The Executive at its meeting on 20 February 2018 will make recommendations to Council on the Budget for 2018/19 and 2019/20.

 

The following reports are submitted: 

 

 

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

 

The report of the Assistant Director Finance and Procurement provides details of the Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2018/19 and 2019/20 (Document “P”).

 

                                                                        (Tom Caselton – 01274 434472)

 

(ii)        Allocation of the Schools’ Budget 2018/19 Financial Year

 

The report of the Assistant Director Finance and Procurement presents and seeks approval of the recommendations of the Schools Forum in allocating the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for 2018/19 (Executive Document “BA”).

 

                                                                        (Andrew Redding – 01274 432678)

 

(iii)       The Council’s Capital Investment Plan for 2018/19 Onwards

 

The report of the Assistant Director Finance and Procurement proposes the Capital Investment Plan for 2018/19 to 2021/22 (Executive Document “BB”).

 

                                                                        (James Hopwood – 01274 432882)

                                   

(iv)       2018/19 Budget Proposals and Forecast Reserves - Section 151 Officer Assessment

 

The report of the Assistant Director Finance and Procurement (Document “Q”) sets out the S151 Officer’s assessment of the proposed budget for the financial year 2018/19, the adequacy of the forecast level of reserves and associated risks.           

                                                                                               

(Andrew Crookham – 01274 433656)

 

(v)        Consultation Feedback and Equality Assessments for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 Council budget proposals 

 

The report of the Assistant Director, Office of the Chief Executive, appendices and addenda 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 2018/19 and 2019/20 (Executive Document “AV”). 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 2018/19 and 2019/20.

 

                                                                        (Kathryn Jones – 01274 433664)

 

(vi)       Interim Trade Union Feedback on the Executive’s Budget Proposals for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 Council Budget

 

The report of the Interim Director of Human Resources, appendices and addenda provide interim feedback from the Council’s Trade Unions on the Executive’s budget proposals for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 Council budget (Executive Document “AW”).

 

                                                                        (Michelle Moverley – 01274 437883)

 

Note

 

In view of the short timescale between the Executive on 22 February and the meeting of Council on 24 February the budget recommendations from the Executive to Council will be e-mailed to all Members of Council following the Executive on 22 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.

 

Previous references:  Executive, Minutes 85, 87-88, 95 to 102 (2017/2018)

 

The Executive met on 6 and 20 February 2018 to make recommendations to Council on the Budget for 2018/19 and 2019/20.  The following reports were submitted:

 

(i)         The Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2018/19 and 2019/20

 

The report of the Assistant Director Finance and Procurement provided details of the Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2018/19 and 2019/20 (Document “P”).

.             

(ii)        Allocation of the Schools’ Budget 2018/19 Financial Year

 

The report of the Assistant Director Finance and Procurement presented and sought approval of the recommendations of the Schools Forum in allocating the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for 2018/19 (Executive Document “BA”).

 

(iii)       The Council’s Capital Investment Plan for 2018/19 Onwards

 

The report of the Assistant Director Finance and Procurement proposed the programme of capital expenditure for 2018/19 onwards (Executive Document “BB”).

 

(iv)      2018/19 Budget Proposals and Forecast Reserves Section 151 Officer’s Assessment

 

The report of the Assistant Director Finance and Procurement sets out the S151 Officer’s assessment of the proposed budget for the financial year 2018/19, the adequacy of the forecast reserves and associated risks (Document “Q”).

 

 (v)       Consultation Feedback and Equality Assessments for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 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 2018/19 and 2019/20 (Executive Document “AV”). 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 2018/19 and 2019/20.

 

(vi)       Trade Union Feedback on the Executive’s Budget Proposals for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 Council Budget

 

The report of the Interim Director of Human Resources, appendices and addenda provided feedback from the Council’s Trade Unions on the Executive’s budget proposals for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 Council budget (Executive Document “AW”)

.

An amendment to the Executive’s recommendations was moved by Councillor Cooke. The S151 Officer provided an assessment of the amendment contained in Document “R”. 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 (18)

Ali Barker Brown Cooke Davies

Ellis Gibbons Heseltine Pennington M Pollard

Poulsen Riaz Rickard Senior

B M Smith D Smith Townend Whiteley

Against the Amendment (61)

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

Griffiths Hawkesworth Hinchcliffe 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 Reid Ross-Shaw Salam Shabbir Shafiq Shaheen

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

 

Abstentions (4)

The Lord Mayor L Cromie Morris Sajawal

On the recommendation of the Executive it was,

 

Resolved -

 

(1)       The Council’s Revenue Estimates for 2018/19  

1.1     REVENUE ESTIMATES 2018/19

 

              (a)     That the Base Revenue Forecast of £371.445m for 2018/19 as set out in Document “P” (Revenue Estimates) be approved.

 

(b)      That Document “P” and the consequent net reduction in investments of £7.197m in 2018/19 be approved.

 

(c)       That Document “P” and the service savings and additional income of £6.138m in 2018/19 be approved.

 

(d)       That it be noted that within the revenue budget there is a net contribution of  £1.796m to revenue reserves in 2018/19.

 

(e)       That Document “P” and the service savings proposals for 2018/19 be approved, requiring the Chief Executive, Strategic Directors and Directors to take necessary action during 2018/19 to ensure those savings are fully achievable for 2019/20.

 

(f)   That the comments of the Assistant Director Finance and Procurement set out in Document “Q” 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 2018/19

 

            That it be noted that the projected council tax base and expenditure forecasts outlined in the report together with the 2018/19 resources and the budget variations approved at 1.1(b) and 1.1(c) above produce a proposed Band D council tax of £1,333.21 for 2018/19. 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

 

             That the first instalment date for payment of National Non-Domestic Rates and Council Tax shall be specified by the Section 151 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 Section 151 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) 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 2017/18, the Section 151 Officer be empowered to take appropriate steps to secure the best advantage for the Council's financial position.

           (b)         That the Section 151 Officer be empowered to deal with items which involve the transfer of net spending between the financial years 2017/18 and 2018/19 in a manner which secures the best advantage for the Council's financial position.

           (c)         That the Section 151 Officer report any action taken in pursuance of 1.5(a) and 1.5(b) above when reporting on the Final Accounts for 2017/18.

 

1.6         COUNCIL TAX REQUIREMENT 2018/19

 

          (a)     That the council tax base figures for 2018/19 calculated by the Executive at its meeting on 9 January 2018 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 2018/19 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 2018/19 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 2018/19 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 2018/19 over 2017/18 as set out in the table below.

 

 

(2)      ALLOCATION OF THE SCHOOLS BUDGET 2018/19 FINANCIAL YEAR

 

2.1      That the proposals from the Schools Forum for the allocation of the 2018/19 DSG as set out in Executive Document “BA” be accepted and approved.

 

2.2       That the total amount of £535.908m 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 2018/19 be approved.

 

(3)       THE COUNCIL'S CAPITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR 2018-19 ONWARDS

 

            It be approved that:

 

a)    The Capital Investment Plan as set out at Appendix 2 to Executive Document “BB”. 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 £2m Property Programme Essential Maintenance Programme, to be funded from Reserves and Contingencies (See paragraph 4.10 of Executive Document “BB”).

 

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 Section 151 Officer 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 Section 151 Officer.

 

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

 

h)   The Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) policy as set out in paragraph 7.4 of Document “BB” is approved and adopted by the Council.

 

i)  The development of the Capital Strategy in Appendix A to Executive Document “BB” is noted.

 

(4)       2018/19 BUDGET PROPOSALS AND FORECAST RESERVES - S151 OFFICER'S ASSESSMENT

 

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

 

·                     the estimates presented to Council are sufficiently robust, in the context of the overall £358m net expenditure requirement and available contingencies

 

·                     the reserves are adequate for the 2018/19 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 2018/19 AND 2019/20 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 “AV”, the appendices and equality assessments to that report and the First Addendum presented to Executive on 6 February 2018, when considering the Executive’s recommendations on a budget for 2018/19 and 2019/20.

 

(6)       TRADE UNION FEEDBACK ON THE COUNCIL'S BUDGET PROPOSALS FOR THE 2018/19 AND 2019/20 COUNCIL BUDGET

 

That Council had regard to the feedback received from the Council’s Trade Unions contained in Executive Document “AW”, appendices and First Addendum presented to Executive on 6 February 2018 and the Second Addendum presented to the Executive on 20 February 2018 when considering the Executive’s recommendations on the Council’s budget for the financial years 2018/19 and 2019/20.

 

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 2018/19 and 2019/20 (47)

 

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

Green Greenwood Hinchcliffe 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 Warburton Watson

Against the Recommendation (31)

 

R Ahmed Ali Barker Brown Cooke Davies Ellis Fear

Gibbons Griffiths Hawkesworth Heseltine Morris Naylor Pennington M Pollard

N Pollard Poulsen Reid Riaz Rickard Senior 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:       Interim Strategic Director Corporate Services/Assistant Director  Finance and Procurement/all Strategic Directors