Cabinet Budget Report Jan 2011

BRISTOL CITY COUNCILCABINET27 JANUARY 2011

Report of:Service Director, FinanceTitle:Revenue Budget 2011/12Ward: CitywideOfficer presenting report:Peter RobinsonContact telephone number:0117 922 2419RECOMMENDATION

That the Cabinet determine its recommendations to Council in respectof the level of council tax and the revenue budget for 2011/12.

Report Summary

The report

summarises the budget process and provides information inrelation to the final draft budget proposals. Original proposals forbudget reductions were published on 7 October 2010.The significant issues in the report are:

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the draft budget proposals - substantial council-wide reductionstotalling £28m have been identified within the draft budget proposals.This is an unprecedented level of reductions - equivalent to 7% of thecouncil's total net spending and thus carries a high degree of risk.Change programmes, delivery plans and, crucially, budgets will needto be closely monitored during the year to ensure that reductions arebeing delivered;

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freeze in the level of council tax for 2011/12 for council services;

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other areas of risk;

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the equalities impact assessment.

Policy

1.The Council's constitution requires that the Cabinet publishes its

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budget recommendations to Council at least 15 working days beforethe Council budget meeting on 22 February 2011.

Consultation

2.The budget proposals are considered deliverable by the StrategicLeadership Team.The original proposals were also been submitted to the Trade UnionExecutive Forum and directorate JCCs.The Resources Scrutiny Commission has examined the budget in-depth over a series of public meetings. At the time of publication theresults are not available. The Commission is due to meet on 25January to finalise its submission to the Cabinet.

External

3.Proposals to save £22m from the revenue budget were published inearly October, following the consultation carried out via the 'BudgetConversation' initiative during the Summer. Due to the lateannouncement of the grant settlement details, it has not beenpossible to finalise the budget proposals in line with the normaltimescales. Comments on the final proposals received after thisCabinet meeting will be available to members at the budget fixingmeeting on 22 February. These have been invited via a specialedition of Our City and the council's website, with a closing date of 9February.4.From the initial consultation, ideas were invited about how the councilshould best set its spending priorities for the coming year, andbeyond. The comments returned largely fell into around 70 differentthemes. These are summarised, together with the Council's outlineresponses in Appendix 4. More details of comments received areavailable from Corporate Consultation.5.The draft budget proposals have also been sent to GWE BusinessWest, as coordinators of non-domestic ratepayers in the city.

Background

6. The Council's net spend in 2010/11 is £393m. Taking into accountspend from specific government grants, total spend amounts to£690m.7. Options to reduce spending by £22m were identified earlier in theyear in response to the Medium Term Financial Plan projections

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which assumed 5% per annum reductions in government grant.Further announcements by the new government indicated that thereduction was likely to be 25% over the four years, 2011/12 to2014/15. Following publication of the Comprehensive SpendingReview (CSR) in October, the reductions in grant were assessed as27% in real terms (23% in cash terms), with front-loading in 2011/12.As a result, a requirement to save a further £6m in 2011/12 wasidentified.8. A summary of the draft budget proposals is attached at Appendix 1,together with details for each directorate. These do not reflect thelatest changes in organisational structure, but a revised format will beavailable for the report to the Council budget meeting. Further detailsof the proposals for growth and reductions, by directorate, areincluded at Appendix 2).9. The changes identified from the original budget proposals are set outin Appendix 3, together with the relevant service delivery implications,where appropriate.10.The draft budget proposals would mean a freeze in the council taxfor 2011/12 (ie the band D tax would remain at £1,338.95 for the citycouncil's own services). The freeze is possible because of additionalfunding provided by the government for those authorities which wouldotherwise be increasing council tax by 2.5%. The grant that would bereceived on this basis would be £4.524m.11.Spending in 2010/11 has been reviewed. Based on expenditure tothe end of November, total spending for the year is projected to bewithin budget by the year end. Strong service and financialmanagement arrangements will be continue to be applied through theremainder of the year to ensure this position is maintained. Asummary of the overall position is set out in Appendix 5. More detailsfor each directorate, showing the projected outturn against budget forthe main service activities, is available from the Corporate FinanceTeam.12.Bristol's share of the estimated deficit on the council tax collectionfund at 31 March 2011 has been determined at £1.45m. This is in linewith the position forecast earlier in the year and reflects a significantreduction in the number of single adult discount claims and anincrease in the number of exemptions due to student occupiedproperty and empty property. In terms of collection performance, theactual collection rate is on target for the year at 95.1%. To the end ofDecember, collection was 83.8%% against a target of 83.9%.In addition, a further sum of £0.76m also needs to be taken into

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