Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made.

Minority Group Leaders in attendance at the meeting are able to ask questions on agenda items. Any questions should be provided in writing no later than 12 noon on the day before the meeting.

No questions were received.

Councillor S Spencer introduced the report, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, asking Cabinet to note the current and forecast positions for both General and Earmarked Reserves as well as seeking approval of the Reserves Policy.

Councillor Spencer added that the Council’s reserve balances were in a healthy position and expressed thanks to all the hard work undertaken by members and officers in the preparation of the report.

The Executive Director for Corporate Services and Transformation confirmed that he was satisfied, as the Council’s Section 151 Officer, that the level of reserves was robust for the medium term.

RESOLVED to:

1)    Note the current position on Earmarked Reserves;

2)    Note the details of the amounts to be released from Earmarked Reserves balances;

3)    Note the allocation of £3.707m Earmarked Reserves released to the Budget Management Earmarked Reserve; and

4)    Approve the updated Reserves Policy.

Councillor S Spencer introduced the report, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, presenting the outcome of the Council’s budget consultation exercises used in formulating proposals for the Revenue Budget for 2022-23.

Councillor Spencer added that he was pleased with the level of public engagement in the process and that it was particularly interesting to hear representations based on service users’ personal experiences.

RESOLVED to:

Agree to take into account the views of consultation respondents in formulating proposals to Full Council regarding the Revenue Budget for 2022-23.

Councillor Spencer introduced the report, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, setting out proposals to Full Council regarding the Revenue Budget and Council Tax for 2022-23.

Councillor Spencer said that he would continue to lobby the government for a multiyear financial settlement which would enable more effective long term future planning to be carried out.

He acknowledged the financial hardships felt by residents as a result of recent events such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and had concluded that a pragmatic and sensible council tax rise was proposed. He paid tribute to the way financial information was now presented which has enabled a more evidenced and effective budget proposal which was focused on the needs of the population.

Councillor Spencer highlighted several acute pressure areas in the budget such as those in Adult Social Care, Children’s Services and Highways. He also noted the impact of the National Living Wage increase.

The Executive Director of Corporate Services and Transformation, as the Council’s Section 151 Officer, confirmed that he was satisfied that the estimates in the budget were robust.

RESOLVED to recommend to Council on 2 February that it:

1)    Notes the details of the Autumn Budget, Spending Review 2021 and Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement as outlined in sections 4.3 and 4.4 of the report;

2)    Notes the Government’s expectations about Council Tax levels for 2022-23 in section 4.5 of the report;

3)    Approves the precepts as outlined in section 4.5 and Appendix Four; of the report;

4)    Approves that billing authorities are informed of Council Tax levels arising from the budget proposals as outlined in section 4.5 and Appendix Four of the report;

5)    Approves the contingency to cover non-standard inflation as outlined in section 4.7 of the report. The contingency to be allocated by the Executive Director, Corporate Services and Transformation, as S151 Officer, once nonstandard inflation has been agreed;

6)    Approves the service pressure items identified in section 4.8 and Appendix Five of the report;

7)    Approves the level and allocation of budget savings as outlined in section 4.9 and Appendix Six of the report;

8)    Notes the comments of the Executive Director, Corporate Services and Transformation, as S151 Officer, about the robustness of the estimates and adequacy of the reserves as outlined in section 4.10 of the report;

9)    Notes the details of the Council’s consultation activity as outlined in section 5 of the report;

10)                  Approves the Council Tax requirement of £369.688m which is calculated as follows:

11)                  Approves the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26/22

Councillor S Spencer introduced the report, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, seeking approval of the proposals for submission to Council relating to the capital starts programme for 2022-23 and the Treasury Management, Investment and Capital Strategies.

Councillor Spencer highlighted several exciting schemes, such as improvements to schools, which would deliver better services to residents.

RESOLVED to recommend to Council on 2 February that it:

1)    Approves the new Capital Starts Programme for 2022-23 set out in Appendix Two to the report;

2)    Adopts the Treasury Management Strategy for 2022-23 set out in Appendix Three to the report;

3)    Adopts the Investment Strategy for 2022-23 set out in Appendix Four to the report; and

4)    Adopts the Capital Strategy for 2022-23 set out in Appendix Five to the report.

Councillor A Dale introduced a report, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, seeking approval for the basis for calculating mainstream school and academy budgets for 2022-23.

Councillor Dale said that although the report was largely technical in nature, he was pleased to note a 6.5% interest in the funding stream which would help to partly offset the current high level of inflation.  

RESOLVED to:

1)   Note the overall DSG settlement for 2022-23 and the Supplementary Grant for schools;

2)   Note the Schools Block allocation for 2022-23;

3)   Note the National Funding Formula multipliers set out in Appendix 2 to the report;

4)   Approve the local mainstream formula multipliers set out in Appendix 3 to the report as the basis for calculating Derbyshire school and academy budgets;

5)   Approve a Minimum Funding Guarantee of 1% per pupil for 2022-23;

6)   Approve that no cap on individual school gains will be applied in 2022-23;

7)   Approve the request from the Schools Forum to de-delegate/top-slice funds from LA maintained primary and secondary schools’ 2022-23 budgets for the services listed at Appendix 4 to the report;

8)   Approve that any matters of detail regarding the calculation of school budgets be delegated to the Executive Director for Children’s Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education; and

9)   Agree to receive further reports on the other DSG blocks at future meetings.