To receive any apologies of absence.

Apologies for absence were received by Cllr Burbage.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To comment on the Cabinet report.

The Panel received a presentation on preparations for the 2018/19 budget.  It was explained that the report was being brought three months earlier than normal to allow for full scrutiny with this panel reviewing the full report.  Other scrutiny panels would review those elements pertinent to their remit.

The report contained Initial recommendations on overall spending, capital investment and council tax levels for 2018-19 and was the start of a decision making process which would result in the February 2018 Cabinet and Council report that would agree the final budget including council tax levels.

It was noted that figures in the proposed budget may change as the local government settlement become clear and feedback from the early release of the budget had been analysed.

The presentation informed that the main objectives of the budget were:

·         Having a borough where everyone could enjoy living and working, nurturing their futures and their family.

·         Invest  circa £350m by 2025 in education, transport, leisure and other infrastructure to fully support the emerging Borough Local Plan and the regeneration programmes.

·         Protect and enhance services and meet the growing needs for adult and children’s social care.

·         Manage the council’s finances with the ability to fund investment and obligations from regeneration receipts.

·         Deliver sustainable and effective partnerships.

·         Commitment to increase the council’s spending on wages by circa 2.5% to cover award, reward and promotion.

·         Manage responsible and competitive levels of council tax, adult social care levy, fees and charges.

·         Fulfil all pension obligations to council employees.

The Panel were informed that it was proposed to have and given examples of:

·         Additional Services Spend : £3.7m.

·         The proposed fees and charges that had been benchmarked.

·         A list of saving opportunities and income generation totalling £4.1 million.

·         Pension contributions to meet the authorities obligations.

·         Capital investments totalling £54 million.

The Panel were informed that there was an indicative need to raise council tax by 1.95% and an Adult Social Care levy of 3%.  This would result a total increase of £74.74 to date for a band D property.

Cllr Jones asked for clarification on the 3% Adult Social Care levy and was informed that 3% was the maximum up to 2020.

Cllr Jones mentioned that with regards to the list of saving proposals it would be useful to know which ones had already been realised and which ones were estimated what could be achieved.  She recommended that the final report should show which saving proposals had already been implemented opposed to those that were yet to start.

The Lead Member for Finance informed that officers had already proposed the budget they required for their service and to provide saving proposals.  There were plans to deliver all the savings for 2018/19.  Although there were no guarantees everything was already in place or planned to start.

Cllr Clark asked for clarification on the additional pension contributions and was informed that the Berkshire Pension Fund set its strategy to meet pension obligations but funding levels had not reached 100% as there had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.