Agenda item

The report of the Cabinet on 30 October 2017 was submitted.  Paragraphs 1 to 7 were considered together.

 

Councillor Nickie Aiken delivered the Leader’s Speech and spoke in favour of the recommendations set out in the Cabinet report and Councillor Adam Hug made the first Opposition speech.

 

Councillor Adam Hug moved the amendments in his name as set out on the Order Paper which were seconded by Councillor David Boothroyd.

 

Following debate to which the Leader of the Council replied the Lord Mayor put Amendment One to the recommendations in paragraph 1 of the Cabinet report moved by Councillor Adam Hug and seconded by Councillor David Boothroyd and on a roll call vote undertaken by the Chief Executive, there voted:

 

For amendment one:  Councillors Begum, Boothroyd, Bush, Dimoldenberg, Hug, Less, McAllister, McKie, Qureshi, Roca, Talukder, Taylor, Toki and Williams.

 

Against amendment one:  Councillors Acton, Aiken, Alexander, Arzymanow, Astaire, Beddoe, Bott, Burbridge, Caplan, Chalkley, Connell, Cox, Crockett, Davis, Devenish, Evans, Freeman, Gassanly, Glanz, Hall, Angela Harvey, David Harvey, Holloway, Hyams, Mitchell, Prendergast, Rahuja, Rigby, Robathan, Rowley, Scarborough, Smith, Summers, Warner and Wilkinson.

 

Absence or not voting:  The Lord Mayor, Councillors Baroness Couttie, Cuthbertson, Church, Flight, Floru, Grahame, Mohammed, Mohindra, Roberts and Thomson.

 

The Lord Mayor declared amendment one to be LOST.

 

The Lord Mayor advised that the voting was on amendment two of the recommendations in paragraph 1 of the Cabinet report, moved by Councillor Adam Hug and seconded by Councillor David Boothroyd. A roll call vote was undertaken by the Chief Executive and there voted:

 

For amendment two:  Councillors Begum, Boothroyd, Bush, Dimoldenberg, Hug, Less, McAllister, McKie, Qureshi, Roca, Talukder, Taylor, Toki and Williams.

 

Against amendment two:  Councillors Acton, Aiken, Alexander, Arzymanow, Astaire, Beddoe, Bott, Burbridge, Caplan, Chalkley, Connell, Cox, Crockett, Davis, Devenish, Evans, Freeman, Gassanly, Glanz, Hall, Angela Harvey, David Harvey, Holloway, Hyams, Mitchell, Prendergast, Rahuja, Rigby, Robathan, Rowley, Scarborough, Smith, Summers, Warner and Wilkinson.

 

Absence or not voting:  The Lord Mayor, Councillors Baroness Couttie, Cuthbertson, Church, Flight, Floru, Grahame, Mohammed, Mohindra, Roberts and Thomson.

 

The Lord Mayor declared amendment two to be LOST.

 

The Lord Mayor advised that the voting was on the unamended recommendations of the Cabinet in paragraph 1 of the Cabinet report – 2018-2019 Budget Proposals.  The Lord Mayor put the recommendations of the Cabinet in paragraph 1 to the vote and on a roll call vote undertaken by the Chief Executive there voted:

 

For the recommendations:  Councillors Acton, Aiken, Alexander, Arzymanow, Astaire, Beddoe, Bott, Burbridge, Caplan, Chalkley, Connell, Cox, Crockett, Davis, Devenish, Evans, Freeman, Gassanly, Glanz, Hall, Angela Harvey, David Harvey, Holloway, Hyams, Mitchell, Prendergast, Rahuja, Rigby, Robathan, Rowley, Scarborough, Smith, Summers, Warner and Wilkinson.

 

Against the recommendations:  Councillors Begum, Boothroyd, Bush, Dimoldenberg, Hug, Less, McAllister, McKie, Qureshi, Roca, Talukder, Taylor, Toki and Williams.

 

Absence or not voting:  The Lord Mayor, Councillors Baroness Couttie, Cuthbertson, Church, Flight, Floru, Grahame, Mohammed, Mohindra, Roberts and Thomson.

 

The Lord Mayor declared the recommendations in paragraph 1 of the Cabinet report ADOPTED.

 

Resolved:

 

(i)       That the Budget Proposals including the financial strategy set out in the report of the City Treasurer attached as Appendix A be approved, where external consultation has been completed.

 

(ii)      That a further report be submitted to Cabinet in February 2018 and then to Council on 7 March 2018 to reflect the outcome of external consultation and Equality Impact Assessments not already considered and adjusted to reflect the updated budget position.

 

(iii)      That the Council confirmed that they had regard to the views of the Budget and Performance Task Group set out in Appendix A.

 

(iv)     That the draft estimated cash limited budgets for each service with overall net expenditure for 2018-2019 of £168.163m (as set out in Schedules 1 to 6) be noted.  These figures are draft and based on 2017-2018 Period 6 budgets which may change before final budget setting is completed in March 2018.

 

(v)      That, after considering the period 6 monitor and noting the projected underspend, officers are asked to earmark these monies for a number of “My Westminster” community initiatives and projects.  That a report be submitted to the Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Corporate Services, setting out the proposed governance arrangements for any such proposals.

 

(vi)     That the Equality Impact Assessments included in Annex B of the report (Appendix A) be received and noted to inform the consideration and approval of the budget proposals.

(vii)     That the Cabinet receives a further report in February 2018 which will finalise the budget for 2018-2019.

 

The Lord Mayor put the recommendations in paragraph 2 of the Cabinet report, Capital Strategy 2018-2019 to 2022-2023, Forecast Position for 2017-2018 and Future Years Forecasts summarised up to 2031-2032 to the vote and there voted on a roll call vote undertaken by the Chief Executive.

 

For the recommendations:  Councillors Acton, Aiken, Alexander, Arzymanow, Astaire, Beddoe, Begum, Boothroyd, Bott, Burbridge, Bush, Caplan, Chalkley, Connell, Cox, Crockett, Davis, Devenish, Evans, Freeman, Gassanly, Hall, Angela Harvey, David Harvey, Holloway, Hug, Hyams, Less, McAllister, McKie, Mitchell, Prendergast, Qureshi, Rahuja, Rigby, Robathan, Roca, Rowley, Scarborough, Smith, Summers, Talukder, Taylor, Toki, Warner, Wilkinson and Williams.

 

Against the recommendations:  No one voted against.

 

Absence or not voting:  The Lord Mayor, Councillors Baroness Couttie, Cuthbertson, Church, Flight, Floru, Grahame, Mohammed, Mohindra, Roberts and Thomson.

 

The Lord Mayor declared the recommendations in paragraph 2 of the Cabinet report ADOPTED.

 

Resolved:

 

That Council:

 

(i)       Approved the Capital Strategy as set out in the report attached as Appendix B.

 

(ii)      Approved the capital expenditure for the General Fund as set out in Appendix B for 2018-2019 to 2022-2023 and future years to 2031-2032.

 

(iii)      Approved the capital expenditure forecasts for the General Fund as set out in Appendix B of the report.

 

(iv)     Noted the expenditure forecast for 2017-2018 for the HRA as set out in the report attached as Appendix B.

 

(v)      Noted the capital expenditure for the HRA for 2018-2019 to 2022-2023 as in accordance with the 30 year HRA Business Plan and as included in the report attached as Appendix B.

 

(vi)     Noted the financial implications of the HRA Capital Programme including the references to the debt cap and the level of reserves as detailed in paragraph 12.33 of the report attached as Appendix B.

 

(vii)     Approved that in the event that any additional expenditure is required by a capital scheme over and above this approved programme the revenue consequences of this will be financed by revenue savings or income generation from relevant service areas.

 

(viii)    Approved that all development and investment projects follow the previously approved business case governance process as set out in paragraphs 6.7 to 6.15 of the report attached as Appendix B.

 

(ix)     Approved that no financing resources unless stipulated in regulations or necessary agreements are ring fenced.

 

(x)      Approved that contingency in respect of major projects is held corporately with bids for access to those contingencies to be reviewed by the Capital Review Group (CRG) and thereafter approved by the relevant Cabinet Member and City Treasurer, in the event they are required to fund capital project costs, as detailed in paragraphs 10.43 to 10.44 of the report attached as Appendix B.  These total £651.505m from 2017-2018 to 2031-2032 but include a sum of £450m which is an allowance for general capital expenditure (eg highways improvements) in future years beyond 2021-2022.

 

(xi)     Noted that as approved last year the Council plans to use capital receipts in 2017-2018 to fund the revenue costs of three eligible proposals – the refurbishment of Westminster City Hall (£9m), the Digital Transformation Programme (£2.8m) and a contribution to the pension fund deficit (£10m) under the DCLG Guidance on the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts if considered beneficial to the Council’s finances by the City Treasurer at year end.  Further use of flexible capital receipts to fund the above are also included in the capital programme for these schemes in 2018-2019 (the last year to which the Flexible Capital Receipts scheme is available).

 

(xii)     Approved that the financing of the capital programme as set out in paragraphs 12.1 to 12.21 of the report attached as Appendix B.

 

(xiii)    Approved that financing of the capital programme be delegated to the City Treasurer at the year end to provide sufficient flexibility to allow for the most effective use of Council resources.

 

The Lord Mayor put the recommendations in paragraph 3 of the Cabinet report to the vote and on a show of hands declared the recommendations ADOPTED.

 

Resolved:

 

(i)       That the Treasury Management Strategy Statement set out in sections 5 to 7 of the report Appendix C be approved;

 

(ii)      That the Prudential Indicators set out in section 8 of Appendix C be approved;

 

(iii)      That the overall borrowing strategy and borrowing limits for 2018-2019 to 2022-2023 as detailed in section 6 of the report (Appendix C) be approved;

 

(iv)     That the investment strategy and approved investments set out in Appendix 1 of Appendix C be approved;

 

(v)      That the Minimum Revenue Provision Policy set out in Appendix 2 of Appendix C be approved.

 

The Lord Mayor put the recommendations in paragraph 4 of the Cabinet, Treasury Management Strategy Mid-year Review to the vote and on a show of hands declared the recommendations ADOPTED.

 

Resolved:

 

That the report (Appendix D) be noted and the changes set out in the report approved by Cabinet (30.10.17) be endorsed.

 

The Council noted paragraph 5 of the Cabinet report – Housing Investment Strategy and Housing Revenue Account Business Plan 2018-2019.

 

The Lord Mayor put the recommendations in paragraph 6 of the Cabinet reports to the vote and on a show of hands declared the recommendations ADOPTED.

 

Resolved:

 

That the Council:

 

(i)       Approved and implement the Integrated Investment Framework set out in the report as attached Appendix F (to be reviewed on an annual basis).

 

(ii)      Approved that the target for the overall return on Council investments should aspire to match inflation.

 

(iii)      Approved that the benefits of investing in the Pension Fund should be used as a benchmark when evaluating other investments.

 

(iv)     Adopted the asset allocation percentages set out in the Framework and work towards achieving this.

 

(v)      Approved that the overarching objective of this Framework is to achieve an overall return on Council investments aspiring to match inflation, or to reduce costs and liabilities at an equivalent rate whilst maintaining adequate cash balances for operational purposes and not exposing the capital value of investments to unnecessary risk.

 

The Council noted paragraph 7 of the Cabinet report – 2016-2017 Annual Accounts and Outturn.