Agenda item

The Worshipful the Mayor noted that an update to the Labour amendment had been tabled and directed members to refer to this updated report.

 

The Worshipful the Mayor moved suspension of Council Procedure Rule 26 with regards to the length of speeches on the budget, which was duly agreed by council.

 

RESOLVED to allow the initial speeches on the budget to be up to the following lengths:

 

Leader of the Council – 15 minutes

Leader of the Opposition – 10 minutes

 

The Leader, Councillor Richard Cornelius, moved reception and adoption of the recommendations set out in the report from the Policy and Resources Committee. Councillor Barry Rawlings moved his amendment. Councillor Jack Cohen moved his amendment. Debate ensued.

 

The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 and Council Procedure Rule 15.4 requires that voting decision relating to the budget and Council Tax be recorded. In accordance with this requirement, voting on the budget decisions was as follows:

 

Upon being put to the vote, the Labour Alternative Budget was declared lost. Voting on the Labour Alternative Budget:

 

 

	For	Against	Not Voting	Absent
Maureen Braun		ü
Jess Brayne	ü
Rebecca Challice				ü
Pauline Coakley Webb	ü
Dean Cohen		ü
Jack Cohen			ü
Melvin Cohen		ü
Philip Cohen	ü
Geof Cooke	ü
Alison Cornelius		ü
Richard Cornelius		ü
Tom Davey		ü
Val Duschinsky		ü
Paul Edwards	ü
Claire Farrier	ü
Anthony Finn		ü
Brian Gordon		ü
Eva Greenspan		ü
Rohit Grover		ü
Helena Hart		ü
John Hart		ü
Ross Houston	ü
Anne Hutton	ü
Andreas Ioannidis	ü
Devra Kay	ü
Sury Khatri		ü
Adam Langleben	ü
Kathy Levine	ü
David Longstaff		ü
Kitty Lyons	ü
John Marshall		ü
Kath McGuirk	ü
Arjun Mittra	ü
Alison Moore	ü
Ammar Naqvi	ü
Nagas Narenthira	ü
Charlie O’Macauley	ü
Graham Old		ü
Alon Or-Bach	ü
Reema Patel	ü
Bridget Perry		ü
Wendy Prentice		ü
Sachin Rajput		ü
Barry Rawlings	ü
Hugh Rayner		ü
Tim Roberts	ü
Gabriel Rozenberg		ü
Lisa Rutter		ü
Shimon Ryde		ü
Brian Salinger		ü
Gill Sargeant	ü
Joan Scannell		ü
Alan Schneiderman	ü
Mark Shooter		ü
Agnes Slocombe	ü
Stephen Sowerby		ü
Caroline Stock		ü
Daniel Thomas		ü
Reuben Thompstone		ü
Jim Tierney	ü
Laurie Williams	ü
Peter Zinkin		ü
Zakia Zubairi				ü

 

For:                 28

Against:         32

Abstain:          1

Absent:           2

 

TOTAL:           63

 

Upon being put to the vote, the Liberal Democrat Alternative Budget was declared lost. Voting on the Liberal Democrat Alternative Budget:

 

	For	Against	Not Voting	Absent
Maureen Braun		ü
Jess Brayne			ü
Rebecca Challice				ü
Pauline Coakley Webb			ü
Dean Cohen		ü
Jack Cohen	ü
Melvin Cohen		ü
Philip Cohen			ü
Geof Cooke			ü
Alison Cornelius		ü
Richard Cornelius		ü
Tom Davey		ü
Val Duschinsky		ü
Paul Edwards			ü
Claire Farrier			ü
Anthony Finn		ü
Brian Gordon		ü
Eva Greenspan		ü
Rohit Grover		ü
Helena Hart		ü
John Hart		ü
Ross Houston			ü
Anne Hutton			ü
Andreas Ioannidis			ü
Devra Kay			ü
Sury Khatri		ü
Adam Langleben			ü
Kathy Levine			ü
David Longstaff		ü
Kitty Lyons			ü
John Marshall		ü
Kath McGuirk			ü
Arjun Mittra			ü
Alison Moore			ü
Ammar Naqvi			ü
Nagas Narenthira			ü
Charlie O’Macauley			ü
Graham Old		ü
Alon Or-Bach			ü
Reema Patel			ü
Bridget Perry		ü
Wendy Prentice		ü
Sachin Rajput		ü
Barry Rawlings			ü
Hugh Rayner		ü
Tim Roberts			ü
Gabriel Rozenberg		ü
Lisa Rutter		ü
Shimon Ryde		ü
Brian Salinger		ü
Gill Sargeant			ü
Joan Scannell		ü
Alan Schneiderman			ü
Mark Shooter		ü
Agnes Slocombe			ü
Stephen Sowerby		ü
Caroline Stock		ü
Daniel Thomas		ü
Reuben Thompstone		ü
Jim Tierney			ü
Amy Trevethan			ü
Laurie Williams			ü
Peter Zinkin		ü
Zakia Zubairi				ü

 

For:                  1

Against:          32

Abstain:          28

Absent:           2

 

TOTAL:           63

 

Upon being put to the vote the recommendations in the report of the Policy and Resources Committee were declared carried, with voting being declared as follows:

 

	For	Against	Not Voting	Absent
Maureen Braun	ü
Jess Brayne		ü
Rebecca Challice				ü
Pauline Coakley Webb		ü
Dean Cohen	ü
Jack Cohen		ü
Melvin Cohen	ü
Philip Cohen		ü
Geof Cooke		ü
Alison Cornelius	ü
Richard Cornelius	ü
Tom Davey	ü
Val Duschinsky	ü
Paul Edwards		ü
Claire Farrier		ü
Anthony Finn	ü
Brian Gordon	ü
Eva Greenspan	ü
Rohit Grover	ü
Helena Hart	ü
John Hart	ü
Ross Houston		ü
Anne Hutton		ü
Andreas Ioannidis		ü
Devra Kay		ü
Sury Khatri	ü
Adam Langleben		ü
Kathy Levine		ü
David Longstaff	ü
Kitty Lyons		ü
John Marshall	ü
Kath McGuirk		ü
Arjun Mittra		ü
Alison Moore		ü
Ammar Naqvi		ü
Nagas Narenthira		ü
Charlie O’Macauley		ü
Graham Old	ü
Alon Or-Bach		ü
Reema Patel		ü
Bridget Perry	ü
Wendy Prentice	ü
Sachin Rajput	ü
Barry Rawlings		ü
Hugh Rayner	ü
Tim Roberts		ü
Gabriel Rozenberg	ü
Lisa Rutter	ü
Shimon Ryde	ü
Brian Salinger	ü
Gill Sargeant		ü
Joan Scannell	ü
Alan Schneiderman		ü
Mark Shooter	ü
Agnes Slocombe		ü
Stephen Sowerby	ü
Caroline Stock	ü
Daniel Thomas	ü
Reuben Thompstone	ü
Jim Tierney		ü
Laurie Williams		ü
Peter Zinkin	ü
Zakia Zubairi				ü

 

For:                  32

Against:          29

Abstain:          0

Absent:           2

 

TOTAL:           63

 

RESOLVED – That Council:

 

1.1               Consider the issues that have emerged from the consultation when making their decisions. That Council are also mindful of the equalities impact assessments, including the cumulative equalities impact assessments, when making the decision below;

 

1.2               Approve the Medium Term Financial Strategy attached as Appendix A and the detailed revenue budgets in Appendices B1 and B2. The MTFS sets out all of the budget changes over the period 2017-20, including assumptions around inflation, changes to levies, pressures, savings and grant funding. It is the model around which the council’s financial strategy is based. Taking the consultation responses and the equality impact assessments into consideration;

 

1.3               Approve that the budget for 2017/18 is prepared on the basis of no increase to council tax in 2017/18, other than for the increase set out below in 1.4;

 

1.4               Approve the application of a social care precept at 3% in 2017/18 – to help fund care for the elderly;

 

1.5               Note that the Chief Finance Officer, under their delegated powers in accordance with para 4.3.2 of the Financial Regulations, has calculated 139,049 (band D equivalents) as the amount for the Council Tax base for the year 2017/18 [item T in the formula in Section 31B (1) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the “Act”)];

1.6               Approve the following amounts calculated for the year 2017/18 in accordance with Sections 31(A) and (B), 34, 35 and 36 of the Act:

 

a)     £1,042,180,636 being the aggregate of the amounts which the council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) (a) to (f) of the Act;

b)     £881,620,756 being the aggregate of the amounts which the council estimated for the items set out in Section 31A(3) (a) to (d) of the Act;

c)     £160,559,880 being the amount by which the aggregate at 1.6(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 1.6(b) above, calculated by the council in accordance with Section 31A(4) of the Act as its Council Tax requirement for the year (Item R in the formula section 31A(4) of the Act);

d)     £1,154.70 being the amount at 1.6(c) above (item R), divided by Item T (Item 1.5 above), calculated by the council, in accordance with Section 31B(1) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year;

 

London Borough of Barnet Valuation Bands (£)

A          A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
769.80	898.10	1,026.40	1,154.70	1,411.30	1,667.90	1,924.50	2,309.40

 

Being the amounts given by multiplying the amounts at 1.6(d) above by the number which, in proportion set out in Section 5(1) of the Act, is applicable to dwellings listed in valuation band D, calculated by the council, in accordance with Section 36(1) of the Act, as the amounts to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different valuation bands;

 

1.7               Approve, on the advice of the Chief Finance Officer, that the council’s basic amount of Council Tax for 2017/18 as set out in 1.6(d) above is not excessive in accordance with the principles approved under section 52ZB and 52ZC of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, set out in the Referendums Relating to Council Tax Increases (Principles)(England) Report 2017/18 - subject to any changes to that Report; which at the time of publication of this report was still in draft; 

 

1.8               Note that for the year 2017/18 the Greater London Authority has provisionally indicated that the following amounts in precepts will be issued to the council, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, for each of the categories of the dwellings shown below:

 

Greater London Authority Valuation Bands (£)

A          A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
186.68	217.79	248.91	280.02	342.25	404.47	466.70	560.04

 

1.9               Recommend that having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts at 1.6(d) with the amounts at 1.8, the council, in accordance with Section 30(2) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, sets the following amounts as the amounts of Council Tax for the year 2017/18 for each of the categories dwellings shown below:

 

Council Tax for Area (£)

A          A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
956.48	1,115.89	1,275.31	1,434.72	1,753.55	2,072.37	2,391.20	2,869.44

 

1.10            Recommend to Council for approval the Barnet Council Tax Support Scheme, adopted in January 2015, remain unchanged except for uprating in line with Department for Work and Pension changes for housing benefit (see 1.11 below).

 

1.11            Notes that the working age non-dependent (ND) charges be uprated as set out in paragraph 1.7.13

 

1.12            Approve that in accordance with Section 38(2) of the Act the Chief Executive be instructed to place a notice in the local press of the amounts set under recommendation 1.9 above within a period of 21 days following the Council’s decision;

 

1.13            Approve the capital programme as set out in Appendix C1 and C2, and the capital budget changes as set out in Appendix C3 and that the Chief Officers be authorised to take all necessary actions for implementation;

 

1.14            Approve that the Chief Finance Officer be authorised to adjust capital project budgets and financing in 2017/18 throughout the capital programme after the 2016/17 accounts are closed and the amount of slippage and budget carry forward required are known;

 

1.15            Approve the Treasury Management Strategy for 2017/18 as set out in Appendix I;

 

1.16            Note the following in relation to the Housing Revenue Account, approved by Policy and Resources Committee:

 

a)     The proposed rent decrease by 1% for council dwelling as set out in paragraph 1.10.3 to take effect from 1 April 2017;

b)     The proposed increase to service charges for council dwelling as set out in paragraph 1.10.9 to take effect from 1 April 2017; and

c)     The proposed rent increase of 2.2% for council garages as set out in paragraph 1.10.9 to take effect from 1 April 2017.

 

1.17            Approve the Housing Revenue Account estimates for 2017/18 as set out in Appendix D, approved by Policy and Resources Committee;

 

1.18            Note the submission of the Authority Proforma Tool in relation to the Dedicated Schools Budget as set out in Appendix E;

 

1.19            Note the charges for hire of Hendon Town Hall as detailed in Appendix F2 approved by Policy and Resources Committee and note the Adult’s, Children’s, Environment and Housing fees and charges that were approved at their relevant Theme Committee as detailed in Appendix F1 and F3;

 

1.20            Note the summary equality impact assessment (EIA) and cumulative assessment set out in section 5.6. Appendix H provides the cumulative impact and individual Delivery Unit assessments where significant changes to service delivery are proposed;

 

1.21            Approve the reserves and balances policy as set out in Appendix K and indicative amounts as set out in para 1.12 and the Chief Finance Officer’s assessment of adequacy of reserves in section 1.12. Approve that the CFO be authorised to adjust balances in 2017/18 after 2016/17 accounts are closed  and the amount of balances carry forward required are known;

 

1.22            Note the revenue budget movements as set out in para 1.14 approved by Policy and Resources Committee;

 

1.23            Note the progress of the transformation programme as detailed in Appendix J;

 

1.24            Approve the debt write offs as detailed in Appendix L and summarised in para 1.14.11;

 

1.25            Note and approve the corporate risk register as set out in Appendix M; and

 

1.26            Approve the Corporate Plan – 2017/18 addendum attached as Appendix N.