Issue - meetings

The committee received a report of the Section Head – Financial Planning and Analysis to inform the Committee of the process of how the Council would determine its three-year medium-term financial strategy (MTFS) for 2021-2024, the related service plans, and the allocation of financial resources to achieve them.  The Section Head – Financial Planning and Analysis introduced the report explaining that this was the first time the budget setting process had been outlined to the committee. 

The Section Head – Financial Planning and Analysis highlighted the key areas in the report and in particular he advised members of:

·        The timeline in preparing the MTFS and how this supported the council’s strategic aims.

·        How the Council plan fed in to the development of costed and sustainable service plans and the staff appraisal process.

·        The role of the Director of Finance and the new income streams coming in to the council.

·        How financial impacts, such as inflation, staff costs, growth in services and savings were included.

·        How service fees and charges were determined.

·        The establishments and salary build spreadsheets and budget responsibilities.

·        How the government’s spending review would inform funding arrangements for next year; with the Covid-19 pandemic potentially leading to a requirement for further savings.

The Chair thanked the Section Head Financial Planning and Analysis for the very helpful and informative report.

RESOLVED –

       to consider and note the 2020/21 financial planning - budget setting process as

       shown in Appendix 1.