Agenda and decisions

Cabinet - Thursday, 30 January 2025 2.00 pm

Venue: Committee Room 1, County Hall, Matlock

Contact: Democratic Services  Email: democratic.services@derbyshire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

2.

To receive declarations of interest (if any)

3.

To consider Minority Group Leader questions (if any)

Minority Group Leaders in attendance at the meeting are able to ask a question on a report on the agenda. Any questions should be provided in writing by 12 noon at least 2 working days before the meeting.

4.

To approve, as a correct record, the non-exempt minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2025. pdf icon PDF 78 KB

5.

Reserves Position and Reserves Policy pdf icon PDF 249 KB

Decision:

RESOLVED to:

 

1)    Note the current position on Earmarked Reserves:

 

2)    Note the details of the amounts to be released from Earmarked Reserves balances to the General Reserve:

 

3)    Note that the £30.000m released from the Earmark Reserves is expected to be fully required to mitigate the forecast 2024-25 overspend, with the balance being funded from the Revenue Contributions to Capital Expenditure Earmarked Reserve held to support revenue budget management, and so ensure that the General Reserve balance remains at a minimum level; and

 

4)    Approve the Reserves Policy at Appendix five to the report.

 

 

6.

Budget Consultation Results pdf icon PDF 244 KB

Decision:

RESOLVED:

 

To note and take into account the views of the consultation respondents in formulating its proposals to Full Council regarding the Revenue Budget for 2025-26.

 

 

7.

Revenue Budget Report 2025-26 pdf icon PDF 164 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED to

 

1)    recommend to Council that it:

 

a.     Notes the details of the Autumn Budget 2024, the Local Government Finance Policy Statement 2025-26 and Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2025-26 and other announcements as outlined in Section six and Appendix five of the report;

 

b.     Notes the Government’s expectations about Council Tax levels for 2025-26 in Appendix five;

 

c.     Approves the precepts as outlined in Appendix five;

 

d.     Approves that billing authorities are informed of Council Tax levels arising from the budget proposals as outlined in Section six and Appendix five;

 

e.     Approves the contingency to cover non-standard inflation as outlined in Appendix six. The contingency to be allocated by the Director of Finance, as S151 Officer once non-standard inflation has been agreed;

 

f.       Approves the budget pressures in Section seven and service pressure items identified in Appendix six;

 

g.     Approves the funding change to budgets to replace one off funding provided in 2024-25 as outlined in Appendix six;

 

h.     Notes the shortfall between ongoing available funding and expenditure met by the use of one-off savings and reserves as outlined in Section eight;

 

i.        Approves the level and allocation of budget savings as outlined in Section nine and Appendix seven;

 

j.        Notes the remaining budget gap over the period of the Five- Year Financial Plan as outlined in Section nine and Appendices seven and eight;

 

k.     Notes the comments of the Director of Finance, as S151 Officer, about the robustness of the estimates and adequacy of the reserves as outlined in Section five and Appendix four.

 

l.        Notes the details of the Council’s consultation activity as outlined in Section eleven and set out in the Budget Consultation Results report;

 

m.  Approves the Council Tax requirement of £441,021,660 which is calculated as follows:

 

£

Budget Before Non-Inflationary Pressures and Budget Reductions

735,056,862

Plus Service Pressures – ongoing

57,968,173

Plus Adult Social Care Precept

8,350,129

Plus Service Pressures - one-off

1,705,000

Less Budget Reductions

-37,499,000

Decrease in Debt Charges - ongoing

-7,834,550

Increase in Other Corporate Budgets - ongoing

3,638,056

Increase in Other Corporate Budgets – one-off

8,467,000

Increase in Interest and Dividend Receipts

-97,126

Net Budget Requirement

769,754,544

Less Top-Up

-102,944,664

Less Business Rates

-22,816,447

Less Revenue Support Grant

-19,164,084

Less New Homes Bonus

-822,716

Less General Grant

-170,523,272

Less PFI Grant

-10,503,833

Less Use of Earmarked Reserves

-1,957,868

Balance to be met from Council Tax

441,021,660

 

n.     Approves the use of the Revenue Contributions to Capital Expenditure Earmarked Reserve to provide one-off support to the 2025-26 Revenue Budget.

 

o.     Authorises the Director of Finance, as S151 Officer, to allocate cash limits amongst Cabinet portfolios; Executive Directors will then report to Cabinet on the revised Service Plans for 2025-26: and

 

2)    Approve the Corporate Charging Strategy as set out in Appendix 9A, along with the Fees and Charges to be levied from 1 April 2025 as set out in Appendix 9B.

8.

Capital Programme Approvals, Treasury Management and Capital Strategies for 2025-26 pdf icon PDF 655 KB

Decision:

RESOLVED to recommend to Council that it:

 

1)    Approves the new Capital Starts Programme as set out in Appendix Two, including the reallocation of existing borrowing approvals (Section 2.5 of Appendix 2), and approves the procurement and award of contracts which support the delivery of the Capital Programme. All contract awards will then be subject to approval by Executive Directors (via an Executive Director Report) under the relevant Departmental Scheme of Delegation;

 

2)    Approves the detailed Planned Asset Maintenance Programme for 2025-26 as set out in Appendix Three;

 

3)    Adopts the Treasury Management Strategy for 2025-26 as set out in Appendix Four;

 

4)    Adopts the Investment Strategy for 2025-26 as set out in Appendix Five;

 

5)    Adopts the Capital Strategy for 2025-26 set out in Appendix Six;

 

6)    Approves the changes to the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) policy from 1 April 2024 and adopts the Minimum Revenue Provision Statement for 2024-25 and 2025-26 set out in Appendix Seven; and

 

7)    Adopts the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy as set out in Appendix Eight / paragraph 4.7.

9.

Council Plan and Departmental Service Plans 2025-2029 pdf icon PDF 142 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED to:

 

1)    Agree the authority’s Council Plan for 2025-29 and Departmental Service Plans for 2025-29 and recommend them to Full Council for approval; and

 

2)    Note the Strategic Objectives Implementation Plan 2025-29.

10.

Capital Bid for the Expansion of the Derbyshire County Council Internal Children Homes pdf icon PDF 798 KB

Decision:

RESOLVED:

 

To approve the proposed scheme of provision for Children’s Homes subject to the sufficient allocation of the budget by Council in February 2025.

11.

East Midlands Combined County Authority - Approval of Draft Adult Education Functions Regulations 2025 pdf icon PDF 128 KB

Decision:

RESOLVED to:

 

1)    Consent to the proposed content of the East Midlands Combined County Authority (Adult Education Functions) Regulations 2025 as described in the report to include the conferral of the powers contained within S.100(1B) of the Apprenticeship, Skill, Children and Learning Act 2009; and

 

2)    Delegate to the Managing Director authority to approve any additional technical amendments, which the Chief Executives of the other three Constituent Council’s and the Mayor of East Midlands Combined County Authority also agree to. This delegation is to be exercised in consultation with the Leader of the Council and in light of further legal advice from the Director of Legal and Democratic Services.

12.

Exclusion of the Public

To move “That under Regulation 4 (2)(b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England)  Regulations 2012, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that in view of the nature of the items of business, that if members of the public were present, exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 would be disclosed to them.”

13.

To approve, as a correct record, the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2025.

14.

CTP717 Discretionary Manager for Derbyshire Pension Fund Direct Property Asset Management

Decision:

RESOLVED:

 

To approve the recommendations as detailed in the not for publication report.