Issue - meetings

To receive a report by the Head of Financial Services.

  Approved the process and timetable for the review and approval of the Financial Strategy, the 2010/11 Budget and 2010-15 Medium Term Plan; endorsed the temporary appointment of two posts in Housing Services Division to deal with homelessness at a cost of £70,000 in 2009/10 and £80,000 in 2010/11 and requested officers to meet these additional costs from within existing approved budgets;  approved a supplementary estimate of £25,000 to meet the costs of additional awards of discretionary hardship relief from business rates and approved a transfer of unused capital leisure grants to the general revenue grants budget to facilitate additional grants of £20,000 in 2009/10 and £14,000 to be made to the Citizens Advice Bureaux to enable them to respond to the increased service demands.

By way of a report by the Head of Financial Services (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Cabinet considered the process and timing for the review and approval of the Financial Strategy, the 2010/2011 Budget and the 2011/2015 Medium Term Plan(MTP). At the same time, Members’ attention was drawn to a report of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Economic Well Being) on the outcome of a review undertaken by their Budget Working Group following an expenditure review, the contents of which will form part of the Cabinet’s future deliberations on the Budget and MTP process 2010-2015.

In considering the contents of the report, Members acknowledged that the Budget and MTP process will face increasing challenge due to inflationary pressures, likely reductions in public expenditure and savings which need to be identified over the coming years. Having considered proposals to deal with immediate, short term pressures arising from the current economic climate, the Cabinet

RESOLVED

  (a)  that the process and timetable for the review and approval of the Financial Strategy, the 2010/11 Budget and 2010-15 Medium Term Plan be approved;

  (b)  that the temporary appointment of two posts in Housing Services Division to deal with homelessness at a cost of £70,000 in 2009/10 and £80,000 in 2010/11 be endorsed and officers requested to meet these additional costs from within existing approved budgets; 

  (c)  that a supplementary estimate of £25,000 to meet the costs of additional awards of discretionary hardship relief from business rates be approved; and

  (d)  that a transfer of unused capital leisure grants to the general revenue grants budget be approved to facilitate additional grants of £20,000 in 2009/10 and £14,000 in 2010/11 to be made to the Citizens Advice Bureaux to enable them to respond to the increased service demands.