Councillor Bingley (Leader) introduced the Draft Budget Report 2023 – 24 and highlighted the following points –         

(a)   The report sets out a draft budget for 2023/24 and a proposed Council Tax rate;

(b)  The scale of the task in getting to the stage where we can recommend a draft budget should not be underestimated given the unprecedented challenges this year which were being faced by all local authorities – not least national inflation running at around 10 per cent, rising energy costs and increasing demand pressures and rising costs in social care services;

(c)   in the summer these factors led to us identifying a projected overspend of £15.5 million for this financial year and a £37.6 million shortfall in the resources  needed to set a balanced budget for 2023/24;

(d)  Since then we had been working hard on a budget recovery programme to address these pressures, focusing on modernising and?investing, generating?income, reviewing the efficiency and effectiveness of everything we do and making difficult decisions to change, pause or stop services or activities – while protecting the statutory services that we provide;

(e)  We are committed to listening to Plymouth residents as we did this and before Christmas we held a public engagement exercise to seek views on proposed measures to help close the shortfall;

(f)    pleased to say that we had around 300 responses, many of them very thoughtful and constructive;

(g)   A summary of the feedback is set out in this report;

(h)  Considered all feedback that we had received as we make decisions on the budget. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to give their feedback;

(i)    The report before us today shows progress in closing the budget gap through savings and other measures totalling £25.8 million;

(j)    This report recommended that – like most other local authorities across the country – we increase Council Tax by 2.99%, as well as levy a 2% precept to support the increase in costs and demand for looking after the elderly and social care for both adults and children;

(k)  Plymouth households are also facing rising bills and the impact of the cost of living crisis, so do not take the decision to recommend any increase lightly. However, we need to protect statutory services and protect the elderly and vulnerable in Plymouth;

(l)    We also need to remind ourselves that the increase is limited to 2.99 per cent, which compares to the inflation rate of around 10 per cent;

(m)even with the proposed increase, we still have a gap to close before the Full Council meeting on 27 February, so work needs to continue;

(n)  We remain determined to deliver a budget that gets us through this extremely difficult financial situation and enables us to emerge as a leaner and greener council that?is even more effective and efficient;

(o)  Thanked everyone involved in getting us to the stage today where we can recommend a draft budget. It was the result of a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 90