Issue - meetings

The Council resolved:-

(i)             to note that the Scottish Government published its latest Medium Term Financial Strategy in May 2023.  This indicated that while the Scottish Resource Budget was increasing up to 2027-28, in both cash and real terms, it was not expected to rise at the same rate as the spending bill, creating a growing funding gap over time;

(ii)           to note that in light of the deficit in the Scottish Budget forecast as part of the Scottish Government’s MTFS, May 2023, and expectations for Local Government included in the Resource Spending Review, published in May 2022, the future funding assumption within the MTFS had been revised to flat cash for the period through to 2025/26, with a 1% increase thereafter.  Further information would be available once the Scottish Budget for 2024/25 was published in December 2023 and the Local Government Settlement was issued.  At this point the MTFS model would be updated to reflect the latest data;

(iii)          to approve the Medium Term Financial Strategy for the General Fund, 2023;

(iv)          to note that the Strategy relied on delivering its intentions contained in the TOM1.2 report [Council, August 2022, CUS/22/171] which described the approach the Council intended to take through transformation and multi-agency working to contribute towards closing the gap between income and expenditure forecast;

(v)           to note the reported impact that pay and price inflation and supply chain volatility was continuing to have on our current financial year [Finance & Resources Committee, August 2023, RES/23/255] and that the impact was anticipated to continue to have an effect on the future funding gap;

(vi)          to note that the commitments contained within the Partnership Agreement, adopted on 18 May 2022, as part of the 2023/24 budget setting process were prioritised and where appropriate the decisions taken by the Council had been incorporated into the MTFS to reflect the financial implications of those decisions;

(vii)        to note that a review was being undertaken of the Capital Programme, in light of the financial environment, and the best value considerations, with a report being provided to the Finance and Resources Committee in September 2023;

(viii)       to note that the current Capital Programme, as included in the Council Financial Performance Quarter 1, 2023/24 report, was the basis for capital financing costs and debt levels referred to in the MTFS and following the regular review of the Loans Fund Repayment Policy, approve the policy for 2024/25 and beyond as described in Table 5 of the MTFS;

(ix)          to note the 2024/25 Budget would be discussed and set by the Council in February/March 2024 following an extensive public engagement exercise as required by the Scheme of Governance and Budget Protocol.  Councillors would be issued with full detail of the Phase 1 consultation referred to in Section 5.10 of the Appendix.  For Phase 2 consultation, this would be based on the central scenario shown in the MTFS 2023 and the results of this would be reported to Council in December 2023;

(x)           to note that the  ...  view the full decision text for item 10

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Resources which presented the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for the Council’s General Fund in 2023 and explained that its purpose was to pull together in one place all known factors affecting the financial position and financial sustainability of the organisation over the medium term.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)         note that the Scottish Government published its latest MTFS in May 2023. This indicated that while the Scottish Resource Budget was increasing up to 2027-28, in both cash and real terms, it was not expected to rise at the same rate as the spending bill, creating a growing funding gap over time;

(b)         note that in light of the deficit in the Scottish Budget forecast as part of the Scottish Government’s MTFS, May 2023, and expectations for Local Government included in the Resource Spending Review, published in May 2022, the future funding assumption within the MTFS had been revised to flat cash for the period through to 2025/26, with a 1% increase thereafter. Further information would be available once the Scottish Budget for 2024/25 was published in December 2023 and the Local Government Settlement was issued.  At this point the MTFS model would be updated to reflect the latest data;

(c)          approve the MTFS for the General Fund, 2023;

(d)         note that the Strategy relied on delivering its intentions contained in the TOM1.2 report [Council, August 2022, CUS/22/171] which described the approach the Council intended to take through transformation and multi-agency working to contribute towards closing the gap between income and expenditure forecast;

(e)         note the reported impact that pay and price inflation and supply chain volatility was continuing to have on our current financial year [Finance & Resources Committee, August 2023, RES/23/255] and that the impact was anticipated to continue to have an effect on the future funding gap;

(f)           note that the commitments contained within the Partnership Agreement, adopted on 18 May 2022, as part of the 2023/24 budget setting process were prioritised and where appropriate the decisions taken by the Council had been incorporated into the MTFS to reflect the financial implications of those decisions;

(g)         note that a review was being undertaken of the Capital Programme, in light of the financial environment, and the best value considerations, with a report being provided to the Finance and Resources Committee in September 2023;

(h)         note that the current Capital Programme, as included in the Council Financial Performance Quarter 1, 2023/24 report, was the basis for capital financing costs and debt levels referred to in the MTFS and following the regular review of the Loans Fund Repayment Policy, approve the policy for 2024/25 and beyond as described in Table 5 of the MTFS;

(i)           note the 2024/25 Budget would be discussed and set by the Council in February/March 2024 following an extensive public engagement exercise as required by the Scheme of Governance and Budget Protocol. Councillors would be issued with full detail of the Phase 1  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10