Issue - meetings

Purpose of report: To provide details of the budget for scrutiny prior to Cabinet and Council meetings.

Witnesses:

Michael Coughlin, Executive Director of Transformation, Partnerships and Prosperity

Anna D’Alessandro, Director of Corporate Finance

Mel Few, Cabinet Member for Finance

Zully Grant-Duff, Cabinet Member for Corporate Support

Mark Hak-Sanders, Strategic Capital Accountant

Nikki O’Connor, Strategic Finance Business Partner

Rachel Wigley, Director of Financial Insight

Key points raised during the discussion:

1. Having received the Treasury Management Strategy Statement (TMS) on the morning of the Select Committee meeting, it was agreed that the Select Committee would adjourn for a short time after discussion of the main budget to give Members of the Select Committee time to read the TMS report, following which the Select Committee would again reconvene to discuss and scrutinise the TMS. It is annexed to these minutes.
2. The Witnesses introduced the budget report. While this budget was the first in a decade to be balanced without the use of reserves, it still entailed challenges, such as growing demand in adult social care (ASC) and children’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services, a need for further transformation in order to achieve efficiencies, in turn resulting in savings, and the delay of the Fair Funding Review (FFR) from central government, which meant that the budget could only go so far to address the short and medium terms. The general election of December 2019 and Britain’s imminent exit from the European Union had created further uncertainty.

Ayesha Azad arrived at 10:08am.

3. The Director of Corporate Finance emphasised the positive differences between the 2020/21 budget and those of previous years. Where previous budgets had been short-term and defensive, the 2020/21 budget was realistic, achievable, sustainable and medium-term. While a number of assumptions had to be relied upon, no reserves had had to be used to balance the budget, and it was not forecast that any reserves would have to be used over the medium term. Revenue was budgeted to increase incrementally, driven by a 1.99% increase in council tax and an additional 2% ASC precept, which the government had confirmed that the Council was able to levy.
4. The Select Committee was informed that the capital programme would increase to £1.4 billion over the medium term.
5. The Director of Financial Insight outlined the budget of the Resources directorate, 50% of which was to be spent on staffing costs. Long-term efficiencies in this directorate would come from changing working practices.
6. The Executive Director of Transformation, Partnerships and Prosperity (TPP) remarked that while the TPP directorate spent the least of any directorate in the Council, it acted as a catalyst for efficiencies to be made elsewhere, and multiple steps had been taken to achieve efficiencies within the directorate. He was determined to ensure that the TPP directorate had a focus on resident outcomes and was not perceived as purely transactional. Moreover, the Strategic Finance Business Partner asked Members to note that there was no capital budget in the TPP directorate.
7. A Member requested more information on progress that had been made on bringing looked-after children back into Surrey from out-of-county, which could save  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5