Agenda and minutes

Employees' Consultative Forum - Wednesday 10 January 2024 6.30 pm

Venue: The Auditorium - Harrow Council Hub, Kenmore Avenue, Harrow, HA3 8LU. View directions

Contact: Andrew Seaman, Senior Democratic & Electoral Services Officer  Tel: 07928 512790 E-mail:  andrew.seaman5@harrow.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

10.

Attendance by Reserve Members

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

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Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no Reserve Members in attendance.

11.

Appointment of Vice Chair of the Forum

To appoint a Vice-Chair from the Employees’ side for the Municipal Year 2023/24.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To appoint Davis Searles as Vice-Chair of the Employees’ Consultative Forum for the 2023/2024 Municipal Year.

12.

Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from all Members present.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED: To note that the following interests were declared:

 

Agenda Item 8 – Draft Revenue Budget 2023/24 and Medium Term Financial Strategy 2023/24 to 2025/26

 

Councillor Graham Henson declared a non-pecuniary interest in that he had been a member of the GMB.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

 

Councillor Natasha Proctor declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she had been a member of the GMB.  She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

13.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 115 KB

That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 January 2023 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 January 2023, be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

14.

Petitions

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that no petitions were received.

15.

Deputations

To receive deputations (if any).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received.

16.

Public Questions

To note any public questions received.

 

Questions will be asked in the order in which they were received.  There will be a time limit of 15 minutes for the asking and answering of public questions.

 

[The deadline for receipt of public questions if 3.00 pm, Friday 5 January 2024.  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk No person may submit more than one question].

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were received.

Recommended Items

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17.

Draft Revenue Budget 2024/25 and Draft Medium Term Financial Strategy to 2026/27 pdf icon PDF 501 KB

Report of the Interim Director of Finance and Assurance.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Forum received a report of the Interim Director of Finance and Assurance which set out the draft revenue budget for 2024/25 and draft Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) to 2026/27 that had been considered by Cabinet on 18 December 2023. The budget and MTFS would be submitted to Cabinet in February 2024 for approval along with a recommendation to Council.

 

The report was introduced by the Chair who highlighted that the Council continued to face financial challenges, however, compared to the 2022/23 financial year the Council had a more complete budget to present the Forum. It was maintained that challenges for future years remained for years 2 and 3 within the current budget.  

 

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Human Resources added that the budget for 2024/25 was balanced with a council tax increase of 4.99% proposed. Figures for years 2026 and 2027 were mostly assumptions due to a lack of direction from Government. The Council’s biggest challenges was the provision of Adults and Children Services – a national challenge also – the Council had planned to increase the budgets for these services by circa £5.5m for 2024/25 and an extra £4m over the following 2 years. There was confidence that this funding would support these services.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Human Resource continued by raising that fees and charges had increased by an average of 7% which was based on inflation. In addition, the final settlement received was better than expected and had been put aside as a contingency to support the balancing of future budgets.

 

The Chair explained that the current financial year had a knock on effect for future years. Th average overspend for a London Council was £10m but the London Borough of Harrow had an overspend of £1.3m as at the last period. There was confidence that financial pressures for the Council would be reduced for future financial years.  Furthermore, it was explained that unlike other council’s, this council did not have the reserves to support the budget and therefore emphasised the need for the budget to be balanced and to not overspend.

 

It was noted that the Council’s reserves stood at roughly £16m and that 80% of it’s income came from council tax. The Interim Director of Finance and Assurance added that the financial year for 2024/25 was balanced but there was a budget gap for years 2025/26 and 2026/27 which totalled to £19m. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chair invited members of the Forum to ask question, with the following raised:

 

It was asked if there was confidence that council tax would not rise again.  The Leader explained that inflation had an impact because it was estimated last year that inflation would be lower and to date this had not happened. The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Human Resources added that inflation had impacted the Council and noted that in future years there might be a possibly that increases could go back to a 2.99% increase as there was a preference for smaller increases  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.