Agenda and minutes

Councillor Chris Barnfather

Councillor John Clarke

Councillor Jon Collins

None

Last meeting held on 11 October 2013 (for confirmation)

The Committee confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 11 October 2013 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Neil Timms, the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, presented the Chief Fire Officers report setting out the options for the recommendation of a balanced revenue budget over the next three years to the Fire Authority for acceptance.

The Strategic Director of Finance and Resources outlined for Members:

·  the proposed Capital Programme for 2014/2015 to 2016/2017;

·  revenue budgets 2014/2015 to 2016/2017;

·  possible areas for budget savings;

·  the options for 2014/2015, 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 of both freezing the Council Tax and taking the grant and raising Council Tax by 1.9%;

·  the potential affect on balances for 2014/2015, 2015/2016 and 2016/2017of both freezing the Council Tax and taking the grant and raising Council Tax by 1.9%

all of which are set out in detail in the Report.

RESOLVED

(1)  to recommend to the Fire Authority at its meeting on 28 February 2014;

(a)  the Capital and Revenue Budgets for 2014/2015 set out in the report;

(b)  the outline Capital and Revenue Budgets for 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 set out in the report;

(c)  not to accept the Council Tax freeze grant being offered for 2014/2015;

(d)  to increase Council Tax for 2014/2015 by 1.9% on the proviso that the referendum limit remains at 2%;

(2)  to request the Chief Fire Officer to prepare a range of options which can be consulted upon to bring budgets into balance for 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 and to include these options within the budget report to full Fire Authority on 28 February 2014.

Councillors Wheeler and Roberts asked that their vote against resolutions (1) (c)  and (1) (d) above be recorded in the minutes.

Report of the Treasurer to the Fire Authority

Peter Hurford, the Treasurer to the Fire Authority presented his report updating members on treasury management activity during the first half of the 2013/14 financial year.

The Chair thanked Peter Hurford for his work in relation to Treasury Management Practices.

RESOLVED

(1)  to note the report;

(2)  to approve the use of the Santander 95 day Notice Account with modification application to the credit-worthiness policy as outlined in paragraph 2.19 of the report;

(3)  to agree to the provision of a treasury management training seminar  following either one of the next two committee meetings, subject to the availability of the Authority’s external advisers to deliver the seminar.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Neil Timms, the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, presented the Chief Fire Officers report seeking the approval of members to the virement of budget to enable some elements of backlog maintenance to be recovered. The virement is proposed from the employees budget which is currently showing an underspend in the region of £480k to the building  maintenance budget to enable the backlog works to be carried out.

RESOLVED to approve the virement of £420k from the employees virement group to the premise virement group to enable the backlog of maintenance works to be carried out partly in the current financial year and early into the next financial year.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Neil Timms, the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, presented the Chief Fire Officers report advising Members on Capital Programme progress in the year 2013/14 to the end of November 2013, analysing significant variances against the original programme.

The capital budget monitoring statement is showing an underspend to date of £6,406k against a budget for the year of £8,339K. Overall capital expenditure is likely to reach £5,151k by the end of the year but the outturn will be continually reviewed and reported throughout the year.

RESOLVED

(1)  to approve a voluntary Minimum Revenue Provision contribution of up to £1m from a combination of general underspends and unused RCCO, as outlined in paragraph 2.3 of the report;

(2)  to approve the acceleration of the purchase of a Microsoft Volume Enterprise License Agreement covering all Microsoft software applications and server licensing for a 3 year period at an estimated cost of £200k. This will be financed from the existing budgeted capital financing charges;

(3)  to note the content of this report.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Neil Timms, the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, presented the Chief Fire Officers report advising Members of the financial performance of the Service in the year 2013/14 to the end of November 2013, analysing significant variances against the original programme.

The Revenue budget monitoring statement for November 2013 is showing an underspend to date of £863K against a budget for the year of £43,899k. The projected outturn variance for the year is an underspend of £821k.

RESOLVED to note the contents of the report.

Report of the Treasurer to the Fire Authority

Peter Hurford, the Treasurer to the Fire Authority presented his report informing members of performance for the period March 2013 up to 30 November 2013 relating to the prudential indicators for capital accounting and treasury management.

RESOLVED to note the report.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Neil Timms, the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, presented the Chief Fire Officers report presenting Members with updated Strategic and Corporate Risk registers and associated commentary.

RESOLVED

(1)  to note and endorse the Strategic Risk Register;

(2)  to note and endorse the Corporate Risk Register;

(3)  to note the most significant risks facing the Authority.