Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 2024 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 2024 were agreed as an accurate record.

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) they may have in relation to any item(s) of business on today’s agenda.

The Monitoring Officer granted a general dispensation to all Members to enable the discussion and decision on the Budget and Scheme of Members’ Allownaces.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

To receive Announcements, if any, from the Mayor, the Leader, Head of Paid Service and Returning Officer.

1.    The Chair reminded Members that, in accordance with section 106 of the 1992 Act, where a payment of Council Tax that a Member was liable to make had been outstanding for two months or more at the time of the meeting, the Member must disclose the fact of their arrears and not participate in the vote on the Council’s budget.

2.    The Chair moved that the process used in the second budget meeting last year be adopted for the consideration of the budget item. This was seconded by Councillor Luke Shortland and put to the vote and;

RESOLVED:

That the following process be used for the consideration of the budget item:

·       Members would ask both the Mayor and Cabinet Member for Finance questions for 30 minutes.

·       There would be no provision for questions to the Scrutiny Chair- as these were fielded at the previous budget meeting on the original proposals on 28 February 2024.

·       The executive proposals would be moved and seconded followed by the moving and seconding of the amendment.

·       4 Members would speak to the amendment and Council would vote on whether to amend the proposals.

·       If successful, the Amended Council Tax & Budget 2024-25 proposals would become the basis for the debate and vote on the Council Tax & Budget 2024-25.

·       If the vote to amend the executive proposals was unsuccessful, the executive proposals would remain the basis for the debate and final vote on the Council Tax & Budget 2024-25.

3.    Mayor Jason Perry announced that the Greater London Assembly had awarded £53.8m to Croydon Council for the redevelopment of Regina Road. The Mayor thanked the Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Housing Councillor Lynne Hale and officers for their hard work.

The meeting is being called as part of the 2024/25 budget setting process. If this Council meeting is required, agenda and supplementary papers for the ‘Council’s Budget 2024/25’ item will be issued following the 28 February 2024 Council meeting. Should a Budget be agreed at the meeting on Wednesday 28 February 2024, there will be no need for this meeting, and the meeting will be cancelled.

IMPORTANT UPDATE (ADDED AFTER AGENDA PUBLICATION):

At Budget Council on 28 February 2024, the executive’s proposed budget was not agreed. This 6^th March Budget Council will take place to consider the executive’s response.

The papers published as Supplementary Agenda No.1 are reports previously published for Budget Council on 28 February 2024. The executive’s response to the objections to the budget and additional papers will be published once received.

It was agreed that the order of the meeting would include fifteen minutes of questions to the Executive Mayor followed by fifteen minutes of questions to the Cabinet Member for Finance.

During the 15 minutes of Questions to the Executive, the Mayor responded that:

·       Council Tax support remained in place but the Hardship Fund was reduced this year because of lack of take up so the fund was moved into culture tax to support residents who needed support the most.

·       The Chancellor of the Exchequer had extended the Household Support Fund for six months.

·       The Mayor confirmed that he had written directly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to review his decision to close the fund to be extended.

·       The Regina Road grant, the Housing Transformation Plan, Housing Strategy were evidence of the ongoing work to deliver improvement to Croydon residents.

·      Asset disposal and capitalisation directives were not a sustainable way to operate and Croydon had requested for a bailout from the government and there were ongoing regular meetings between the Mayor and government ministers to discuss additional financial support for the Council.

·       There was a robust process in place which involved independent external advisers, partners and proper marketing to ensure that the Council’s assets for sale were not undervalued and best value was realised.

·      Regarding the £18m Levelling up grant to Croydon, work was expected to commence in the summer in light of the 26 March 2024 deadline for the use of the grant. The grant was expected to among other things, improve investments in the Town Centre.

·       The forthcoming transformation programme would detail what the council would start doing less although a lot of consideration had been given to ensure the provision of essential services.

·       It was confirmed that the results of the public engagement on the budget would inform the Transformation programme

·       The Council worked through Schools Partnership introduced last year to ensure there were no holes in transition from year six, where young people were most at risk of being exploited into crime and violent behaviour in a bid to do the best for Croydon’s young people.

The Cabinet Member for Finance stated that the impact of the extension of the Household Support Fund was £500m nationally and £3m for Croydon which was the equivalent of 2000 support packages to the most vulnerable people in the borough and hoped that the fund would be extended further.

During the fifteen minutes of questions to the Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Jason Cummings responded that:

·       There were options open to the Council to reduce its debt burden such as debt reduction and restructure was one option in terms of how the debt burden could be dealt with.

·       The Cabinet Member for Finance has attended the meetings with Minister to discuss write off negotiations.

·       The whole of local government was under significant amount of financial pressure, Councils across London were unable to balance their budget in year against the figures they predicted. It was excellent that Croydon had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 106/24

This item was deferred from Budget Council on 28 February 2024.

To agree the Members’ Allowances Scheme for 2024/25.

Under the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003, Councils must, each year, approve the Members’ Allowances Scheme for the next financial year.

The Chair of the General Purposes Committee Councillor Sean Fitzsimmons MOVED the recommendations as contained in the report, Councillor Callton Young SECONDED the motion, and Council;

RESOLVED TO:

1.1             give due consideration to the Independent Panel Report (IPR) on the Remuneration of?Councillors in London for 2023 (“Remuneration Report” Appendix 1) when considering this report and proposals around the Members Allowance Scheme.

1.2                  agree that No Increase would be applied to the Member Allowance Scheme for 2023/24, which had been proposed at a 3.88% increase to align with the LPSS;

1.3             agree the Members’ Allowances Scheme for 2024/25 (Appendix 3).

1.4             agree that the Director of Legal Services be authorised to comply with the statutory requirements to publicise the 2024/25 Members’ Allowances Scheme, the IPR  and make all necessary updates to the Constitution; and,

To note:

1.5                  that the General Purposes agreed to undertake a review of the Members Allowance Scheme in 2024 as detailed in paragraph 4.9 and 4.10.

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1.6             A recommendation around any uplift aligned to the LPSS applicable for the Members Allowance Scheme 2024/25 would be proposed to Full Council by GPC late 2024 / early 2025.

1.7             give due consideration to the Independent Panel Report (IPR) on the Remuneration of?Councillors in London for 2023 (“Remuneration Report” Appendix 1) when considering this report and proposals around the Members Allowance Scheme.

1.8                  agree that No Increase be applied to the Member Allowance Scheme for 2023/24, which had been proposed at a 3.88% increase to align with the LPSS;

1.9             agree the Members’ Allowances Scheme for 2024/25 (Appendix 3).

1.10          agree that the Director of Legal Services be authorised to comply with the statutory requirements to publicise the 2024/25 Members’ Allowances Scheme, the IPR  and make all necessary updates to the Constitution; and,

To note:

1.11              that the General Purposes agreed to undertake a review of the Members Allowance Scheme in 2024 as detailed in paragraph 4.9 and 4.10.

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1.12          that a recommendation around any uplift aligned to the LPSS applicable for the Members Allowance Scheme 2024/25 would be proposed to Full Council by GPC late 2024 / early 2025.