Councillors Phil Davies, Janette Williamson and Bernie Mooney introduced reports on the following budgetary matters:

(A)Revenue Budget and Council Tax Levels 2018/19 (Councillor Davies) – that provided an update on the Medium Term Financial Strategy and Council Budget 2018/19 reported to Cabinet on 18 December 2017. It set out the background and the key elements contributing to the preparation of the Budget for 2018/19.

(B)Treasury Management Strategy Statement (Councillor Williamson) – that provided the Authority’s treasury management activity as underpinned by CIPFA’s Code of Practice on Treasury Management (“the Code”), which required the production of annual Prudential Indicators and a Treasury Management Strategy Statement on likely financing and investment activity. The Code also recommended that Members were informed of treasury management activities at least twice a year. The report fulfilled the Authority’s legal obligation under the Local Government Act 2003 to have regard to both the CIPFA Code and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Investment Guidance.

(C)Capital Programme and Financing (Councillor Davies) – the report provided Cabinet with the draft Capital Programme 2018/21 for consideration and referral to Council for approval. It also included information regarding the revenue implications of the Programme and an update on the latest forecast for capital receipts. The 2018/21 Capital Programme represented a combination of schemes originally approved as part of the 2017/20 Programme, updated through the Capital Monitoring reports in 2017/18 and new bids for inclusion as detailed in the report.

(D)Schools Budget and Formula Funding Changes 2018/19 (Councillor Mooney) – the report set out the Schools Budget for 2018/19 having been previously considered by the Schools Forum at their meeting on 17 January 2018. The Schools Budget covered education provision for all Wirral Pupils aged up to 18 in Early Years, Primary, Secondary and academy schools and for some pupils up to the age of 25 in Special Schools and High Needs providers. The report informed that most budgets were delegated to schools with some central provision for support services including school admissions and High Needs. The report proposed a number of changes to the local funding formula for Schools to allow a transitional transfer to the National Funding Formula.

Councillor Phil Davies informed that the Council continued to face another year of challenge to its budget setting year arising from further cuts in funding imposed by the Government. This year’s budget included huge pressures on the Council to generate additional revenue that meant that in addition to raising income through a variety of projects, the Council would be raising additional monies via the permitted Social Care precept and utilising the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83