The report was introduced by Councillor Mark Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) and seconded by Councillor Ian Darcy (Chair of the Performance, Finance and Customer Service Overview and Scrutiny Committee).

Following contributions from Councillors Allen and Penberthy the Council agreed to:

1.    Approve the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2023/24 – 2027/28.

For (48)

Councillors Allen, Aspinall, Blight, Briars-Delve, Mrs Bridgeman, Carlyle, Coker, Cresswell, Dann, Darcy, Dingle, Evans OBE, Gilmour, Goslin, Harrison, Haydon, Hendy, Holloway, Hulme, Krizanac, Laing, Lowry, Lugger, Dr Mahony, McLay, McNamara, Moore, Murphy, Noble, Patel, Penberthy, Penrose, Poyser, Raynsford, Reilly, Rennie, Salmon, Shayer, Smith, Sproston, Stephens, Stevens, Stoneman, Tippetts, Tuffin, Tuohy, Wakeham and Ms Watkin.

Abstain (4)

Councillor Mrs Beer, Nicholson, Partridge and Ricketts.

Against (0)

Absent/Did Not Vote (0)

In Councillor Mark Lowry’s absence, Councillor Chris Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) introduced the item: 

a)    The document provided the strategic framework that linked the Council’s revenue budget, capital program, treasury management strategyand the capital strategy for the following 5 years; 
 

b)    The LGA, and would all recommend that each administration took such a plan to Council for approval, but the last one had been by the previous Labour administration in 2018; 
 

c)    The plan considered that the budget had already been set for 2023/24 and that the latter years were provided for illustrative purposes; 
 

d)    The strategy set out the financial principles and objectives, whilst working to deliver the priorities of the corporate plan; 
 

e)    The report showed a forecasted £11.2 million funding gap for 2024/25 that would need to be closed as part of the budget process, and over 5 years there was a £185 million gap; 
 

f)     Inflation, increase fuel costs and the cost of living crisis were impacting the council as well as additional pressures in adult social care, children’s social care and support for the homeless; 
 

g)    It was unknown what action Government would take to deliver reform to local government funding as there had been a change in the majority of funding no longer coming from Government, but instead from local taxation; 
 

h)    The budget included an additional £2.6 million to , as well as £1.5 of one-off allocations used to balance the 2023/24 budget which needed to be covered; 
 

i)     There was a need to find new ways to provide services, to work with partners wherever possible, to do things more efficiently, to make the most of the Council’s assets, focus and clarity on organisational purpose to reform the Children’s directorate; 
 

j)     The Place directorate would continue to prioritise growth to ensure the  
 

k)    The People directorate would continue to work on reducing demand for homelessness services through early intervention and prevention as well as improvements in access to health care and improvement of outcomes for those leaving hospital; 
 

l)     Transformation and Customer Support Services would continue to play a key role in supporting demand-led services, with finance, legal, procurement and HR all due to review their own operating models; 
 

m)  The plan containeda very clear ambition in the capital program to invest in and transform the city and thanked Councillor Lowry for his work on the plan. 

David Northey (Interim Section 151 Officer) added: 

n)    He had made a commitment to create a medium-term financial plan at Audit and Governance Committee, and it had been a recommendation from the last budget scrutiny meetings; 
 

o)    The figures and information would change as the years progressed. 

In response to it was explained: 
 

p)    The plan should  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45