Minutes:
Neil Wilcox, the Council’s newly appointed Assistant Director Finance & Audit gave a verbal update on the Council’s revenue budget position and the savings options under consideration to close the budget gap. The Council had a statutory duty to set a balanced revenue budget each year, and the savings requirement for 2017-18 was in excess of £12m from a budget of circa £100m.
A wide range of potential savings were under consideration across the Council, including the £500,000 contribution to the affordability gap relating to schools PFI. Mr Wilcox stated that the Council was seeking to be open and transparent in flagging this matter up to the Forum and that he had already briefed the Chair and Vice-Chair. He provided assurance that there would be full consultation and a clear understanding of the impacts before any decisions were taken early in 2017. He also indicated that a phased approach was likely to be taken if the saving was progressed and that the Council would come back to the Forum in January once the work on the funding formula and Council budget was further advanced and discussions had been held with the Cabinet.
Maggie Waller and Carol Pearce expressed concerns about the proposal and explained the significant amount on work done on this issue as part of the original PFI pilot. A recent report regarding possible options had been given to Neil Wilcox and this was welcomed. The legislative basis for such action was queried as this would not be a formula redistribution and it was requested that any future paper include clear information on this, any written DfE advice received as well as models of any impact. It was also recognised that the timescales were tight. Maggie Waller requested that the Council update the Forum on its thinking by the end of December.