Agenda and minutes

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

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:-

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee, Sub Committee, Panel or Forum;

(b)               all other Members present in any part of the room or chamber.

RESOLVED:  To note that the following interests were declared:

Agenda Item 4 – Question and Answer Session with the Leader of the Council and Chief Executive

Councillor Barry Macleod-Cullinane declared personal interests in that he was an employee of London Councils Ltd and his sister, a teacher at Hatch End High School, was an employee of Harrow Council.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon. If his interests became prejudicial he would leave the room.

Councillor Paul Osborn declared a personal interest in that during the Transformation Programme he had received hospitality from Capita.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor Chris Mote, who was not a member of the Committee, declared a personal interest in that his sister, a teacher at Marlborough School, was an employee of Harrow Council.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 16 (Part 4B) of the Constitution.

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received at this meeting under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 16 (Part 4B of the Constitution).

[The Question and Answer Session will concentrate on the Council’s Budget and Draft Corporate Priorities].

The Chairman welcomed the Leader of the Council, the Chief Executive and Corporate Director of Finance to the meeting, which would concentrate on the Council’s Budget and priorities.  He indicated that Members should refer to the Cabinet report of 15 December 2010 and outlined the timings for individual Members to ask their questions.  He also drew attention to a tabled list of questions prepared by the Scrutiny Leadership Group.  The Chairman advised that these questions would form the basis of the meeting and that any questions asked outside of these areas might not be answered as fully.

The Corporate Director of Finance and Leader of the Council explained the background to the draft budget and outlined developments since the December Cabinet report had been produced.  They also reported on the issues facing the Council.

Members asked a series of questions, challenged responses received and the availability of information to Members.

Question:  How has the Government grant changed this year?

The Corporate Director of Finance reported that the Council had previously received support in 3 different ways.  Under the old system, the Council had received Formula Grant (£67m), Area Based Grants (£30m) and Specific Grants (£30m).  Specific Grants were ring fenced grants mainly in the areas of adult and children’s services.  Within the settlement, money from the Area Based grants had moved to the Formula Grant and some Specific Grant areas had moved to the Early Intervention Grants.

The Corporate Director reported that under the new system, the Council would receive £78m Formula Grant, which would reduce to £70m.  It would receive £17.5m Specific Grant but some of this would be moved to the Dedicated Schools Grant.  There remained one or two grants to be announced.  She explained that part of the difficulty in preparing the budget had been determining baseline figures as well as the uncertainty in relation to the £2.6m health improvement grant which had been paid directly to the Primary Care Trusts (PCT).  It remained unclear as to whether or not this money would be available to support existing activity.

Question:  What are the results of “Let’s Talk”, how have these influenced the Council’s thinking and what impact are they having on the budget?

The Leader of the Council reported that 1,500 surveys had been received and that the Council was working to establish a new relationship with residents.  The draft priorities had received strong support.  He added that difficult decisions would need to be made and that more analysis of the results was required prior to inclusion in the budget.

Question:  In terms of the provision for inflation in the budget, has the Leader of the Council read the Bank of England’s inflation report?

The Corporate Director of Finance acknowledged that a 2% provision for inflation was less than the current Consumer and Retail Price Indices.  She explained that the purpose was to effectively enforce efficiency savings on departments.  She added that other boroughs were taking a similar line whilst some made no provision for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.