The Executive at its meeting on 19 February 2019 will make recommendations to Council on the Budget for 2019/20 and 2020/21.

 

The following reports are submitted: 

 

(i)         The Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2019/20

 

The report of the Director of Finance provides details of the Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2019/20 and proposals for 2020/21 (Document “U”). This report may require updating following the meeting of the Executive on 19 February 2019.

 

                                                            (Tom Caselton – 01274 434472)

 

(ii)        Allocation of the Schools’ Budget 2019/20 Financial Year

 

The report of the Director of Finance presents and seeks approval of the recommendations of the Schools Forum in allocating the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for 2019/20 (Executive Document “BA”).

 

                                                            (Andrew Redding – 01274 432678)

 

(iii)       The Council’s Capital Investment Plan for 2019/20 to 2022/23

 

The report of the Director of Finance proposes the Capital Investment Plan for 2019/20 to 2022/23 (Executive Document “BB”). This report may require updating following the meeting of the Executive on 19 February 2019.

 

                        (Lynsey Simenton/James Hopwood – 01274 434232/2882)

                                   

(iv)       2019/20 Budget Proposals and Forecast Reserves - Section 151 Officer Assessment

 

The report of the Director of Finance (Executive Document “BC”) sets out the S151 Officer’s assessment of the proposed budget for the financial year 2019/20, the adequacy of the forecast level of reserves and associated risks. The assessment of the Executive’s recommendations to Council on the budget may require updating following the meeting of the Executive on 19 February 2019.          

                                                           

(Andrew Crookham – 01274 433656)

 

(v)        Consultation Feedback and Equality Assessments for the 2019/20 Council Budget and proposals for the 2020/21 Council budget 

 

The report of the Assistant Director, Office of the Chief Executive, appendices and addendum provide feedback from the public engagement and consultation programme and sets out a summary of the equality assessments carried out on the Executive’s Budget proposals for 2019/20 and 2020/21 (Executive Document “AR”). There is particular reference to the Council’s responsibilities under equality legislation to enable the Council to have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty when considering the Executive’s recommendations to Council on a budget for 2019/20 and proposals for 2020/21 budget.

 

                                                            (Kathryn Jones – 01274 433664)

 

(vi)       Interim Trade Union Feedback on the Council’s Budget Proposals for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 Council Budget

 

The report of the Director of Human Resources and appendices provide interim feedback from the Council’s Trade Unions on the Council’s budget proposals for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 Council budget (Executive Document “AS”).

 

                                                            (Michelle Moverley – 01274 437883)

 

 

Note

 

In view of the short timescale between the Executive on 19 February and the meeting of Council on 21 February the budget recommendations from the Executive to Council will be e-mailed to all Members of Council following the Executive on 19 February and will be published on the Council’s website at www.bradford.gov.uk . The recommendations will also be circulated at this meeting of Council.

The Executive met on 5 and 19 February 2019 to make recommendations to Council on the Budget for 2019/20 and 2020/21.  The following reports were submitted:

 

(i)         The Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2019/20 and 2020/21

 

The report of the Director of Finance provided details of the Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2019/20 and 2020/21 (Document “U”).

.             

(ii)        Allocation of the Schools’ Budget 2019/20 Financial Year

 

The report of the Director of Finance presented and sought approval of the recommendations of the Schools Forum in allocating the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for 2019/20 (Executive Document “BA”).

 

(iii)       The Council’s Capital Investment Plan for 2019/20 to 2022/23

 

The report of the Director of Finance proposed the Capital Investment Plan for 2019/20 to 2022/23 (Executive Document “BB”).

 

(iv)      2019/20 Budget Proposals and Forecast Reserves Section 151 Officer Assessment

 

The report of the Director of Finance sets out the S151 Officer’s assessment of the proposed budget for the financial year 2019/20, the adequacy of the forecast level of reserves and associated risks (Document “V”).

 

 (v)       Consultation Feedback and Equality Assessments for the 2019/20 Council Budget and proposals for the 2020/21 Council budget 

 

The report of the Assistant Director, Office of the Chief Executive, appendices and addendum provided feedback from the public engagement and consultation programme and set out a summary of the equality assessments carried out on the Executive’s Budget proposals for 2019/20 and 2020/21 (Executive Document “AR”). There was particular reference to the Council’s responsibilities under equality legislation to enable the Council to have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty when considering the Executive’s recommendations to Council on a budget for 2019/20 and 2020/21.

 

(vi)       Interim Trade Union Feedback on the Executive’s Budget Proposals for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 Council Budget

 

The report of the Director of Human Resources, appendices and addenda provided interim feedback from the Council’s Trade Unions on the Executive’s budget proposals for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 Council budget (Executive Document “AS”)

.

An amendment to the Executive’s recommendations was moved by Councillor Mike Pollard. The S151 Officer provided an assessment of the amendment contained in Document “W”. The amendment was defeated.

 

In accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 a recorded vote was taken on Councillor Mike Pollard’s amendment and the Council voted as follows: 

 

For the Amendment (17)

Barker Brown Cooke Davies Ellis

Gibbons Herd Heseltine M Pollard

Poulsen Rickard Shaw B M Smith

D Smith Townend Whitaker Whiteley

Against the Amendment (56)

A Ahmed Akhtar Amran Azam Bacon Berry Cromie Dodds Duffy Dunbar Engel Farley Ferriby Firth

Godwin Green Greenwood Hinchcliffe Abid Hussain Arshad Hussain Kamran Hussain Khadim Hussain Tariq Hussain Iqbal Jabar Jamil Jenkins Johnson

H Khan I Khan S Khan Lal Lee Love Mir Mohammed Mullaney Naylor Nazir Peart Ross-Shaw Sajawal

Salam Shabbir Shafiq Shaheen Slater Swallow Tait Thirkill Thornton Wainwright Warburton Warnes Watson Wood

Abstentions (11)

The Lord Mayor R Ahmed Griffiths

Hawkesworth Humphreys N Pollard

Reid Stubbs J Sunderland

R Sunderland Ward

An amendment to the Executive’s recommendations was moved by Councillor Love. The S151 Officer provided an assessment of the amendment contained in Document “Y”. The amendment was defeated.

 

In accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 a recorded vote was taken on Councillor Love’s amendment and the Council voted as follows: 

 

For the Amendment (2)

Love Warnes

Against the Amendment (70)

A Ahmed Akhtar Amran Azam Bacon Barker Berry Brown Cooke Cromie Davies Dodds Duffy Dunbar Ellis Engel Farley Ferriby

Firth Gibbons Godwin Green Greenwood Hawkesworth Herd Heseltine Hinchcliffe Abid Hussain Arshad Hussain KamranHussain Tariq Hussain Iqbal Jabar Jamil Jenkins Johnson

H Khan I Khan S Khan Lal Lee Mir Mohammed Mullaney Naylor Nazir Peart M Pollard Poulsen Rickard Ross-Shaw Salam Shabbir

Shafiq Shaheen Shaw Slater B M Smith D Smith Swallow Tait Thirkill Thornton Townend Wainwright Warburton Watson Whitaker Whiteley Wood

Abstentions (12)

The Lord Mayor R Ahmed Griffiths

Humphreys Khadim Hussain N Pollard

Reid Sajawal Stubbs

J Sunderland R Sunderland Ward

An amendment to the Executive’s recommendations was moved by Councillor Hawkesworth. The S151 Officer provided an assessment of the amendment contained in Document “X”. The amendment was defeated.

 

In accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 a recorded vote was taken on Councillor Hawkesworth’s amendment and the Council voted as follows: 

 

For the Amendment (2)

Hawkesworth Naylor

Against the Amendment (69)

A Ahmed Akhtar Amran Azam Bacon Barker Berry Brown Cooke Davies Dodds Duffy Dunbar Engel Ellis Farley Ferriby Firth

Gibbons Godwin Green Greenwood Herd Heseltine Hinchcliffe Abid Hussain Arshad Hussain Kamran Hussain Tariq Hussain Iqbal Jabar Jamil Jenkins Johnson H Khan

I Khan S Khan Lal Lee Love Mir Mohammed Mullaney Nazir Peart M Pollard Poulsen Rickard Shabbir Shafiq Shaheen Shaw

Ross-Shaw Salam Slater B M Smith D Smith Swallow Tait Thirkill Thornton Townend Wainwright Warburton Warnes Watson Whitaker Whiteley Wood

 

Abstentions (13)

The Lord Mayor R Ahmed Cromie Griffiths

Humphreys Khadim Hussain N Pollard

Reid Sajawal Stubbs

J Sunderland R Sunderland Ward

On the recommendation of the Executive it was,

 

Resolved -

 

(1)       The Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2019/20  

1.1       REVENUE ESTIMATES 2019/20

 

              (a)     That the Base Revenue Forecast of £384.022m for 2019/20 as set out in Document “U” (Revenue Estimates) be approved.

 

(b)      That Document “U” and the consequent net reduction in investments of £0.947m in 2019/20 be approved.

 

(c)       That Document “U” and the service savings and additional income of £23.164m in 2019/20 be approved.

 

(d)       That it be noted that within the revenue budget there is a net use of  £1.460m to revenue reserves in 2019/20.

 

(e)       That Document “U” and the service savings proposals for 2020/21 be approved, requiring the Chief Executive, Strategic Directors and Directors to take necessary action during 2019/20 to ensure those savings are fully achievable for 2020/21.

 

(f)   That the comments of Director of Finance set out in Document “V” on the robustness of the estimates and the adequacy of reserves taking account of the recommendations made at  1(a) to (e) above be noted.

1.2       PROPOSED COUNCIL TAX 2019/20

 

            That it be noted that the projected council tax base and expenditure forecasts outlined in the report together with the 2019/20 resources and the budget variations approved at 1.1(b) and 1.1(c) above produce a proposed Band D council tax of £1,373.07 for 2019/20.

1.3      PAYMENT DATES FOR COUNCIL TAX AND NATIONAL NON-DOMESTIC RATES

 

            That the first instalment date for payment of National Non-Domestic Rates and Council Tax shall be specified by the s151 Officer.

1.4       DELEGATION TO OFFICERS

 

            That for the avoidance of doubt and without prejudice to any of the powers contained in Article 14 of Part 2 of the Council's Constitution on the Function of Officers, the s151 Officer shall have full delegated powers to act on behalf of the Council on all matters relating to the Council Tax, Non-Domestic Rates and Accounts Receivable Debtors including (without prejudice to the generality of the delegation) entry into the 75% business rate pilot, assessments, determinations, recovery, enforcement and, in accordance with the statutory scheme, full delegated powers to act on behalf of the Council with regard to all aspects of the granting of Discretionary and Hardship Rate Relief to qualifying ratepayers.

1.5       PREPARATION OF ACCOUNTS

 

           (a)         That in preparing the Final Accounts for 2018/19, the s151 Officer be empowered to take appropriate steps to secure the best advantage for the Council's financial position.

           (b)         That the s151 Officer be empowered to deal with items which involve the transfer of net spending between the financial years 2018/19 and 2019/20 in a manner which secures the best advantage for the Council's financial position.

           (c)         That the s151 Officer report any action taken in pursuance of 5(a) and 5(b) above when reporting on the Final Accounts for 2018/19.

 

1.6         COUNCIL TAX REQUIREMENT 2019/20

 

          (a)     That the council tax base figures for 2019/20 calculated by the Executive at its meeting on 8 January 2019 in respect of the whole of the Council’s area and individual parish and town council areas be noted.

 

(b)     That the only special items for 2019/20 under Section 35 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 are local parish and town council precepts and no expenses are to be treated as special expenses under Section 35(1) (b) of that Act.

 

(c)    That the Council Tax Requirement, excluding parish and town council precepts, be calculated as follows:

 

 

(d) That the precepts of parish and town councils be noted and the resulting basic council tax amounts for particular areas of the Council be calculated as follows:

 

                       

 

(e)  That the council tax amounts for dwellings in different valuation bands in respect of the Council’s budget requirement, taking into account parish and town council precepts applicable to only part of the Council’s area, be calculated as follows:

 

 

 

(f)    That it be noted that for the year 2019/20 the Police Crime and Commissioner and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority (WYFRA) have issued the following precepts.

 

 

(g)  That having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts at (e) and (f) above, the Council set the following amounts of council tax for 2019/20 in each of the categories of dwellings shown below:

 

 

(h)  That Council notes the movement in Band D equivalent charges for 2019/20 over 2018/19 as set out in the table below.

 

 

* The West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority will be setting their precept on Thursday 21 February 2019]. The amount shown in the above table is the estimated precept based on a 2.99% increase.If the precept set by WYFRA is different to the estimate contained in this report Members will be subsequently advised accordingly and the tax tables duly amended.

 

 (2)      ALLOCATION OF THE SCHOOLS BUDGET 2019/20 FINANCIAL YEAR

 

2.1      That the proposals from the Schools Forum for the allocation of the 2019/20 DSG as set out in Executive Document “BA” be accepted and approved.

 

2.2       That the total amount of £551.819m to be appropriated in respect of all schools covered by the Bradford Scheme for the Local Management of Schools, so as to establish the Individual Schools Budget for 2019/20 be approved.

 

(3)       THE COUNCIL'S CAPITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR 2019/20 ONWARDS

 

            It be approved that:

 

a)    The Capital Investment Plan as set out at Appendix 1 to Executive Document “BB” is adopted. Commitments against reserve schemes and contingencies can only be made after a business case has been assessed by the Project Appraisal Group and approved by Executive.

 

b)   Approve the following capital expenditure schemes:

 

·         £2m Property Programme to maintain Council assets, subject to final Project Appraisal Group appraisal.

·         £1.961m for the restoration of the former Sugden End Landfill Site.

 

c)    The Chief Executive, Strategic Directors and Directors enter into commitments on capital schemes within the Capital Investment Plan subject to approval of business cases by Executive up to the approved amounts each year except that, where it is indicated that schemes are funded or partly funded from specific resources such as capital grants or contributions, revenue or capital receipts, the approved amount will be subject to the securing of those resources and be adjusted to reflect the amounts actually received.

 

d)   Where necessary, the payments arising under the Capital Investment Plan are met from loans.

 

e)    In order to provide the flexibility necessary to effectively manage the Capital Investment Plan, the Chief Executive, Strategic Directors and Directors be specifically empowered to advance or defer approved schemes subject to consultation with the Director of Finance and the availability of resources.

 

f)     Additional capital schemes shall only commence where the scheme is wholly funded from specific resources on the approval of the Director of Finance in accordance with Financial Regulations. Also the Section 151 Officer be granted delegated powers up to the authorised limit to approve new schemes subject to Executive approval and taking into account latest revenue budget projections.

 

g)   The Borrowing Limits and Prudential Indicators as set out in Appendix 2 to Executive Document “BB” are adopted by the Council. 

 

h)   The Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) policy as set out in paragraph 6 of Executive Document “BB” be approved.

 

(4)       2019/20 BUDGET PROPOSALS AND FORECAST RESERVES - S151 OFFICER'S ASSESSMENT

 

4.1      That Members had regard to the report (Document “V”) in setting the budget, and in particular note the conclusions that:

 

• the estimates presented to Council are sufficiently robust

 

• the reserves are adequate for the 2019/20 proposed budget

 

·         the projected corporate reserves, on current estimates, are adequate in the medium term, subject to the implementation of the rest of the proposed financial plan and identification of further proposals to mitigate the projected structural gap of £20-25m.

 

4.2      As with all budgets there is the potential for amendments to be proposed/agreed which could change the overall package of proposals. In that respect, it should be highlighted that this statement would be amended or added to if a decision was proposed that lead to the Council’s reserves falling below their recommended level. In addition, any other amendments would be considered against the scale of the overall budget and depending upon the extent and nature, may result in a revised statement.

 

(5)       CONSULTATION FEEDBACK AND EQUALITY ASSESSMENTS FOR THE 2019/20 AND 2020/21 COUNCIL BUDGET PROPOSALS

 

That in accordance with Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Council had regard to the information contained in Executive Document “AR”, the appendices and equality assessments to that report and the Addendum presented to Executive on 5 February 2019, when considering the Executive’s recommendations on a budget for 2019/20 and 2020/21.

 

(6)       INTERIM TRADE UNION FEEDBACK ON THE COUNCIL'S BUDGET PROPOSALS FOR THE 2019/20 AND 2020/21 COUNCIL BUDGET

 

That Council had regard to the feedback received from the Council’s Trade Unions contained in Executive Document “AS”, appendices and First Addendum presented to Executive on 5 February 2019 and the Second Addendum presented to the Executive on 19 February 2019 when considering the Executive’s recommendations on the Council’s budget for the financial years 2019/20 and 2020/21.

 

In accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 a recorded vote was taken on the Executive’s recommendation and the Council voted as follows: 

 

For the Executive’s recommendation on the Council Budget 2019/20 and 2020/21(50)

 

A Ahmed Akhtar Amran Azam Bacon Berry Dodds Duffy Dunbar Engel Farley Ferriby Firth

Godwin Green Greenwood Hinchcliffe Abid Hussain Arshad Hussain Kamran Hussain Tariq Hussain Iqbal Jabar Jamil Jenkins Johnson

H Khan I Khan S Khan Lal Lee Mir Mohammed Mullaney Nazir Peart Ross-Shaw Salam

Shabbir Shafiq Shaheen Slater Swallow Tait Thirkill Thornton Wainwright Warburton Watson Wood

Against the Recommendation (13)

 

R Ahmed Griffiths Hawkesworth Humphreys

Love Naylor N Pollard

Reid Stubbs J Sunderland

R Sunderland Ward Warnes

 

Abstentions (21)

 

The Lord Mayor Barker Brown Cooke Cromie Davies

Ellis Gibbons Herd Heseltine Khadim Hussain

M Pollard Poulsen Rickard Sajawal Shaw

B M Smith D Smith Townend Whitaker Whiteley

ACTION:        Director of Finance