To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members’ Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008.

None.

The Interim Section 151 Officer presented Cabinet with the draft Medium Term Financial Strategy 2020-21 to 2023-24, which set out the spending priorities of the Council, key investment objectives and budget areas targeted for necessary savings. The Strategy also included a financial forecast for 2020-2024, and a detailed draft Revenue Budget for 2020-21.  The MTFS had been guided by the Council’s three wellbeing objectives contained in the Corporate Plan.

The Interim Section 151 Officer informed Cabinet of the Corporate Financial Overview, in that the Council had made £68M budget reductions over the last 10 years, which represented 30% of the Council’s 2009-10 budget.  She stated that the Council’s net revenue budget is planned at £286.885M for 2020-21, however overall expenditure exceeds this.  Taking into account expenditure and services, funded by specific grants and fees and charges, the Council’s gross budget will be around £420M in 2020-21, with the Council playing a very significant in the economy of the County Borough.   The majority of the Council’s revenue funding comes from the Welsh Government, through Revenue Support Grant and a share of Non Domestic Rates, which is supplemented through council tax collection, other grants and fees and charges, with council tax funding almost 30% of the budget.  The Interim Section 151 Officer highlighted the pressures on the Council’s budget, namely legislative and demographic changes and an increase in pupil numbers at the Council’s schools.        

The Interim Section 151 Officer informed Cabinet of an overview as to how it was proposed to allocate budget to each of its key service areas:-

·         Education

·         Social Care and Early Help

·         Public Realm

·         Supporting the Economy

·         Other Services

The Interim Section 151 Officer reported that the Council’s MTFS was set within the context of UK economic and public expenditure plans, Welsh Government’s priorities and legislative programme.  The MTFS included the principles that will govern the strategy and a four year financial forecast; the capital programme for 2019-20 to 2029-30, which is linked to priority areas for capital investment and the Capital Strategy and Treasury Management Strategy and the Corporate Risk Assessment.  The Interim Section 151 Officer informed Cabinet that the Chancellor of Exchequer in September 2019 had undertaken a fast tracked one-year Spending Round, announcing an increase in government spending.  In response to this, the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd announced that the Welsh Government’s revenue budget for 2020-21 would increase by 2.3% or £593M.  The spending round also included an increase of £18M to the Welsh Government capital budget for 2020-21.  The Interim Section 151 Officer informed Cabinet that due to the nature of the spending round, the budget set by the Welsh Government included a one year only revenue budget and makes additional allocations to previously published indicative capital plans for 2020-21.

The Interim Section 151 Officer informed Cabinet of the Welsh Government Provisional Local Government Settlement 2020-21, which, after adjusting for transfers of £183.8M or 4.3%, across Wales and for Bridgend, an increase of 4.7% in Aggregate External Finance or £9.18M. Once the adjustment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 455.

To consider any items of business that by reason of special circumstances the chairperson is of the opinion should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency in accordance with paragraph 2.4 (e) of the Cabinet Procedure Rules within the Constitution.

There were no urgent items.