Venue: Multi-Location Meeting - Gloucester Room, Guildhall / MS Teams. View directions
Contact: Scrutiny Officer 01792 363292
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Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests Minutes: In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the City
and County of Swansea, the following interests were declared: Cllrs Chris Holley, Dai Jenkins and Jeff Jones declared a Personal Interest relating to Minute 50. |
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Prohibition of Whipped Votes and Declaration of Party Whips Minutes: None. |
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To receive the minutes of the previous meeting(s) and agree as an accurate record. Minutes: Minutes of previous meeting were agreed. |
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Public Questions Questions can be submitted in writing to
Scrutiny scrutiny@swansea.gov.uk up
until noon on the working day prior to the meeting. Written questions take
precedence. Public may attend and ask questions in person if time allows.
Questions must relate to items on the open part of the agenda and will be dealt
with in a 10 minute period. Minutes: There were no public questions received. |
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Pre-Decision Scrutiny of Cabinet Reports: Annual Budget Invited to attend: Cllr Rob Stewart - Cabinet Member for Economy, Finance and Strategy Ben Smith –
Director of Finance / S.151 Officer Link to Cabinet
Papers for 16 February 2023 containing the budget papers. Minutes: The Leader and Ben Smith the Director of Finance and Section
151 Officer attended. They talked through the following: Overall • The Council
faces cost pressures of £60m with a net of £35m being added to the budget which includes £31m
from Welsh Government Aggregate External Finance and £4m from estimated Council
Tax rises. This results in a savings requirement of £25m. • While £35m
is a significant investment it must be seen in the context of high energy
prices and inflation. • A fund of
£15m has been redirected from the Economic Recovery Fund to cover energy costs
to support service providers, for instance schools and care providers. • The long
term outlook remains challenging with a real terms impact for all. • The budget
assumes an increase in council tax of 4.95% to be considered by Cabinet and
Council in due course but with advice to consider a range of increases. • Notification
has been received that fire authority levy will be an overall average increase
of 16.5%. Although awaiting final notification of the Revenue Support Grant
adjustment, no significant changes are expected. This equates to a 2% council
tax rise. • 61 full
time equivalent local government posts are still at risk after however an
estimated 40/50% of these are made up of vacant posts and early
retirement/voluntary redundancies. Compulsory redundancies will be avoided
where possible. • City centre
parking charges are due to increase while a citizen’s app will reduce the cost
for residents with a reduction applied at the meter to be rolled out this year. • The budget
proposes an increase of Swansea Market rents creating a saving of £50,000. This
reflects inflationary pressures, balanced with additional support for market
traders in difficult trading conditions. Education • Regarding
schools, it remains the case that forward financial plans for the Council will
continue to require significant and sustained savings. It is not possible to
exempt schools’ budgets fully from longer term real terms cuts. This has been
discussed in the Schools Budget Forum. • Pay awards
for teachers this year and next, plus the local government pay award for next
year are still unknown cost pressures. • Pest
control fees include a proposed increase of 15% which could put additional
pressure on for schools and contracts however the fee is consistent with other
increases for charges and pressures on the service and additional resources are
required for the service to continue. Social Services • The
national living wage will be under pressure due to legal obligations on all
employers and real living wage expectations from social care providers to
deliver Welsh government aspirations of us as a funder of care. • While
Social Services receive the biggest proportionate share increase of 8%, further
longer term investment and significant structural change is required in social
care. • Recruitment
remains a challenge within Social Services. Reserves • Earmarked
and general reserves are adequate given the cost of living crisis but the often
unchanged general reserves may need to be grown to be relative and
proportionate to the overall revenue budget which has grown materially over the
years. • An
estimated £60m is to be drawn down from cash backed reserves during this and
next financial year leaving around £100m. This is being used to stabilise the
budget pressures faced by the Council. Capital Budget and Programme • The budget
sets out a £400m general fund capital programme. • Officer
advice indicates that sufficient borrowing and cash backed reserves will
finance the programme in the short term and no built-in unsupported borrowing
requirement of any note is required in the base budget for the next few years. • Cabinet and
Council may need to consider further borrowing if further capital schemes are
added. • There is an
assumption within the budget that borrowing of up to £50m may be required, this
decision will relate to match funding with for instance, Levelling Up bids and inflation
pressures. • One Levelling Up bid has been successful and two unsuccessful bids will be resubmitted. Cabinet and Council will be required to balance the affordability choice between capital match funding, revenue pressures and benefits to the economy. |
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Summarising Views for Feedback to Cabinet Minutes: · Panel Members discussed their feedback for Cabinet based on their discussions which will be addressed in a letter to the Leader and presented to Cabinet by the Chair on 16 February 2023. |
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Letter to Cabinet Member - Economy, Finance & Strategy (Leader) PDF 111 KB |