Agenda item

To consider Item 8

The Lead Member for Finance and Assets, Information Security and IT introduced the report and advised Members that a lot of work had been undertaken but there was a lot of uncertainty over a large proportion of this budget and the Authority still had one of the lowest Precepts which also provided additional challenge.

The Deputy Director of Finance and Assets advised Members that the revised appendices presented the revenue and capital Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for the financial years 2023/24 to 2027/28.  It had been a challenging year with inflation reaching double figures and having a significant impact on the cost of the expenditure budget.

There had been a significant change in the council tax precept flexibility for Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs).  The referendum threshold had increased from 2% to 3% throughout the MTFP.  Furthermore, the government proposed additional precept flexibility to FRAs to increase their precept by up to £5 for 2023/24 only without the need to hold a referendum. This additional flexibility was welcomed and reflected in the MTFP.

The Revenue Support grant had increased in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) whilst the Firelink grant would reduce by 20% and the pension grant funding would continue on a flat-cash basis. The Service was verbally notified in January 2023 that the grant funding for the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) capability hosted at Aylesbury would end on 31 March 2024.  This would reduce the amount of fire specific grant funding from 2024/25 onward by a further £817k per annum, meaning the Service would no longer receive any fire specific grant funding from 2026/27 onwards.

The Deputy Director of Finance and Assets advised Members that the tables in the revised appendices replace the versions of Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 originally published.  They had been updated following confirmation from the billing authorities of amounts receivable from national non-domestic rates (NNDR) and council tax (the statutory deadline for which was 31 January).

The Settlement Funding Assessment (SFA) for 2022/23 has been revised upwards from £8.610m to £11.338m (an increase of £2.728m).  Future years’ forecasts had been updated to reflect this movement and the additional funding has been forecast to transfer into reserves. The Council Tax surplus figure for 2022/23 had been revised upwards from £190k to £335k (an increase of £145k) as one of the billing authorities had recently confirmed their surplus which was not available at the time of producing the papers. 

The Chief Fire Officer asked Members to note that when looking at pay, there were other parts of the national pay claim including, an uplift in pay for control staff, an uplift in CPD payments to the highest level, all these would have an effect the final amount the Authority would pay.

The Chairman shared officers caution around reserves and recognised the volatility in utilities could come back. It was really important to keep the Authority on a sustainable financial footing. The one off payments should be approached with caution and should not be used as ongoing costs.

The Chairman advised Members that the Authority should take the full precept, as it would put the Service under a lot of pressure if it was not taken.

A Member asked if the Authority lost the grant for the provision of USAR, what impact would it have on the provision within Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes, and by definition the effect nationally and even internationally, and what could be done about it.

The Chief Fire Officer advised Members that it would have a huge effect. The USAR team was integrated and there for national deployment, but also local deployment and regional deployment. The Urban Search and Rescue team and the heavy rescue facilities that the team provided, cover the whole of the Thames Valley. All the services within the Thames Valley had written into their risk management plans that this Service had a USAR team. If the USAR team here was not available, the next team would be in Essex, Hampshire or the West Midlands and the attendance time would be hours. The Authority was doing everything it possibly could to keep this team in Aylesbury.

(Councillor Lambert joined the meeting (remotely) and Councillor Hall left the meeting (remotely))

The Director of Finance and Assets advised Members that the Reserves Strategy would be presented at a future Executive or Authority meeting.

RESOLVED –

That the recommendations below be approved for submission to the Authority:

1.         It is recommended that:

(a)        The report and Statement of the Chief Finance Officer (see section 8 of Annex A) be noted.

(b)        A Council Tax precept of £77.16 for a band D equivalent property (equal to an increase of 10p per week) and the revenue budget as set out in Appendix 1 be approved.

(c)        The capital programme as set out in Appendix 2 be approved.