The Mayor in consultation with cabinet will be asked to consider a report setting out the final proposals for the Council’s Budget Framework and Council Tax levy for 2012/13 along with proposed arrangements for the 2012/13 Corporate Plan

The Mayor in consultation with Cabinet will be asked to agree:

·  The setting of the Council’s General Fund Budget Requirement for 2012/13

·  The Medium Term Budget Strategy

·  The growth items and continued investment in services that meet the needs and requirements of the residents of the borough

·  The reduction of budgets and associated specific Star Chamber 5 savings

·  The Dedicated Schools Budget and the pass-porting of the Pupil Premium in its entirety

·  The emerging pressures and risks

·  A zero increase in the local element of Council Tax for 2012/13

·  The statement on Balances and Reserves

·  To agree Housing Revenue Account and Rent Increase statements

This report set out the final proposals for the Council’s Budget Framework and Council Tax Levy for 2012/13.

The Mayor, in consultation with Cabinet, considered this report at their meeting on 23 February 2012.

In presenting the report, the Mayor noted that despite being in an enormously difficult period and having faced cuts to its funding from central Government on an unprecedented scale, the budget included several growth items in order to meet what residents want, including providing an extra 66 police officers on Newham’s streets, safe guarding free school meals and providing more Olympic events then any other borough. 

He stated that he was proud that Newham Council was not closing libraries as in other boroughs, but was providing new facilities as part of Newham Council’s ability to plan for the future.  He concluded by saying that despite keeping Council Tax to the same level for the past four years, he was disappointed at being forced by Government to raise the level of rents charged for council housing, despite raising objections.

Council voted unanimously to agree:

1.  the Mayor’s Contract as set out in appendix B of the report and noted the arrangements for the Corporate Business Plan for 2012/13 as set out in section 1.11 of the report;

2.  the Council’s General Fund Budget Requirement for 2012/13 to be set at £277.379m as set out in section 3.1 of the report;

3.  the Medium Term Financial Strategy as set out in appendix C of the report;

4.  the growth items and continued investment in services that meet the needs and requirements of the residents of the borough amounting to £8.8m in 2012/13 as set out in section 3.9 and appendix D of the report;

5.  the reduction of budgets and associated specific Star Chamber 5 savings of £13.193m to be delivered with the continued generation of budget savings through greater levels of efficiency and cost effectiveness of service via the programme as set out in section 3.13 of the report.

6.  the provisional level of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) has been set at £323.198m and the Pupil Premium at £13.6m as set in section 4.13 and 4.14 of the report;

7.  that the Dedicated Schools Budget is set at the level of the DSG and that the entire allocation of the Pupils Premium is passported to schools as set out in section 4.15 of the report;

8.  the Newham element of Council Tax for 2012/13 be set at £945.63 at Band D, the same level as for the past four years;

9.  the statement on Balances/Reserves as set out in section 9 of the report setting out the expected level of General Fund Reserves as £16.1m as at 31st March 2012;

10.the Reserves Policy as set out in appendix H of the report;

11.the Capital Programme, including:

·  noting Newham’s 5-year Capital Programme as set out in appendix I of the report.

·  the programme of works for the Schools Capital Programme for 2011/12 and 2012/13 as set out in Appendix J of the report.

·  noting the planned Schools Capital Programme for 2013/14 and 2014/15 as set out in Appendix J of the report.

·  the total Housing Revenue Account (HRA) capital programme with the allocation of funding to specific HRA Programmes, as shown in appendix K, being delegated to the Executive Director of Operations in consultation with the Mayor and Lead Member for Housing and Customer Services, and the Director of Finance.

·  the funding requested for the Affordable Housing Programme 2012-2015 as set out from section 10.15 of the report.

12.the Chief Officer Pay Policy as set out in Appendix O to the report.

Council also agreed to note:

1.  overview and Scrutiny's consideration of the Mayor's 2012/13 Budget Proposals as set out in appendix A of the report;

2.  that the current budget setting process will be revised including a review of the savings programme as set out in section 3.20 in the report;

3.  the level of Central Government Funding of £204.538m in Formula Grant and £43.315m in other grants. See section 4 of the report and appendix E for Newham’s response to the DCLG regarding the finance settlement;

4.  the emerging pressures and risks, as set out in section 5 of the report;

5.  the Council’s financial position for 2011/12 as at 31st December 2011 and the current projected outturn of a £2.1m surplus as set out in section 8 and appendix G of the report;

6.  the Housing Revenue Account and Rent Increase statements as set out in section 11 of the report and an average rent increase of 7.8% as set out in section 11.3 of the report;

7.  that £100.151m savings have previously been agreed and are still in the process of being delivered. Items include the Terms and Conditions Programme, Procurement, Property and Senior Management Review. With the inclusion of new budget savings this increases the overall savings to £113.815m from 2011 – 2015;

8.  the Equalities Impact Assessment for the Budget as set out in appendix L of the report which has been taken into account in drawing up the proposals;

9.  the Equalities Impact Assessment for the Council Tax Freeze (summary) as set out in appendix M of the report which has been taken into account in drawing up the proposals; and

10.the Equalities Impact Assessment (summary) for the HRA Rent Increase as set out in appendix N of the report which has been taken into account in drawing up the proposals.