The Executive at its meeting on 21 February 2017 will make recommendations to Council on the Budget for 2017/18 and 2018/19.

 

The following reports are submitted:

 

Previous reference:  Executive, Minutes 97 to 104 (2016/2017)

 

The Executive met on 7 and 21 February 2017 to make recommendations to Council on the Budget for 2017/18 and 2018/19.  The following reports were submitted:

 

(i)         The Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2017/18 and 2018/19

 

The report of the Strategic Director Corporate Services provided details of the Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2017/18 and 2018/19 (Document “W”).

.              

(ii)        Allocation of the Schools’ Budget 2017/18 Financial Year

 

The report of the Strategic Director Corporate Services presents and sought approval of the recommendations of the Schools Forum in allocating the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for 2017/18 (Executive Document “BH”).

 

(iii)       The Council’s Capital Investment Plan for 2017/18-2020/21

 

The report of the Strategic Director Corporate Services proposes the programme of capital expenditure for 2017/18 onwards (Executive Document “BI”).

 

(iv)       Section 151 Officer’s Assessment

 

This report of the Strategic Director Corporate Services set out the S151 Officer’s assessment of the risks related to the proposed budget for the financial year 2017/18 and the adequacy of the available mitigations in the context of the forecast reserves (Document “X”).

 

 (v)       Consultation Feedback and Equality Assessments for the 2017/18 and 2018/19 Council budget proposals 

 

The report of the Assistant Director, Office of the Chief Executive, appendices and addenda 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 2017/18 and 2018/19 (Executive Document “BA”). 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 2017/18 and 2018/19

 

(vi)       Interim Trade Union Feedback on the Executive’s Budget Proposals for the 2017/18 and 2018/19 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 2017/18 and 2018/19 Council budget (Executive Document “BB”)

.

An amendment to the Executive’s recommendations was moved by Councillor Cooke 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 Cooke’s amendment and the Council voted as follows: 

 

For the Amendment (21)

Ali Barker Brown Cooke Davies Ellis

Gibbons Heseltine Mallinson Miller Morris

Pennington M Pollard Poulsen Riaz Rickard

Shaw B M Smith D Smith Townend Whiteley

Against the Amendment (62)

A Ahmed R Ahmed Akhtar Amran Azam Bacon Berry Dodds Duffy Dunbar Engel Farley Fear Ferriby Green Greenwood

Griffiths Hinchcliffe Abid Hussain Arshad Hussain Hawarun Hussain Khadim Hussain Shabir Hussain Tariq Hussain Iqbal Jabar Jamil Johnson H Khan I Khan Lal Lee

Love Mohammed Mullaney Naylor Nazir Peart N Pollard Pullen Ross-Shaw Sajawal Salam Shabbir Shafiq Shaheen Sharp

M Slater V Slater Stelling Stubbs J Sunderland R Sunderland Swallow Tait Thirkill Thornton Wainwright Warburton Ward Warnes Watson

 

Abstentions (3)

The Lord Mayor L Cromie Hawkesworth

 

On the recommendation of the Executive it was,

 

Resolved-

 

(1)       The Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2017/18 and 2018/2019  

1.1     REVENUE ESTIMATES 2017/18

 

              (a)     That the Executive’s Amended Budget and the Base Revenue Forecast of £392.620m for 2017/18 as detailed in the amended Appendix A to Council Document “W” be approved.

 

(b)      That Executive’s Amended Budget and the consequent net investment of £20.120m in 2017/18, as detailed in the amended Appendix A to Council Document “W” be approved.

 

(c)      That Executive’s Amended Budget and the service savings and additional income of £37.543m in 2017/18, as detailed in the amended Appendix A to Council Document “W” be approved.

 

(d)     That it be noted that within the revenue budget there is a contribution of £16.835m from revenue reserves in 2017/18, as detailed in the amended Appendix A to Council Document “W”.

 

(e)      That the Executive’s amended service savings proposals for 2018/19 as detailed in the amended Appendix E to Council Document “W” be approved, requiring the Chief Executive, Strategic Directors and Directors to take necessary action during 2017/18 to ensure those savings are fully achievable for 2018/19.

 

(f)       That the comments of the Strategic Director Corporate Services set out in Council Document “X” on the robustness of the estimates and the adequacy of reserves taking account of the decisions made at 1.1(a) to (e) above be noted.

1.2     PROPOSED COUNCIL TAX 2017/18

 

1.2.1 That it be noted that the projected council tax base and expenditure forecasts outlined in this report together with the 2017/18 resources and the budget variations approved at 1.1(b) and 1.1(c) above produce a proposed Band D council tax of £1,257.86 for 2017-18. This includes a social care precept of 3.0% which is to be ring fenced for expenditure on adult social care.

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

 

1.3.1   That the first instalment date for payment of National Non-Domestic Rates and Council Tax shall be specified by the Strategic Director Corporate Services.

1.4     DELEGATION TO OFFICERS

 

1.4.1   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 Strategic Director Corporate Services 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) 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 2016/17, the Strategic Director Corporate Services be empowered to take appropriate steps to secure the best advantage for the Council's financial position.

 

           (b)         That the Strategic Director Corporate Services be empowered to deal with items which involve the transfer of net spending between the financial years 2016/17 and 2017/18 in a manner which secures the best advantage for the Council's financial position.

 

           (c)         That the Strategic Director Corporate Services report any action taken in pursuance of 1.5(a) and 1.5 (b) above when reporting on the Final Accounts for 2016/17.

 

1.6         COUNCIL TAX REQUIREMENT 2017/18

 

           (a)    That the council tax base figures for 2017/18 calculated by the Council at its meeting on 10th January 2017 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 2017/18 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, which includes the 3% social care precept:

 

 

(f)     That it be noted that for the year 2017/18 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 2017/18 in each of the categories of dwellings shown below which includes the 3% social care precept:

 

 

(h)       That Council notes the movement in Band D equivalent charges for 2017/18 over 2016/17 as set out in the table below.

 

 

(2)       ALLOCATION OF THE SCHOOLS BUDGET 2017/18 FINANCIAL YEAR

 

2.1       That the total amount of £521.321m 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 2017/18 be approved.

 

2.2      That the proposals from the Schools Forum for the allocation of the 2017/18 DSG as set out in this report be accepted and approved.

 

(3)       THE COUNCIL'S CAPITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR 2017-18 ONWARDS

 

3.1       It be approved that:

 

a)    The Capital Investment Plan as set out at Appendix 2 to Executive Document “BI” 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)   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.

 

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

 

d)   In order to provide the flexibility necessary to manage effectively 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 Strategic Director Corporate Services and the availability of resources.

 

e)    Additional capital schemes shall only commence where the scheme is wholly funded from specific resources on the approval of the Strategic Director Corporate services in accordance with Financial Regulations.

 

3.2       The Borrowing Limits and Prudential Indicators as set out in Appendix 1 to Executive Document “BI” are adopted by the Council. 

 

3.3       The Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) policy as set out in paragraph 3.2 of this report is approved and adopted by the Council.

 

(4)       S151 OFFICER'S ASSESSMENT OF THE ROBUSTNESS OF THE PROPOSED BUDGET ESTIMATES FOR 2017/18, AND OF THE ADEQUACY OF FORECAST FINANCIAL RESERVES

 

That Members have regard to Council Document “X” and in particular note the Director of Corporate Services’ conclusions that:

 

• the estimates presented to Council are sufficiently robust for the purpose of calculating the budgetary requirement 

 

• the reserves are adequate for the 2017/18 proposed budget, and will be drawn on in accordance with proposed plan and reserves policy, recognising that estimates will be subject to review as part of the rolling planning cycle

 

• the projected corporate reserves to 2020/21 would, on current estimates, be adequate, subject to the implementation of the rest of the proposed financial plan.

 

(5)       CONSULTATION FEEDBACK AND EQUALITY ASSESSMENTS FOR THE 2017/18 AND 2018/19 COUNCIL BUDGET PROPOSALS

 

That in accordance with Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, Council has regard to the information contained in Executive Document “BA”, the appendices and equality assessments to that report and the First Addendum presented to Executive on 7 February 2017, together with the information contained in the Second Addendum presented to Executive on 21 February 2017 when considering the Executive’s recommendations on setting the Council budget for 2017/18 and 2018/19.

 

(6)       INTERIM TRADE UNION FEEDBACK ON THE COUNCIL'S BUDGET PROPOSALS FOR THE 2017/18 AND 2018/19 COUNCIL BUDGET

 

That Council has regard to the feedback received from the Council’s Trade Unions contained in Executive Document “BB” and appendices presented to Executive on 7 February 2017 and the addendum presented to the Executive on 21 February 2017 when considering the Executive’s recommendations on the Council’s budget for the financial years 2017/18 and 2018/19.

 

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 2017/18 and 2018/19 (49)

 

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

Greenwood Hinchcliffe Abid Hussain Arshad Hussain Khadim Hussain Shabir Hussain Tariq Hussain Iqbal Jabar Jamil Johnson H Khan

I Khan Lal Lee Mohammed Mullaney Nazir Peart Pullen Ross-Shaw Sajawal Salam Shabbir

Shafiq Shaheen Sharp M Slater V Slater Swallow Tait Thirkill Thornton Wainwright Warburton Watson

 

Against the Recommendation (32)

 

R Ahmed Ali Barker Brown Cooke Davies Ellis Fear

Gibbons Griffiths Hawkesworth Heseltine Mallinson Miller Morris Naylor

Pennington M Pollard N Pollard Poulsen Riaz Rickard Shaw B M Smith

D Smith Stelling Stubbs J Sunderland R Sunderland Townend Ward Whiteley

Abstentions (5)

 

The Lord Mayor L Cromie

Hawarun Hussain

Love

Warnes

ACTION:        Strategic Director Corporate Services