Agenda item

To consider a report of the Director of Finance recommending that the Committee recommend to Full Council the updated revenue budget for 2023/24; proposed revenue budget for 2024/25; and the indicative revenue budget for 2025/26 & 2026/27, all of which form the Council's Medium-Term Financial Plan.

Alison Scott, Director of Finance, stated that Agenda Items 5, 6 and 7 were for noting, and that the recommendations relating to these reports were set out in Item 8: Financial Planning – Recommendations.

[It was noted that the summary of Item 5 on the agenda front page was a restatement of the first paragraph of the report under the subheading “Summary”; and that the agenda front page summary did not accurately reflect the report’s recommendation which was that the report be noted].

Ms Scott presented the report and, in so doing, noted that the report set out the “Roll Forward” budgets, including Period 8 Monitoring, and that these were for noting and would form the basis of any budget decisions that would be taken to Full Council.

The Recommendation was that the budget report be submitted directly to Full Council.

In the subsequent discussion, the following points were made.

a)    Regarding District Elections under the column headed “Leader”, and the figure of 142,870 under the “Spend to Date” column on page 28 of the report (page 40 of the agenda pack), and the Officer Comment in the end column that the “May 2023 election costs to be recharged”, it was confirmed that the Council had to recharge election costs to other bodies. It was anticipated that, once this had been done, this would bring this item back into budget.

b)    Regarding “Police Commissioner Election” under the column headed “Leader”, also on page 28 of the report, and the Officer Comment: “May 2021 election claim currently with the Cabinet Office” in the end column, it was confirmed that the Council was awaiting a refund from the Cabinet Office in respect of the May 2021 Police Commissioner election, and that officers had communicated with the Cabinet Office about processing this refund.

It was proposed by Councillor Cox, seconded by the Chair, that the Council write to Gagan Mohindra, MP for South West Hertfordshire, to request that the Cabinet Office repay the Council any monies owed in respect of the May 2021 Police Commissioner election.

The Chair then put the proposal to a vote, the results of which were, as follows:

For:                 9

Against:          3

Abstentions:   0

c)     It was noted that, regarding the 2023/24 budget forecast position, that the forecast outturn was less than had previously been reported to the Committee.

d)    The Council had signed up to UK 100 indicating that the Council wished to be one of the best Districts for meeting Net Zero before central government’s target of 2050, that is, by meeting Net Zero by 2045. However, at the current rate of progress, it was stated that the Council was not going to meet that target. Therefore, it was proposed that there be an amendment to the budget and that £50,000 be kept in the Council’s reserve funds to be allocated to the Council’s Climate Change and Sustainability Team’s Project fund.

It was further proposed that this funding could be used to seek additional funds, including turning pilot schemes into permanent schemes, such as the “Fast Followers” pilot scheme; for action on some of the less expensive items in the Council’s Sustainability Strategy; and to pay for expertise when this might be required, including training staff.

The Chair confirmed to Councillor Mitchell, who had proposed the amendment to the budget, that he would not be disappointed with regard to his request for additional funding for the Council’s Climate Change and Sustainability Team’s Project fund.

e)    Regarding the possible reduction in election costs that could be achieved by reducing the frequency of elections, and the cost of by-elections in the Chorleywood South ward over the last year, it was confirmed that officers would provide this information.

f)      Referring to the main items that contributed to the net favourable services variation of £0.114 million (Paragraph 2.4 on Page 4 of the report: Page 16 of the agenda pack), it was noted that the reduction in pension deficit following the [triennial] valuation was not within the Council’s control. Therefore, the Council’s overspend could have been greater than the last forecast, with a corresponding impact on the Council’s policies, but for the reduction in the pension deficit,

It was stated that, when considering the Table at Paragraph 2.4, it was necessary to refer to the supplementary estimates and variances, that is, the variance compared to the original budget, plus carry forwards. It was noted, with regard to the variances, that the pay award, which was over what was in the budget, had been a significant factor.

Referring to the positive variances because of interest that had been earned, as set out in Appendix 2 of the report, and market expectations that next year there would be a fall in interest rates, assumptions by officers about next year’s budget were based on market forecasts indicating that interest rates would not drop until later in the year. Therefore, there would be some additional income from interest earned and the saving in Employer’s Contribution because of the actuarial valuation.

At this stage of the proceedings, the Chair stated that a request had been received from a Member of the Public, Mr Steven Swain, to address the Committee on this item. Specifically, Mr Swain wished to address the Committee on funding for the Council’s Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy.

The Chair informed Mr Swain that he had three minutes in which to make his presentation.

Presentation by Mr Steven Swain

Mr Swain stated that he had prepared a presentation on the Council’s Climate Change Strategy and that he was encouraged to hear [in response to a proposal that there be an amendment to the Council’s budget, as set out in the report before the Committee] that the Council was going to make additional funding available to support the Council’s Climate Change Strategy (“the strategy”).

Mr Swain stated that he wanted to highlight how little the Council spent on its Climate Change Strategy, which he estimated was less than 0.5% of the Council’s revenue budget. Therefore, the suggestion that the Council would provide an additional £50,000 would double that figure but that it was still a small amount as the Council’s strategy would cost millions to implement.

The last Climate Change Action Plan that the Council had adopted had 134 action points to be completed by the end of 2023. 57 of these action points had not been completed, which was a serious underperformance by the Council. He proposed that if the Climate Change and Sustainability Team only had an additional £50,000 in which to carry out its work, this was not enough to allow implementation of the Council’s strategy.

Mr Swain stated there was an organisation called Climate Emergency UK which rated all local councils and in 2023, only three of the 10 District Councils in Hertfordshire rated worse than Three Rivers District Council.

Regarding government’s intention to provide an additional £600 million funding for local Councils, Mr Swain proposed that using government money to pump prime the Council’s Sustainability Team would be a good and cost efficient use of that funding. This would place the Council in a better position to access external funding, thereby allowing the Council to improve its Climate Change Strategy implementation record.

The Chair thanked Mr Swain for his presentation and confirmed that sustainability was at the core of every officer report.

In conclusion, the Chair proposed that the Committee note the report.

RESOLVED: That the Committee –

1.     Instruct officers write to Gagan Mohindra, MP for South West Hertfordshire, to request that the Cabinet Office repay the Council any monies owed in respect of the May 2021 Police Commissioner election; and

2.     Note the report of the Director of Finance.