Issue - meetings

(i)       approve the Medium Term Financial Strategy for the General Fund 2021;

(ii)       note that the 2022/23 Budget will be discussed and set by the Council on 7 March 2022;

(iii)      note the initial data presented in relation to the Council’s Financial Resilience Framework and instruct the Chief Officer – Finance to continue to develop the Framework;

(iv)      agree that an update on the Financial Resilience Framework be provided by the Chief Officer – Finance in the annual Budget report to Council, to help support financial decision making; and

(v)      to note that the Chief Officer – Finance would liaise with the Chief Officer – Data and Insights to investigate when updated population figures for the City would be made available and to circulate a response to the Committee by way of email in due course.

With reference to article 4 of the minute of meeting of Council on 10 March 2021, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which (1) outlined the purpose of a Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) to pull together in one place all known factors affecting the financial position and financial sustainability of an organisation over the medium term; and (2) drew out the scenarios that the Council faces; and (3) described the approach to addressing the conclusions.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      approve the Medium Term Financial Strategy for the General Fund 2021;

(b)      note that the 2022/23 Budget will be discussed and set by the Council on 7 March 2022;

(c)      note the initial data presented in relation to the Council’s Financial Resilience Framework and instruct the Chief Officer – Finance to continue to develop the Framework; and

(d)      agree that an update on the Financial Resilience Framework be provided by the Chief Officer – Finance in the annual Budget report to Council, to help support financial decision making.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to approve the recommendations contained within the report; and

(ii)       to note that the Chief Officer – Finance would liaise with the Chief Officer – Data and Insights to investigate when updated population figures for the city would be made available and to circulate a response to the Committee by way of email in due course.