To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence received.

To receive any declarations of interest.

Councillor Price declared a personal interest as she was a member of Maidenhead Golf Club. There was a line in the capital budget on the golf club, Councillor Price said that she would be considering the proposals in the budget with an open mind.

·         Introduction by the Chairman including outline of the procedures (2 min)

·         Officer Introduction (Executive Director of Resources and Head of Finance) (10 min)

·         Public speaking (15 min)

·         Panel Member* questions to officers/discussion on topics identified from pre-Panel questions (1 hr 30 min)

·         Discussion of potential recommendations (30 min)

·         Vote on recommendations to Cabinet and any referrals to another O&S Panel (5 min)

·         Chairman to close the meeting

*Please note that non-Panel Members will not have an opportunity to speak at the Panel meeting, as set out in the scoping document. Non-Panel Members can submit questions in advance to which a written response will be published. The deadline for submission of such questions is 10am Tuesday 14^th December. The Chairman has agreed this approach using his discretion as set out in the constitution.

Andrew Vallance, Head of Finance, set out the budget report to the Panel. The draft budget was published on 17^th November and was considered by Cabinet on 25^th November. The finance settlement for the budget had recently been announced, officers were still assessing the details along with financial advisors who would prepare some analysis on the figure. At this stage, there would not need to be any changes to the figures in the budget as a result, with most of the assumptions being correct. Considering the risks, the fair funding review would be back on the agenda and could potentially impact the budget for the next financial year, after this budget. There was a growing risk of inflation but this was being closely monitored. RBWM needed to build up its reserves and there was still a pension fund deficit. Work was being done to look at the transformation of services to try and fill budget gaps. There was £1 million earmarked in the budget to respond to Covid pressures. This was focused on two main areas, leisure centre income and car parks.

By Friday 17^th December, RBWM had received 208 responses as part of the budget consultation. 40% felt that if there was more funding, place services should be prioritised for investment, while 30% believed that adults services should receive more investment. 50% said that the council was not good value for money, 25% agreed that it was and 25% neither agreed nor disagreed.

Andrew Hill had registered to speak on the budget as a member of the public. He asked if the business case for the Vicus Way car park held up. Draft assumptions had been correct according to officers, Andrew Hill asked if the key assumption on core spending power of 6.2% was correct. He asked how much RBWM was getting from the services grant this year and was RBWM planning to respond to the government consultation on the financial settlement. Andrew Hill commented on another local authority who had ring fenced reserves and expressed concern that there were lines in the budget showing that revenue items could not be placed into the revenue accounts. He asked why capital expenditure was therefore not being placed into the capital budget and where Deloitte had approved this process. Andrew Hill asked what the maximum levels of revenue allowed were. Other risks to residents were if another major scheme was delayed, he asked why no schemes that were likely to be delayed were outlined in the budget. Andrew Hill concluded by asking if officers believed RBWM was not exposed to any market risks.

Andrew Vallance explained that the assumptions on grant funding were very close. On the services grant, no assumptions could be made as it had only recently been created by the government, RBWM had received £877,000 out of this grant. The local authority which had been mentioned by Andrew Hill had legally funded their budget from a housing revenue account, RBWM did not have a housing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 159.