Requests of Government? 

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Highlight the difficulty of operating services in the financial climate and:

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1.    Request a multi-year finance settlement for the Council against demand-led costs;

2.    Request appropriate financial uplifts to deal with the Living Wage and inflation; 

3.    Request a review of Adult Social Care Funding, so that funding is allocated on need/demand rather than the ability of Councils to raise Council Tax; 

4.    Along-term strategic funding solution for Homelessness;
 

5.    Welcome an increase in Local Housing Allowance and request that the calculation of the 30^th percentile of market value is undertaken in April 2024;

6.    Request continuation of the Household Support Fund;

7.    Reconsider recently announced changes to immigration rules given the significant impact this is likely to bring to bear on the Social Care workforce;  

8.    Review home to school transport eligibility andadditional options which could mitigate costs to the Local Authority;

9.    Highlight that the additional funding for highway maintenance (£366k in 23/24 and 24/25) isinsufficient for current requirements.? 

Recommendations to Cabinet? 

10.  Recommend that work is undertaken to assess the impact upon all council budgets of dealing with unauthorised encampments (UE) and consider a centralised budget to deal with costs so that service budgets are not impacted by UE;

11.  Welcome continuation of current Community Grant Scheme and recommend an increased back to £5,000 per member;

12.  Re-profilethe Capital programme to ensure that the programme is affordable for the revenue budget;

13.  Recommend an expansion of the housing programme for Care Leavers;

14.  Recommend that a cross party working group is established to consider contractual arrangements for major projects and the methodology for procurement. 

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Congratulate the Cabinet on  

15.  Additional Funding provided in the budget for Grass Cutting; 

16.  The commitment to a new Living Streets programme;

17.  Increased involvement of Ward Councillors in discussion related to Section 106 Monies;

18.  Commitment to not implementing Car Park charges where they are not currently in place;

19.  The new Bus Service Improvement Plan.