To consider a report on the review of the Council’s reserves and any recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

The Council considered the submitted report on a review of the Council’s financial reserves.  Members noted that the requirement for reserves linked to legislation which obliged councils to have regard to the level of reserves needed to meet future expenditure when calculating the budget for service delivery and improvements, as well as in year budgetary pressures including pressures from the Government’s ongoing reductions in funding.

The Chairwoman reported that the views of the Overview and Scrutiny Board where circulated on 28 October 2014.

It was proposed by the Mayor and seconded by Councillor Pritchard:

(i)         that Council approve the transfer of £3.4m identified on a number of individual reserves (see paragraph A2.9 of the submitted report) to the Children’s Services 5 year Strategy Reserve;

(ii)        that Council note the repayment of the £3.4m by Children’s Services from future year budget allocations for Children’s Services based on the repayment schedule identified in paragraph A2.6 of the submitted report;

(iii)       that Council note the, previously approved, use of £1.5m of PFI Reserve during 2014/15 by Children’s Services which is also due to be repaid by Children’s services;  and

(iv)       that Council note the significant financial pressures facing the Council in 2014/15, 2015/16 and in future years, and consider during the 2015/16 budget process the allocation of additional funds to the Comprehensive Spending Review Reserve and/or the General Fund Reserve.

On being put to the vote, the motion was declared carried.

To consider the review of reserves and make any recommendations to the Council.

The Board considered a report which set out the annual review of the Council’s reserves.  It was noted that, as part of the Children’s Services Five Year Cost Reduction Plan, it was recommended that the Council approve the transfer of £3.4 million from a number of reserves to fund planned spend in Children’s Services.  Children’s Services would then repay the reserves in 2017/2018 and 2018/2019.  This was in addition to £1.5 million which had been transferred from the PFI Sinking Fund to Children’s Services which had been agreed as part of last year’s review of reserve.

Resolved:  that the Board is not in a position to make a recommendation in relation to the review of reserves until a more robust review of the Children’s Services Five Year Cost Reduction Plan has been undertaken.