confidential for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

In response, the Leader stated that he would not be proposing the budget if he was not confident in it and those who had provided advice on it. It was stressed that Councillor Tim Pollard had access to the budget documentation and that whilst this might not give him all the information he wanted a judgement had to be made whether to trust advice from officials.

In his supplementary question, Councillor Tim Pollard described how the Council was putting all its eggs in a secretive basket. It was noted that the Council was the sole Brick By Brick shareholder meaning that with no other party involved in the scheme no one else had knowledge of its operation. The Leader stressed that Brick By Brick had been subject to extensive scrutiny including at Cabinet and through the Scrutiny and Overview Committee. It was also noted that the support for Brick By Brick in the budget was the same as in 2019/20 and that the Opposition had voted in support of this.

Councillor Chowdhury gave thanks to the Leader and his team for the budget and asked how this would be fully resources if further grant cuts were made by Government.

In response, the Leader agreed the Government’s budget, anticipated on 11 March 2020, needed to address the social care funding crisis. The Leader described how the Council’s budget was being set against a backdrop of uncertainty which had grown since the General Election.

Councillor Chowdhury took the opportunity of his supplementary question to compliment Councillor Hall, the Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources, on his managing of the Council’s budget. Councillor Chowdhury expressed his concerns regarding the management of the Home Office, the Council not being given sufficient funding by Government, the influence of the Prime Minister’s special adviser and the imminent impact of Brexit. The Leader agreed that all these factors were feeding into national uncertainty and that this was being equally felt by leaders of Conservative Councils.

Councillor Millson noted that there was around £800m in the revenue budget and that this gave the Council enormous power to change lives. It was asked if the Leader applauded authorities, including Labour authorities that were doing less with more.

In response, the Leader described how he applauded the efforts of other councils and described the work being done by Croydon including initiatives such as the refurbishment of Fairfield Halls. It was stressed that all councils were operating against the toughest financial backdrop ever.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86

a)    Budget Presentation

A presentation on the budget will be provided by the Director of Finance, Investment and Risk (Section 151 Officer) and Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources.

b)    Questions to the Leader

To last for a total of 15 minutes, the first three minutes available for announcements from the Leader.

c)    Questions to the Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources

To last for a total of 15 minutes, the first three minutes available for announcements from the Cabinet Member.

d)    Scrutiny Business Report

To last for a total of 10 minutes, the first two minutes available for announcements from the Chair of Scrutiny and Overview Committee.

e)    Council Tax Debate

The mover of the budget recommendations shall have 10 minutes to speak, followed by the Leader of the Opposition who shall have 10 minutes to speak. There shall then be five further Members from each group called to speak for no more than three minutes each. The debate shall conclude with a right of reply from the Leader of the Council or other Cabinet Member for not more than five minutes.

At the conclusion of the debate the following recommendations will be taken through a recorded vote:

                      I.          A 2.99% increase in the Council Tax for Croydon Services (a level of increase Central Government has assumed in all Councils’ spending power calculation).

                    II.          A 1.0% increase in the Adult Social Care precept (a charge Central Government has assumed all councils’ will levy in its spending power calculations).

                  III.          To welcome the GLA increase of 8.93%, of which 91% of which is being used for the Metropolitan Police service and 9% is being used for the fire service.

With reference to the principles for 2019/20 determined by the Secretary of State under Section52ZC (1) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended) confirm that in accordance with s.52ZB (1) the Council Tax and GLA precept referred to above are not excessive in terms of the most recently issued principles and as such to note that no referendum is required. This is detailed further in section 3.5 of report 6.1.

a)    Budget Presentation

A presentation on the budget reflecting the content of the report was provided by Lisa Taylor, the Director of Finance, Investment and Risk (Section 151 Officer) supported by Councillor Simon Hall, the Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources.

The Director of Finance, Investment and Risk highlighted the following points:

I.          Reserves and balances: earmarked reserves were planned to fall by £5m to fund the projected overspend. It was planned that this would be replenished by an anticipated collection fund surplus in 2019/20 and dividends from Brick by Brick. Capital reserves were planned to increase from the sale of land. Reserves were lower than those of some authorities but were holding firm and not changing significantly;

II.          Growth: three departments were to receive growth budgets: 1) Children, Families and Education, 2) Health, Wellbeing and Adults, and 3) Gateway, Strategy and Engagement. This was in response to increasing demand and to deliver the Children’s Services Improvement Plan. Savings were also detailed including additional income from recent asset acquisitions, the Adult Social Care charging policy, the first dividend from Brick by Brick, more efficient commissioning and the reduction in the Pension Fund deficit as a result of a property asset transfer. Other savings were to be realised from better children’s placements and as a result of the One Alliance;

III.          Council Tax: an additional £12.6m was to be raised in 2019/20 from the increase in the charge,  the increasing size of  the Council Tax base and improvements in the collection rate; and

IV.          Risks: increasing demand for social care and funding for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children (UASC) were noted as the areas of highest risk. Added to this was the ongoing uncertainty regarding local government funding from local government given 2019/20 was the last year of the spending review period with the government’s Fair Funding Review ongoing.

The Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources highlighted the other pressures on the budget including the lack of funding for UASC, the decline in the public health grant, the fact that the grant for Council Tax support only covered half the costs and the government’s underfunding of children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND). The Cabinet Member noted the overall context for the budget was one of financial crisis across England.

It was explained that the budget had been determined based on the decision to protect frontline services and to continue to invest in innovation - for example Gateway Services and the One Croydon Alliance. Investment would continue to be made in schools and homes and the Council would continue to operate ethically for example through the continued implementation of London Living Wage for Council employees and through the terms of the Council’s new contracts. The budget would continue to be managed by bringing services in-house and through a focus on prevention. It was noted that government funding was being reduced by £7.8m when over £5m was needed just to cover inflationary costs. It was planned to achieve £7m in savings and £8m in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19