Individual amendments to the revenue and capital budgets, including explanation, for debate.

These will be published in the Briefing Note or individual items from (b) or (c) above may be tabled at the appropriate point in the debate.

Green Group’s amendments to the revenue and capital budgets, including explanation, for debate.

These will be published in the Briefing Note.

Liberal Democrat Group’s amendments to the revenue and capital budgets, including explanation, for debate.

These will be published in the Briefing Note.

If Cabinet agrees changes to the recommendations, or changes or corrections to the published report or appendices, these will be reported to the meeting.

The Head of Financial Services submitted a report to Cabinet on 10 February 2021 to present the outcome of the budget consultation and agree the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2022-23 to 2024-25 and 2021-22 Budget for recommendation to Council.

The Cabinet decisions and any further proposed amendments to the budget will be reported in the briefing note.

Cllr Turner, the Cabinet Member for Finance and Asset Management, will present the report and propose Cabinet’s recommendations.

Amendments to the budget proposed by opposition groups or individual councillors must be received by Committee Services before 1.00pm on Tuesday 16 February 2021 and will be circulated with the briefing note published that day.

The procedure for this item is set out in Part 11.4 of the Council’s Constitution.

A recorded vote must be taken when voting to agree the final budget and medium term financial strategy.

Council is recommended to:

a.    consider Cabinet’s recommendations to Council, including the budget published as part of the agenda for this meeting along with any amendments resulting from the Cabinet meeting of 10 February;

b.    consider the substantive amendments proposed by the opposition groups; and published with the briefing note;

c.    consider any individual amendments; and

d.    agree the recommendations from the Cabinet as presented to Council, or with further amendments as decided by Council.

Recommendations: Cabinet recommends subject to decisions at their meeting on 10 February that Council resolves to:

Approve the 2021-22 General Fund and Housing Revenue Account budgets and the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Medium Term Financial Plan as set out in Appendices 1-10, noting:

a)    the Council’s General Fund Budget Requirement of £23.648 million for 2021/22 and an increase in the Band D Council Tax of 1.99% or £6.25 per annum representing a Band D Council Tax of £320.17 per annum;

b)    the Housing Revenue Account budget for 2021/22 of £46.649 million and an increase of 1.50% (£1.57 per week) in social dwelling rents from 1 April 2021 giving a revised weekly average social rent of £105.32 as set out in Appendix 5;

c)    the intention to consult Council house tenants on the setting of the initial rent on all new social housing at 5% above the formula rent whilst applying formula rent to any new builds let prior to the end of the consultation period as indicated in paragraph (paragraphs 38- 45);

d)    the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Capital Programme as shown in Appendix 6;

e)    the changes to fees and charges shown in Appendix 7;

f)     the delegation to the Section 151 Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member  for Finance and Assets the decision to determine whether it is financially advantageous for the Council to enter into a Business Rates Distribution Agreement as referred to in paragraphs 13-15 below;

g)    the payment into the County Council Pension Fund of £5 million as referred to in the Consultation Budget and paragraph 20 of the report;

h)   the inclusion of an additional loan facility of  ...  view the full agenda text for item 81

Cllr Arshad joined the meeting and Cllr Iley-Williamson left the meeting during the first part of the debate on this item.

Council had before it and considered:

·       The report of the Head of Finance to Cabinet on 10 February 2021 setting out the outcome of the budget consultation and seeking agreement of the Council’s Budget for 2021/22 and the Medium Term Financial Strategy for the following three years;

·       Cabinet’s recommendations as set out in the minutes of their meeting on 10 February 2021;

·       The Liberal Democrat group’s submitted amendments published with the briefing note;

·       The Green group’s submitted amendments published with the briefing note;

·       The Head of Finance’s comments on the amendments published with the briefing note;

·       Three individual amendments submitted and circulated at the meeting

Councillor Turner, seconded by Councillor Brown, proposed agreement of the Budget and the Medium Term Financial Strategy and the eight recommendations from Cabinet.

a)    Liberal Democrat group amendments to the budget

Councillor Roz Smith, seconded by Councillor Wade, moved the Liberal Democrat group amendments.

After debate and immediately before the vote, a named vote was requested by more than 10 councillors.

For the amendments:

Councillors Altaf-Khan, Gant, Garden, Goddard, Gotch, Landell Mills, Roz Smith, Wade (8)

Against the amendments:

Councillors Arshad, Azad, Aziz, Bely-Summers, Brown, Chapman, Clarkson, Cook, Corais, Curran, Fry, Hayes, Henwood, Hollingsworth, Howlett, Humberstone, Kennedy, Lloyd-Shogbesan, Lygo, McManners, Malik, Munkonge, Pressel, Rowley, Simm,  Linda Smith, Tanner, Tarver, Taylor, Tidball, Turner, Upton (32)

Abstentions: Councillors Simmons, Wolff (2)

With more councillors voting against than for, the Liberal Democrat amendments were not carried.

b)    Green group amendments to the budget

Cllr Simmons, seconded by Cllr Wolff, moved the Green group amendments. 

After debate and immediately before the vote, a named vote was requested by more than 10 councillors.

For the amendments:

Councillors Altaf-Khan, Gant, Garden, Goddard, Gotch, Henwood, Landell Mills, Simmons, Roz Smith, Wade, Wolff (11)

Against the amendments:

Councillors Arshad, Azad, Aziz, Bely-Summers, Brown, Chapman, Clarkson, Cook, Corais, Curran, Fry, Hayes, Hollingsworth, Howlett, Humberstone, Kennedy, Lloyd-Shogbesan, Lygo, McManners, Malik, Munkonge, Pressel, Rowley, Simm,  Linda Smith, Tanner, Tarver, Taylor, Tidball, Turner, Upton (31)

Abstentions: (0)

With more councillors voting against than for, the Green group amendments were not carried.

c)    Individual amendment to the budget

Three individual amendments were then submitted to Council for consideration.

(1) Reinstatement of the cut to Green Flag accreditation.

Cllr Wade, seconded by Cllr Landell Mills, proposed the amendment. The S151 officer confirmed the proposals were arithmetically correct.

After debate the amendment was put to the vote.

With more councillors voting against than for, the amendment was not carried.

(2) Delete payment to non-statutory second deputy leader and return funds to General Fund/reserves

The Monitoring Officer confirmed that this was covered by a general dispensation and related to future and not current recipients of special responsibility allowances. Nevertheless Cllr Hayes left the virtual meeting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81

The Head of Financial Services has submitted a report to present the outcome of the budget consultation and agree the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2022-23 to 2024-25 and 2021-22 Budget for recommendation to Council.

Recommendations:

Cabinet is asked to consider the outcome of the public consultation, agree the amendments to the Consultation Budget and recommend that Council resolves to:

Approve the 2021-22 General Fund and Housing Revenue Account budgets and the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Medium Term Financial Plan as set out in Appendices 1-10, noting:

(a)      the Council’s General Fund Budget Requirement of £23.648 million for 2021/22 and an increase in the Band D Council Tax of 1.99% or £6.25 per annum representing a Band D Council Tax of £320.17 per annum 

(b)      the Housing Revenue Account budget for 2021/22 of £46.649 million and an increase of 1.50% (£1.57 per week) in social dwelling rents from 1 April 2021 giving a revised weekly average social rent of £105.32 as set out in Appendix 5

(c)      the intention to consult Council house tenants on the setting of the initial rent on all new social housing at 5% above the formula rent whilst applying formula rent to any new builds let prior to the end of the consultation period as indicated in paragraph (paragraphs 38- 45).  

(d)      the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Capital Programme as shown in Appendix 6.

(e)        the changes to fees and charges shown in Appendix 7

(f)         the delegation to the Section 151 Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member  for Finance and Assets the decision to determine whether it is financially advantageous for the Council to enter into a Business Rates Distribution Agreement as referred to in paragraphs 13-15 below.

(g)        the payment into the County Council Pension Fund of £5 million as referred to in the Consultation Budget and paragraph 20

(h)      the inclusion of an additional loan facility of up to £1million on terms to be  agreed by the Head of Financial Services, subject to the consideration and agreement of the Shareholder and Joint Venture Panel (SHJVP) and Cabinet of report to Cabinet in March 2021 as referred to in paragraph 55.

The Head of Financial Services had submitted a report to present the outcome of the budget consultation and agree the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2022-23 to 2024-25 and 2021-22 Budget for recommendation to Council.

Councillor Ed Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance & Asset Management, introduced the report by thanking all those who had contributed to the budget consultation and to the officers for pulling together the proposals now before Cabinet. While there were, inevitably, some unwelcome proposals, the people of Oxford should not  experience too much pain as a result of this budget, despite the very great pain felt by so many as a result of the current pandemic and the considerable consequences of it for the Council. This position is mostly attributable to having drawn heavily on the Council’s reserves. It was a matter of very deep disappointment that the Government was failing to deliver on its promise of financial support for the consequences of the pandemic, to the tune of over £10m. Despite this, it had been possible, with the use of reserves, by working as efficiently as possible and making some difficult decisions, to assemble a balanced budget. It should also be noted that a one off non-consolidated pay deal for was very helpful in the present climate and illustrated the positive partnership approach with staff colleagues. He drew attention to an addendum which had been published in relation to fees for Café pavement licences, noting that it would be important to monitor the position in September when the more generous temporary Government scheme for pavement licences was due to come to an end.

Tom Bridgman, Executive Director for Development, drew attention to recommendation h) of the report, which sought an additional loan facility to OxWED. He requested that this recommendation be amended to allow for a further £150k of revenue, from reserves, to be allocated in the 21/22 budget, to support a review of OxWED's company structure. As with the loan facility, this new allocation would be subject to a further Cabinet decision, expected in March.

Nigel Kennedy, Head of Financial Services, reaffirmed the particularly challenging nature of this year’s budget setting process. Action taken over the last several  months to reset this year’s  budget had contributed to the ability to propose a balanced budget for next year. The absence of promised Government support had presented the biggest challenge.  The use of £11m of reserves represented a 30% reduction of available reserves and balances. There may be subsequent consequences for work which had been relying on earmarked reserves. Taken together the, Council’s financial resilience had inevitably been compromised.

The Chair expressed great dismay at the wholly inadequate financial support from Government and paid tribute to all those involved in preparing such a particularly challenging budget.

Cabinet resolved to agree the amendments to the Consultation Budget and recommend that Council resolves to:

Approve the 2021-22 General Fund and Housing Revenue Account budgets and the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Medium Term Financial Plan as set  ...  view the full minutes text for item 140

This report is being published as a separate supplement in parallel with this agenda.

The Head of Financial Services had submitted a report to propose a Medium Term Financial Strategy and the 2021/22 Budget for consultation.

Councillor Ed Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance & Asset Management, introduced the report in anticipation of the budget consultation which would go live following the meeting and which would conclude with a detailed budget discussion and debate at the Budget Council meeting in February. He drew attention to a few overarching factors in relation to the proposals. The impact of Covid-19 had been and would continue to be significant. The combined negative impact was expected to be about £29 million this year and over the following four years. Government support of about £8 million to date had been welcome but was not sufficient to compensate for the losses due to Covid-19 and the Council would continue to lobby for more.  The Government’s  Comprehensive Spending Review looked likely to  provide some further  limited relief. The Council’s ambition to protect front line services, particularly for the most vulnerable, was undiminished and at a time when the number of vulnerable residents had increased because of Covid-19. The ‘Oxford Model’ of protecting front line services in parallel with generating income had been severely challenged by pressure on income streams as a result of Covid-19.

Despite the good work which had been done to identify potential areas for saving alongside new potential income streams it was inevitable that a significant proportion of the Council’s reserves would have to be called upon. This was unwelcome as some of those reserves have provided an income,  many of them had been earmarked for particular purposes and the reduction would reduce the Council’s future resilience. Some proposals, such as charging for removal of bulky items and garden waste, were being put forward reluctantly but necessarily.

Cllr Turner was pleased to note that dialogue with trade union colleagues about these matters had been very positive, this included proposals for a one year rather than multi-year pay deal. It seemed likely that there would be more changes between these proposals and the final budget than would normally be the case because of a changing financial landscape as a result of anticipated Government announcements. He concluded by paying tribute to the work of the finance team in particular who had worked hard to develop these proposals while having, also, to cope with an additional operational workload.

Nigel Kennedy, Head of Financial Services, drew attention to elements of the recently announced Government Spending Review. These included a 3 month extension to the compensation scheme for sales, fees and charges; neither the fairer funding review nor the business rates reset (now delayed until April 2022) would benefit the Council; the  budget referendum limit remained at 2%; and the New Homes Bonus had been confirmed for 2021/22.

Cabinet noted the importance of making it as easy as possible for all residents to respond to the consultation by whatever means was easiest for them.

Cabinet was pleased to note that despite the very challenging financial  ...  view the full minutes text for item 99