Agenda item

Joint Report of the Chamberlain and the Commissioner of Police - TO FOLLOW.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner of Police regarding Revenue and Capital Budgets for 2019/20 and the following points were made.

·         The Interim Director of Finance noted that the Force would be mindful of planned Transform savings.

·         The Deputy Treasurer noted the planned Business Rate Premium increase from £8.8m in 2018/19 to £13m in 2019/20. She noted that, as it stood, the 2019/20 budgets did not factor in any planned risk, and therefore any further requests for funding from the Force to the Authority would be subject to a great deal of scrutiny – the Authority would want to be clear what additionality any further funding would provide the Force.

·         The Chairman noted that it was imperative that the Force provided the Authority with a detailed Demand report that could be scrutinised.

·         A Member noted that any further request for funding should be scrutinised alongside the Force’s forecast spend.

·         The Deputy Treasurer noted that the transfer from Reserves provided in 2018/19 was intended to bridge an identified funding gap. It was important, from the Force’s perspective, that any increase in the Business Rate Premium, if agreed by the Court of Common Council, be linked to Force additionality.

·         Members requested that future revenue and capital budget reporting include relevant sections on budget monitoring and a summary of risks.

RESOLVED, that Members

·         Note the latest projected outturn position for the 2018/19 revenue budget;

·         Note the provisional 2019/20 revenue budget;

·         Note that a business case for additional resources will be submitted to a future meeting.