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Issue

Issue - meetings

Portsmouth City Council Revenue Budget 2017/18 - Savings Proposals

Meeting: 13/12/2016 - Full Council (Item 10.)

10. Portsmouth City Council Revenue Budget 2017/18 - Savings Proposals pdf icon PDF 461 KB

To receive and consider the attached report of the Cabinet held on 8 December 2016, the recommendations for which will follow.

Additional documents:


Meeting: 13/12/2016 - Full Council (Item 9.)

9. New Sports and Leisure Contracts - Prudential Borrowing Requirement pdf icon PDF 169 KB

To receive and consider the attached report of the Cabinet held on 8 December 2016, the recommendations for which will follow.


Meeting: 08/12/2016 - Cabinet (Item 8.)

8. Portsmouth City Council Revenue Budget 2017/18 - Savings Proposals pdf icon PDF 461 KB

The report by the Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer describes the financial challenge facing the City Council for the three years 2017/18 to 2019/20 and the likely implications for Council services to businesses and residents.

 

RECOMMENDED to Council

 

(1)That the following be approved:

(a) The Medium Term Financial Strategy set out in Section 8

(b) That the Council's Budget for 2017/18 be prepared on the basis of a 3.99% Council Tax increase

(c) That in the event that the Council has the ability to increase the level of Council Tax beyond 2% in order to fund Adult Social Care pressures, and if the Council elects to do so, that any additional funding that arises is passported direct to Adult Social Care to provide for otherwise unfunded cost pressures.

(d) The savings proposals for each Portfolio amounting, in total, to £9m for 2017/18 and continuing into future years as set out in Appendix A to enable appropriate consultation and notice periods to be given to affected parties

(e) That the criteria for the use of the Voluntary Sector Capacity & Transition Fund be replaced with the following:

i) Overall fit with the Council's objectives - providing services

consistent with the Council's responsibilities that are not replicated elsewhere

ii) Integration and/or collaboration with other voluntary sector partners - demonstrating a willingness to transform and build voluntary sector capacity on a sustainable basis

iii) Deliverability - proposals are costed robustly and plans

demonstrate that they can be confidently delivered

iv) Sustainability - a single application for a 1 year, 2 year or 3 year

award which demonstrates an operating model that will endure

without further funding from the Council

v) Cost Avoidance - illustration of how the proposal avoids costs

elsewhere "in the system" and / or improves the integration and

efficiency of the voluntary sector as a whole

vi) Potential for further Transformation - the extent to which the

proposal could drive further transformation and capacity of the

voluntary sector in the future

vii) Wider economic impacts

 

(2)  That the following be noted:

(a) The Budget Savings Requirement for 2017/18 of £9m approved by the

City Council was based on a Council Tax increase of 3.99%; each 1%

change (increase or decrease) in the Council Tax results in a change to

the savings requirement of £652,0001[1]

(b) The key themes arising from the budget consultation

(c) The indicative savings proposals set out in Appendix B which are provided for the purpose of demonstrating to the Council that the Portfolio savings as recommended in paragraph 1 (d) above are robust and deliverable

(d) The likely impact of savings as set out in Appendix B based on the scale of the Portfolio savings as recommended in paragraph 1(d)

(e) The Local Council Tax Support Scheme for 2017/18 was approved by the City Council on 15 November 2016, the associated savings are now

reflected in the overall savings requirement of £9m; the scheme itself has now been approved and that scheme is not the subject of this report, the proposals in this report simply reflect the associated budget position

(f) That the responsibility of the City Council is to approve the overall Budget and the associated cash limits of its Portfolios and Committees; it is not the responsibility of the City Council to approve any individual savings within those Portfolios / Committees

(g) That it is the responsibility of the individual Portfolio Holders (not the City Council) to approve the individual savings proposals and the Portfolio Holder can therefore, in response to any consultation, alter, amend or substitute any of the indicative savings proposal(s) set out in Appendix B with alternative proposal(s) amounting to the same value within their Portfolio

(h) Managers will commence the implementation of the approved savings required and any necessary consultation process or notice process

(i) That there is no general provision for Budget Pressures and that it is the responsibility of the Portfolio Holder to manage any Budget Pressures which arise from the overall resources available to the Portfolio (which includes their Portfolio Reserve)

(j) In accordance with the approved financial framework, it is the

responsibility of the Portfolio Holder, in consultation with the Director of

Finance & Information Services (S151 Officer), to release funds from the

Portfolio Reserve in accordance with the provisions set out in paragraph

10.15 of the report

(k) The MTRS Reserve held to fund the upfront costs associated with Spend to Save Schemes, Invest to Save Schemes and redundancies currently holds a very modest uncommitted balance of £3.0m and will only be replenished from an approval to the transfer of any non-Portfolio

underspends at year end into this reserve



[1] Tax increases will be subject to Council Tax referendum thresholds which are at this stage unknown

Additional documents:

Decision:

The detailed recommendations 1 (a)-(e) and 2 (a)-(k) as set out at Section 3 of the Section 151 Officer's report were supported for referral to Council for approval on 13th December.

 

(N.B. as this item is referred to Council for approval it is not subject to call-in)