To receive a presentation from the Executive Member for Finance and Systems.

The Chair asked that all presenters take reports and presentations as read to allow adequate time for questions and discussion due to the large number of items on the agenda.

The Executive Member for Finance and Governance gave a short introduction to the presentation. The Committee were informed of the budgetary challenges the Council faced in 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years and the impact of current issues, including inflation and the cost of energy, were having on the Council’s position. An overview of the Financial Change Programme approach and structure was provided, which included the terms of reference for the two main Boards. The programme was focused upon a collaborative approach to the challenges the Council faced as they could not be addressed by the Council on its own. Part of the Councils approach involved spearheading the F20 campaign to national government to secure an increased settlement for the lowest funded Councils across the Country.

The Council’s budget proposals would be presented to the Committee in October and the Executive Member informed the Committee that the budget presented to the Committee would contain a gap to be closed before the final budget was set in February 2023.

Following the overview Councillor Carter asked what the saving proposal that could save £500,000 and if that could be shared. Second question whether the Council were looking at increasing revenue through enforcement. The Executive Member for Finance and Governance stated that the Council were looking at increasing enforcement but added that the funding raised could only be used in certain ways. Rather than raising income it was more around enforcing laws to address frustrations within the Community. The Director of Finance and Systems responded that it was too early to say what the proposals were and what they would deliver but the Committee were assured more information would be available in October.

Councillor Axford noted that the programme was looking at innovating and bringing change to meet the pressures and asked what that meant and whether community wealth building was part of it. The Executive Member for Finance and Governance responded that they were working within the council and across other authorities to trial new ways of delivering services to achieve savings. The Council were looking at all ideas being brought forward although community wealth building had not been considered yet. The Executive Member for Finance and Governance invited Councillor Axford and all Scrutiny Members to provide suggestions for how the Council could look to save money. 

Councillor Procter asked how the public consultation would be handled. The Executive Member for Finance and Governance responded that the consultation would be conducted with a broader span of engagement than had been done previously. The aim of the broader engagement was to provide residents with enough information so they could provide feedback to help the Councils budget.

Councillor Walsh noted that last year the Council had received the settlement very late in the year and asked whether it was likely to be received earlier this year. The Executive Member for Finance and Governance stated that settlement had not yet been set and with a new government coming in it was difficult to predict what the settlement for councils would be. The Executive Member for Finance and Governance had concerns about the impact that inflation would continue to have on the budget and the whether the settlement would take that into account. The Director of Finance and Systems added that the indications received so far suggested they would receive about the same as in previous year without add-ons for inflation.

Councillor Walsh asked whether it would be better to go out to the public as soon as possible to allow the public time to absorb the shock around the high level of funds needed to be found. The Executive Member for Finance and Governance agreed with Councillor Walsh and informed the Committee that consultation would start once the draft budget had been agreed by the Executive. The Executive Member for Finance and Governance drew the Committee’s attention to the lobbying leaflet within the presentation and informed them that a version of the leaflet would be circulated to residents informing them of the challenges the Council faced. 

Councillor Coggins asked a series of questions including how Trafford compared to other similarly funded Council’s, what was meant by discretionary services within the presentation, and what was meant by the phrase worst case scenario within the presentation. The Executive Member for Finance and Governance responded that other Councils who received similar levels of funding to Trafford were also struggling and a group of those authorities were working to together to appeal for more funding.  The discretionary services which would be looked at as part of the budget process were along the lines of libraries and the music service and the Executive Member for Finance and Governance offered to provide a list of what was a discretionary service and what was not for the budget scrutiny process. With regards to the worst-case scenario the Executive Member for Finance and Governance stated that the Council were not at that point yet and assured the Committee that the Executive was taking measures to ensure they did not reach the point where the Council would no longer be in control of its own budget.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the presentation be noted.

2)    That Scrutiny Members are invited to submit any savings ideas to the Executive Member for Finance and Governance.

3)    That a list of discretionary and non-discretionary service will be provided as part of the budget scrutiny process.