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URGENT CARE IN SURREY HEARTLANDS

Meeting: 15/12/2020 - Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee (Item 37)

37 SCRUTINY OF 2021/22 DRAFT BUDGET AND MEDIUM-TERM FINANCIAL STRATEGY TO 2025/26 pdf icon PDF 147 KB

Purpose of report:

 

To provide details of the draft budget and medium-term financial strategy for scrutiny.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Witnesses:

Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Transport

Natalie Bramhall, Cabinet Member for Environment & Climate Change

Denise Turner-Stewart, Cabinet Member for Communities

 

Katie Stewart, Executive Director – Environment, Transport and Infrastructure (ETI)

Steve Owen-Hughes, Director – Community Protection Group (CPG)

Rachel Wigley, Director – Financial Insight

Mark Hak-Sanders, Strategic Finance Business Partner - Corporate finance

Tony Orzieri, Strategic Finance Business Partner – Environment, Transport and Infrastructure (ETI)

 

Key points raised during the discussion:

 

  1. The Strategic Finance Business Partner – Corporate Finance explained that the core assumptions that underpinned the budget were generated using the established PESTLE Framework that focuses on political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental and climate factors, thus the draft budget was based on an assessment of the likely operating environment for the county Council for 2021/22 and over the medium term. COVID-19, demand pressure and inflation were also considered within this framework. The draft budget was developed in an integrated way across the organisation and was to be linked with the Council’s four new priority objectives and the community vision 2030. The immediate priority for 2021 was to stabilise the Council’s finances following the COVID-19 crisis.

 

  1. Funding estimates would continue to be iterated following further clarity from the detailed local government finance settlement that was expected before Christmas 2020. The November spending review had, however, given relative confidence that the £18.3m gap in the draft budget could be closed without directorates being required to provide further efficiency savings.

 

  1. The medium-term estimates assumed that the Government Fair Funding Review would have an overall negative effect on the Council’s funding, with estimates suggesting that the funding gap would rise to £170.1m over the 5-year period to 2025/26. Thus, there would be a sizeable gap to close over the medium term if these funding projections were accurate.

 

  1. A Member queried how the Council could achieve a reduction in waste prices. The Executive Director informed the Select Committee that some of the waste efficiency was achieved by renegotiation of a residual waste subcontract, within the existing Suez contract. The Directorate would continue to monitor contracts and market prices to ensure best value for money.

 

  1. A Member asked why the reduction in highways insurance claims was projected to continue. The Executive Director acknowledged that there had been fewer road users during the COVID-19 pandemic which would have caused a decrease in insurance claims. However, the Council’s increased capital investment into the county’s highways and subsequent reduction in highways defects were also driving down claims and costs.

 

  1. A Member asked if there were any efficiency savings rolled over from the 2020/21 budget. The Executive Director stated that there were several efficiencies that had not been achieved in the previous budget, namely waste and recycling efficiency savings due to COVID-19. A £700k efficiency in network managements and £200k efficiency in bus lane enforcement were also rolled over and were either expected to be delivered in 2021, or have additional savings made to enable delivery. The Executive Director assured the Select Committee that these efficiencies would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37