Issue - meetings

Purpose of report:

Scrutiny of the 2022/23 Draft Budget report and Medium-Term financial strategy 2026/27.

Witnesses:

Matthew Furniss, Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure

Anna D’Alessandro, Director, Corporate Finance and Commercial

Katie Stewart, Executive Director Environment, Transport and Infrastructure

Marie Snelling, Executive Director Customers and Communities

Tony Orzieri, Strategic Finance Business Partner

Nicola O’Connor, Strategic Finance Business Partner

Mark Hak-Sanders, Strategic Finance Business Partner

Rachel Wigley, Director Finance, Insights & Performance

Officers introduced a summary of the item and outlined the key aspects of the report, particularly focussing on the budgets for the Environment, Transport and Infrastructure Directorate (ETI), the Community Protection Group (CPG), the Prosperity Partnerships and Growth (PPG) Directorate and elements of the Customer and Communities Directorate (C&C) relating to this Select Committee.

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    In response to a query about the impact of furlough, inflation and income pressures, an officer agreed that uncertainty brought risk to delivering the budget, especially the ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19. There was a £20m contingency built into the budget centrally that could meet any unforeseen pressures and there was a £58m total contingency. The officer added that the Council held reserves slightly over the 5-10% of its Net Revenue Budget reserve recommended by auditors and so were in a resilient position overall. The officer added that it was vital for directorates to keep within their budget envelopes in terms of inflation and National Insurance and the draft budget included provision to cover the National Insurance increases for employers. He added that the inclusion in the draft budget of 4% inflation was a reasonable starting point and that officers believed that this inflationary provision in the budget was sound.

2.    The Chairman asked if any details of the impact, positive or negative, regarding the financial settlement status to be announced by the Government on Surrey could be sent to members please. This was agreed.

3.    A member asked if taken together (Revenue and Capital), could residents be assured that this budget would not entail any deterioration of services across the board, for example, proposed changes to Community Recycling Policies etc.? Will they see improvements and if so, in what areas? An officer confirmed that the Council would not be delivering any kind of service reduction because of the changes in the budget that had been presented because of the efficiencies. They added that this was one of the guiding principles used to identify the efficiencies.

4.    A member pressed further if the Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure could provide a commitment that all savings and efficiencies identified under the Committee’s relevant remit would not lead to any deterioration in its relevant services?

The Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure confirmed that there were no plans to reduce services. A Select Committee Member enquired if improvements would be visible to residents? The Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure confirmed that residents would be able to see improvements. He said that the Highways restructure had been completed resulting in Highways no longer being at the top of reasons for complaint.

5.    A  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15