To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2024.

Decision

The Executive approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting on 17 January 2024.

Report of the Chief Executive attached

The Executive considered a report of the Chief Executive which provided an update on key areas of progress against the Our Manchester Strategy – Forward to 2025 which reset Manchester’s priorities for the next five years to ensure the Council could still achieve the city’s ambition set out in the Our Manchester Strategy 2016 – 2025.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development reported that the Council had secured £51.6m via GMCA’s Brownfield Housing Fund to build thousands of new homes.  The funding would support the development of 31 long-term underused sites over the next two years, helping to build 3,380 new homes, with 1,761 of them (52%) genuinely affordable.  These new homes were contributing to the target set in the Council’s Housing Strategy to 2032 which aimed to deliver 36,000 new homes across the city with 10,000 of these affordable and 3,000 of these affordable homes in the city centre.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development reported that the final homes in a 69-home low carbon development for social rent in Silk Street, Newton Heath, had been completed.  The long-term brownfield site overlooking the Rochdale Canal had been developed and brought back into use by the Council delivering 36 one-bedroom apartments, 12 two-bedroom apartments, 17 two-storey three-bedroom houses and four three-story, four-bedroom houses.  The apartments had been built to HAPPI design principles that provided larger internal space as standard, which accommodated someone using a wheelchair, along with extra storage space. This meant they could also be adapted to meet the needs of the tenants.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development also reported that major investment in Ancoats Green was underway to create a much improved city centre park space as part of the culmination of Ancoats’ regeneration.  The scheme would include new walking and cycling routes to encourage active travel through the neighbourhood, significant new planting – including new wildflower and wetland areas – and new trees to add colour throughout the year. At least 30% of new services would be made from reclaimed materials, including granite paving slabs removed from Albert Square as part of its transformation under the Our Town Hall project.  The transformed Ancoats Green would help underpin the development of 1,500 new homes in this part of Ancoats, supporting the creation of a low-traffic, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhood.  Homes England had committed £28.1m to the overall project – along with the Mobility Hub – which, combined with the £4.7m allocated by Greater Manchester Combined Authority through the Brownfield Housing Fund, brought the total budget  to £32.7m.

The Executive Member for Young People, Children and Families reported that preparations were taking place for Manchester’s fourth Family Hub to open.  Hubs were already open in Longsight, Cheetham and Wythenshawe with a fourth due to open in Gorton this spring.  Family Hubs were Manchester’s new community based ‘one-stop shops’ offering support and advice to families, children and young people through to early adulthood.  Unlike Sure Start Centres which largely provided support aimed at younger children, the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which outlined the projected outturn position for 2023/24, based on expenditure and income activity as at the end of December 2023 and future projections.

The Leader advised that the current budget monitoring forecast was estimating an overspend of £5.5m for 2023/24.   This was in the context of significant financial difficulty being faced across the Local Government Sector and reflected the national pressures in the health and social care sector and trends being experienced across most Social Care providing local authorities.

The Children’s directorate was facing an overspend of £7.7m due to increased External Residential costs, Home to School Transport demand, workforce and price pressures and overspends in Localities and Fostering workforce budgets. The biggest pressure related to external residential placements and increased complexity of need of the current cohort which had seen placement costs increase by 47% in the current financial year.  Similarly the Adult Services Directorate was facing an overspend of £3.7m which was being driven by long term care placements and cost pressures which were outpacing demand management interventions.  The Neighbourhoods Directorate was also forecasting an overspend of £1.4m in relation to shortfalls of income in markets and car parking as income levels had failed to recover since the pandemic and alternative locations for the Christmas markets had not replaced the losses incurred at Albert Square.

It was noted that these pressures were partly offset by a forecasted £2m utilities underspend due to the new contract for electricity effective 1 October 2023, and an additional £1m driven by the release of fortuitous income which represented unallocated income balances not allocated to services.

In year price inflation underspend of £455k had been released at P9 plus £553k of unallocated pay award due to vacancy levels as well as underspends of £0.8m in Public Health, arising from the confirmation of external funding, £1.5m in Growth and Development mostly due planning fee income and £1.2m in the Corporate Core, mainly due staffing underspends and extra income and reduced costs in Coroners were also contributing to offsetting the budget pressures

Since the 2023/24 budget was approved there had been additional grant

notifications which were now reflected in revised budgets.

Overspending Directorates were working on recovery plans to mitigate their positions with an aim to reduce the overspend by the end of the financial year.  Any overspend this year would be a direct call on the General Fund reserve which would need to be reimbursed in future years. It was important mitigations continued to be identified to bring forecast spend back in line with the available budget.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)     Note the global revenue monitoring report and forecast outturn position which is showing a £5.5m overspend.

(2)     Approve the proposed budget virements as set out at paragraphs. 2.8 to 2.10 of the report.

(3)     Approve the proposed use of revenue grant funding as set out at paragraph 2.12 of the report.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which informed of the progress against the delivery of the 2023/24 capital programme to the end of December 2023, the latest forecast of capital expenditure and the major variances since the Capital Programme Monitoring report submitted in November 2023 and the proposed financing of capital expenditure for 2023/24 and affordability of the Capital Programme.

The latest forecast of expenditure for 2023/24 for Manchester City Council was £403.5m compared to the current approved budget of £506.4m. Spend as of 31st December 2023 was £226.0m.  It was reported that the programme was subject to continual review to establish whether the forecast remained achievable.

Whilst the intention was for the Council to progress the programme as stated, some projects and their sources of funding might require re-profiling into future years.

The current forecasts showed that the financing costs remained affordable within the revenue budget available including reserves. The capital financing reserves will start to be drawn down to meet the costs associated with the borrowing in 2024/25

Decision

The Executive note the report.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached.

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which set out the strategic and financial context which supported the 2024/25 Budget based on the outcome of the Final Local Government Finance Settlement.

The report went on to set out the strategic and statutory context for setting the budget, which included:-

·            The Our Manchester Strategy;

·            Progress to date on delivering the Our Manchester Strategy,

·            The Corporate Plan;

·            A summary of the financial position and context;

·            The required statutory assessment of the robustness of the proposed budget and adequacy of proposed reserves;

·            Other fiduciary and statutory duties; and

·            Financial Governance.

The Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), approved in February 2023, recognised that significant budget cuts would need to be delivered over the Spending Review period to set a balanced budget in future years. When the three-year MTFS was presented in February 2023 an indicative balanced 2024/25 budget was set out. The forecast gap for 2025/26 was £40m.

It was reported that the provisional finance settlement had been disappointing. Despite the well reported financial difficulties being faced by Local Authorities across the sector there was no new funding for public services announced and instead, an unexpected 84% cut in core funding Services Grant was announced.  The budget impact of the provisional settlement was a £2.4m worsening of the position for 2024/25, expected to rise to £5.3m in 2025/26. At the same time the in-year budget position for the Council was worsening meaning that the budget needed to allow for topping up the General Fund reserve by at least £1m to maintain the reserve at a reasonable level to enable the overspend to be funded.

In addition to the settlement announcement, Manchester continued to face growing pressures in social care and homelessness.  In the last two months there had been an increase in children's placement numbers and costs, further significant pressures across ASC budgets and some worrying trends in asylum seekers/migrant policy/homelessness.  This was in line with national trends and core cities and other GM authorities were all reporting similar issues.

Work throughout January quantified the full year effect of the increased numbers of residents requiring care and support, which came to £18.4m.  After demand management and proactive mitigations of £8.4m this had been reduced to an additional budget requirement of £10m in 2024/25.   Whilst extremely challenging it was important that a realistic and deliverable budget was set which recognised these additional pressures and allowed a realistic budget to be set.  As such the following mitigations had been proposed to finalise the revenue budget:-

·                A £5.5m Greater Manchester Combined Authority waste levy rebate

·                £0.6m final GMCA levy announcements

·                £3.93m through improved Council Tax and Business Rates collection,

·                including the introduction of a 100% Council Tax premium on

·                unfurnished empty homes.

·                £1.5m through extra income from buildings owned by the Council –

·                through increased rental charges and the renting out of vacant units

·                £1.2m through interest on airport loans and investments

·                £1m through energy savings due to reductions in wholesale prices  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer and City Solicitor explained how the budget proposals for the Directorate had been developed.

Following the provisional finance settlement announced 18 December the Council was forecasting an estimated budget shortfall of £38m in 2024/25, £79m in 2025/26, and £90m by 2026/27. After the application of approved and planned savings, and the use of c.£17m smoothing reserves in each of the three years, the budget was balanced for 2024/25 and the remaining gap reduced to £29m in 2025/26 and £41m by 2026/27. This position assumed that savings of £21.4m will be delivered next year.

The Corporate Core had delivered savings of £3.365m in 2023/24 and currently had approved savings of a further £2.734m over the next three financial years with £0.677m scheduled in 2024/25.  The already approved £0.677m savings for 2024/25 were split between Future Programme savings £472k and general housekeeping savings of £205k.

In addition to the already approved savings and in recognition of the work required to balance the overall council budget, further options for savings have been developed, and the areas considered included the following:-

·            Review of workforce structures and capacity alongside taking a realistic view on the ability to fill longstanding vacancies.

·            Review all income generation from sales, fees and charges and whether there are opportunities to increase charges in line with inflation and increase income.

·            Review all savings proposals that have not been taken forward as part of the 2023/24 budget process. 

The measures proposed included:-

·            Additional income of £130k:

·                £50k from increased vehicle clamping income.

·                £80k from increased registrars income following the price increase that was introduced during 2023/24 which aligned Manchester registrars fee levels with that of other Core Cities.

It was reported that the Council’s staffing establishment was budgeted at the top of the grade, with an allowance made to allow for vacancies, staff not being at top of grade and in year turnover. Despite this, staffing budgets had continued to consistently underspend across all directorates.  All vacant posts had been reviewed, with a focus on those that have been vacant for longer than 12 months, to determine which posts should be deleted with the least impact on service delivery.  

As part of the Council wide £1m saving from vacant posts the Corporate Core had identified total savings of £286k through deletion of eight long term vacant posts

In terms of budget growth and as part of the 2023/24 budget approvals £0.783m was approved for 2024/25 and this was in respect of:-

·            A regular refresh programme of ICT equipment would be undertaken, and an annual budget of £0.75m was approved from 2024 as part of the 2023/24 budget to support the ongoing costs of the refresh programme.

·            £33k growth was also agreed to offset pressures in HROD (£23k due to reduced school income for payroll services, and £10k in financial management to cover increased costs of Civica Pay licences).

In addition to the above growth approved as part of 2023/24 budget process further  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

Report of the Strategic Director for Children’s and Education Services attached

The report of the Strategic Director for Children’s and Education Services explained how the budget proposals for the Directorate had been developed.

The gross 2023/24 budget for the Directorate was £607.293m, which included the Dedicated Schools Grant  delegated to maintained schools.The net budget is £143.801m.  As part of the 2023/24 budget setting proposals, a total of £11.8m had been proposed for 2023/24 to 2025/26 and there had been confidence that managing demand savings were achievable with most of the savings achieved through early intervention and managing demand.

The Directorate’s budget was currently forecast to be overspent by £7.757m. 

The underlying reason for this was attributed to significantly increased costs of care placements for Looked After Children (LAC), a shortfall in the Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children grant for the numbers now being accommodated and an overspend on Home to School Transport, which was attributed to an increase in requests and entitlement.

Evidence continued to show there had been significant cost avoidance through the actions taken to support children and young people effectively at an earlier stage and avoid LAC status.  However, those benefits had been outstripped by the rising costs of.  Additional funding was included in the budget proposals to cover these costs, but the focus would remain on continuing to manage demand effectively and intervening early. 

On 24 January 2024 additional funding was announced in a written statement to Parliament in advance of the final settlement. The announcement included a further £500m for social care, £15m increase in the Rural Services Delivery Grant (RSDG), and that the funding guarantee would be increased from 3% to 4% (estimate £60m extra). If the funding is allocated in line with the existing Social Care Grant formula, Manchester would receive around £5.5m.  The proposed budget had seen a significant additional investment of £12.6m (an increase of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

Report of the Director Public Health attached

The report of the Director of Public Health explained how the budget proposals for the Directorate had been developed.

Public Health was funded nationally through a specific ringfenced grant. However, the Greater Manchester locality had been part of the governments business rates pilot for a number of years whereby the funding ringfence is removed and an equivalent allocation received as an adjustment to business rates.  The gross 2023/24 budget was £54.126m with a net budget of £43.266m.  Income of £10.860m included use of reserves £3.753m, government grants £4.489m and other contributions from NHS partners, from other local authorities and Better Care Fund totalling £2.618m.

The latest 2023/24 global monitoring report to the Executive outlined a £0.8m underspend.  Consequently, the  required 2023/24 savings of £0.730m had been achieved in full through a mixture of  underspends across the staffing budgets due to vacant posts and the maximisation of external funding, and underspends on other indirect staffing costs.

The provisional public health settlement had been received for 2024/25, a 1.318% increase totalling £0.752m. The final confirmation was expected before the end of March 2024. No additional growth and pressures were approved for 2024-26.  Provision had been made for inflationary price increases and potential pay awards. This was held corporately and would be allocated to service budgets when the details were available and considered together with the funding settlement for Public Health

The 2023/24 budget for the Manchester Locality Structure for health was provisionally set at £8.3m, which was lower than the existing cost of the locality structure. The budget and structures were subject to consultation prior to a final agreed position with the Integrated Care Board (ICB). The final allocation for running costs was £7.8m.

To avoid losing capacity that was essential to the provision of NHS services in Manchester and to ensure there was a managed transition to reducing costs, the Council had agreed to fund the public health, population health and equality, inclusion and engagement teams, recurrently by applying £0.5m of public health grant. In addition, a one off £1m from the Public Health reserve was proposed to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Report of the Executive Director of Adult Social Services attached

The report of the Executive Director for Adult Social Services explained how the budget proposals for the Directorate had been developed.

The gross 2023/24 budget was £285.023m and the net budget of £219.666m. Income of £65.357m which included client fees £30.416m, Better Care Fund Grant £17.791m, contributions from NHS partners of £10.267m and other income of £6.883m which included grants and use of reserves.

Growth and pressures of £26.372m were estimated and included in the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for 2024-26, as part of the 2023/24 budget approvals process, alongside an additional £5.936m of base assumptions for 2026/27. Together the current MTFP included £32.308m of funding of which £6.074m related to the transfer of grant funding in accordance with the statutory conditions, the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) original allocation (£3.105m) and the Adult Discharge fund (£2.969m), with the balance of £26.234m Council funding for demographics and towards the care fee uplift, including use of the proposed Adult Social Care precept.

Further pressures identified included:-

·            A £9m pressure into 2024/25 arising from the 2023/24 financial forecast position (as at August 2023), which was fully mitigated through a combination of additional resources and specific service initiatives detailed (and now presented in this report in the savings section below);

·            Additional demographics in 2024/25 of £3.735m including £2m for transition of children to adult support, with increases of £1.064m in 2025/26 and £0.764m in 2026/27 to set the demographics budget to £4m in each year;

·            Additional funding towards the cost of care uplifts of £3.500m in 2024/25;

·            Mainstreaming the cost of new care models £1.300m from 2026/27; and

·            An expected £1.779m reduction in the 2024/25 MSIF workforce grant from £4.055m to £2.276m

The above represented an additional £8.584m, bringing the total investment 2024-27 to £40.892m

In addition, the full year cost into 2024/25 of clients in long term care as at November was assessed at £20.812m above the existing budget. And it had been deemed prudent to provide £1.5m for further growth in homecare to the end of the financial year.

Key budget movements were summarised as follows:-

The recurrent underlying position for 2024/25 had become significantly more challenging over the last five months and whilst the budget challenges outlined were significant, due to cost effective management of demand, Manchester’s social care financial pressures were less than many  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) attached

The report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) explained how the budget proposals for the Directorate had been developed.

The Neighbourhood Services Directorate had a gross budget of £262m and a net budget of £139.225m. The Directorate employed 1,916 fte.

Savings of £3.937m had already been approved for 2024/27 as part of prior year budget approvals and these remained on track to be delivered, however the ability to deliver these savings was being reviewed on an ongoing basis and provision had been made in the budget position to offset £1m of this risk

As part of the 2023/24 budget process savings were identified over a three-year period and it was intended that the 2024/25 budget would be light touch and no further savings would be required.

The original plan to deliver the Homelessness savings was based on a reduction in Temporary Accommodation numbers, although significant reductions have been made for the number of families supported in B&B the pressures faced remain significant. Agreement had been reached with DLUHC to review longer term leasing options for Temporary Accommodation units which would allow full housing benefit recovery and ease a significant proportion of the Housing Subsidy loss faced by the service. 

In light of the current financial years pressures and ongoing high inflation rates it had been necessary to revisit the initial assumptions and identify further savings options for consideration.  As part of identifying further savings options the initial priority had been to protect service delivery wherever possible, and this had included looking to increase income generation opportunities where possible.The additional proposed savings were summarised as follows:-

£1m of budget had been set aside to support pressures to the Homelessness budget. In the last two months there has been a worrying trend in asylum seekers, the migrant policy and homelessness.  This was in line with national trends and Core Cities and other GM authorities were all reporting similar issues.  Whilst extremely challenging it was important that a realistic and deliverable budget was set which recognized these additional pressures.

As part of the budget proposals an initial £0.9m investment into waste and street cleaning was proposed for 2024/25, this would provide £0.4m investment into waste collection and disposal to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development), Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) and Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

A joint report by the Strategic Director (Growth and Development), the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) and the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer presented the proposed budget for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for 2024/25 and indicative budgets for 2025/26 and 2026/27.

The report set out the requirements placed on the Council with respect to the HRA budget:-

·            The Council had to formulate proposals or income and expenditure for the financial year which sought to ensure that the HRA would not show a deficit balance;

·            To keep a HRA in accordance with proper practice to ensure that the HRA was in balance taking one year with another; and

·            The HRA must, in general, balance on a year-to-year basis so that the costs of running the Housing Service must be met from HRA income.

The original approved gross HRA budget was £117m and included a £35.5m revenue contribution towards the £60.4m capital programme. The HRA is currently forecasting an overspend of £4.094m made up of

·            Higher than forecast costs of repairs and maintenance of £8.764m. 

·            Other smaller overspends amount to £0.605m

This was offset by additional interest earned on balances due to increasing interest rates (£1.860m) and reductions in the budget allocated to PFI sprinkler works which were now funded from capital receipts (£2.089m).  Other net underspends  accounted for of £1.326m (including £1.038m reduced costs of gas because of a combination of reduced consumption, and reductions in wholesale gas prices). 

The reduction in the capital programme forecast outturn also meant that the budgeted £11.88m of revenue contribution to capital outlay (RCCO) was not required. This was to be funded in part from a transfer in of revenue reserves of £22.808m as set out in the original approved budget. This transfer would not be required until 2024/25.

In previous years the Government’s formula rent guidance assumes that rents increase by up to CPI plus 1%. The CPI rate used was based on the September figure in the preceding year, and as at September 2023 CPI was 6.7%.  This HRA budget had been prepared in line with the formula rent of 7.7% to all tenants, with effect from April 2024

Based on these increases, the average weekly rent (based on 53 weeks) would be:

·                General Needs                   £90.12 (£6.44 increase)

·                Supported Housing             £82.34 (£5.89 increase)

·                PFI Managed                      £109.78 (£7.85 increase)

In line with Manchester’s Anti-Poverty Strategy and support for residents during the ongoing cost of living crisis it was proposed that the community living fund was retained for 2024/25, at £300k.

To ensure that the increase applied to garage rents remained in line with that applied to dwelling rents, it was proposed that 2024/25 garage rents be increased in line with the original rent formula of 7.7%. The impact of this increase was:- 

Other income is forecasted to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) attached

The report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) explained how the budget proposals for the Directorate had been developed.

The Growth and Development Directorate had a gross budget of £35.6m and a net income budget of £11.3m and employed 439 FTEs.  In addition, Highways services and parking services and CCTV had a gross budget of £36.2m and net budget of £13.3m and employed FTE

Savings of £1.020m had already been approved as part of the 2023/24 budget and were to be delivered through increased annual rental income of £0.985m from Manchester Airport Group as well as £35k increased Development fee income for Highways.  The increases were based on estimates provided by the Airport and achievement of this income was dependent on performance being in line with or better than the forecasts provided. The savings were phased at £170k in 2024/25 and £0.815m in2025/26.  £35k of savings to be achieved in 2024/25 would be through increased development fee income for Highways

In addition to the already approved savings, and in support of the work required to balance the overall council budget, further options for savings had been developed and the areas considered include the following:-

·            A review of workforce structures and capacity alongside taking a realistic view on the ability to fill longstanding vacant posts; and

·            A review of all income generation from sales, fees and charges and whether there are opportunities to increase charges in line with inflation.

A summary of the current budgets for sales, fees and charges across Growth and Development Directorate was detailed as follows:-

It was noted that the Directorate was pivotal in driving Sustainable Economic Growth of the city to benefit everyone. In order to continue delivering in these key areas there would be a need for increased capacity, and this was estimated to cost in the region of £0.745m.  In light of the current overall Council budget position, it was not possible to provide additional investment to fund these resources, but the services had now started to review all existing resources in order to understand how existing resources could be reallocated to deliver this agenda

The budget report had also been considered at a recent meeting of the Economy and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee and the committee had endorsed the proposals in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

Report of the Strategic Director for Children’s and Education Services attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director for Children’s and Education Services, which provided a summary of the confirmed Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) allocation from the 2024/25 settlement.

The DSG was a ring-fenced grant of which the majority was used to fund individual schools budgets in maintained schools and academies in the city, early years nursery entitlement and provision for pupils with high needs including those with Education Health & Care Plans (EHCPs) in special schools, special provision and mainstream schools in Manchester and out of city.

The Council received and managed the DSG within four blocks: schools, central school services, high needs and early years.  A large proportion of it was paid directly to schools and other settings to provide the majority of education services. A proportion of the DSG was provided to the Council to deliver education services.

The 2024/25 DSG notification was received on 19 December 2023 and totalled  £735.050m with and an overall increase in DSG since last year of £58.125m

The Schools Block allocation of £537.979m had been calculated bottom up on the basis as if the national funding formula (NFF) was applied at school level.  On average the DfE has increased the formula determined by pupil level data by 1.4%.

The Central School Services Block (CSSB) allocation was £3.864m and supported the Council’s role in education.

The Higher Needs Block (HNB) allocation was £133.475m and provided increased funding for children and young people with special educational needs and disability from early years to age 25 years. The grant increase was 4.10% (£5.262m) this was lower than the increase in the previous two years, which was an on average +14.00% growth. The 2024/25 increase was not expected to cover anticipated inflation and growth in demand and would place pressure on the budget

The Early Years funding had increased by £18.115m and was made up of new free entitlements offer for 9 months olds to two-year-olds and working parents of two-year-olds (£11.888m) and an increase in the hourly rates for existing early year entitlements (£6.227m)  

The funding shortfall for pupils with high needs and central services block within the DSG remained a significant risk for the council.  It must be addressed as the statutory override preventing the council from including the accumulated deficit in its general fund balances was set to end on 31 March 2026.

It was noted that the report had also been considered at a recent meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee and the committee had endorsed the proposals in the report (Minute CYPSC/23/11).

Decision

The Executive approves the proposed Schools Budget and in doing so notes specifically the following:-

·            All Manchester primary and secondary schools should receive a per pupil increase of 0.5% minimum. The local funding formula’s average per pupil increase is 1.88%

·            Manchester does not intend to propose a 0.5% transfer from the school block to high needs 2024/25, given the anticipated impact of the High Needs recovery plan.

·            Explicit growth fund to include budget for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which presented the capital budget proposals before their submission to the Council.

The Capital Strategy had been developed to ensure that the Council could take capital expenditure and investment decisions in line with Council priorities and properly take account of stewardship, value for money, prudence, risk, sustainability and affordability.

The capital programme 2024/25 to 2026/27 comprised the continuation of the existing programme. For continuing schemes, the position was based on that set out in the report on Capital Programme Monitoring 2023/24, also being considered at this meeting (Minute Exe/24/15 above).

Details on the projects within the programme were set out in the report and the full list of the proposed projects was appended to the report.

If agreed, then the proposals contained in the report would create a capital programme of £408.2m in 2023/24, £463.7m in 2024/25, £173.8m in 2025/26 and £62.9m in 2026/27, summarised as follows:-

The proposed funding for the programme across the forecast period was as follows:-

The proposed capital programme described within the report was affordable within the existing revenue budget based on the estimated capital financing costs associated with delivering the programme.

There were risks associated with the delivery of the capital strategy, specifically regarding delays to the programme or treasury management risks.  Measures were in place to mitigate these risks through both the Strategic Capital Board and the treasury management strategy. Reports would be provided throughout the year to Council, Executive and other relevant committees providing updates on the progress of the capital programme and the risks associated with its delivery and funding.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)      Approve and recommend the report to Council, including the projects for Council approval in section 7, and note that the overall budget figures may change subject to decisions made on other agenda items.

(2)      Note the capital  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which set out the proposed Treasury Management Strategy Statement and Borrowing Limits for 2024/25 and Prudential Indicators for 2024/25 to 2026/27.

The Treasury Management Strategy Statement set out the risk framework under which the Council’s treasury management function would operate by detailing the investment and debt instruments to be used during the year the Strategy detailed the risk appetite of the Authority and how those risks would be managed.

The suggested strategy for 2024/25 was based upon the treasury officers’ views on interest rates, supplemented with the forecasts provided by the Council’s treasury advisor, Link Asset Services. The strategy covered:-

·                Prudential and Treasury Indicators for 2024/25 to 2026/27;

·                Impact of 2012 HRA reform;

·                Current Portfolio Position;

·                Prospects for Interest Rates;

·                Borrowing Requirement;

·                Borrowing Strategy;

·                Annual Investment Strategy; and

·                Non-Treasury Investments and Liabilities

The Executive noted the proposed Annual Investment and Borrowing Strategies set out in the report and agreed to commend them to the Council.

Decision

The Executive:-

(1)       Recommends the report to Council.

(2)       Delegates authority to the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, in consultation with the Executive Member for Finance and Human Resources, to approve changes to the borrowing figures as a result of changes to the Council’s Capital or Revenue budget and submit these changes to Council.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which sought approval for a new Sourcing Policy for the Council, further to the Insourcing First Motion agreed by the Council in 2023.

The Executive Member for Finance and Resources advised that an early iteration of the policy was discussed at the March 2023 Resources and Governance Scrutiny meeting and changes had been made to the proposed policy based on recommendation, including explicit reference to consultation with Trade Unions.   Since then the approach had been tested for its practical application to different service areas including management of the Council’s investment estate, security, housing repairs and maintenance, homecare and the Manchester Equipment and Adaptations Partnership. 

The Policy would apply to all council contracts as appropriate to the size of the contract but with certain exceptions as set out in the policy - principally because of where there was likely to be only one feasible delivery model.  Delivery Model Assessments would be completed in full for all Contracts that were classified “Gold” and therefore within the remit of the Major Contracts Review Board.

It was noted that as part of the policy, extension clauses in contracts should not be automatically activated and options for future delivery models must be considered in advance of decisions to extend.

The policy included key considerations aimed at ensuring good value for money, including Strategic Fit, People and Assets, Service Delivery and Quality, Transition and Mobilisation, Risk alongside an assessment of the costs of different delivery model options. The policy also required that analysis of the market conditions should be carried out to understand benchmark costs and likelihood of a reasonable response should tenders be invited

The proposed policy had been subject to discussions with Trade Unions at the Joint Advisory Committee and Corporate Core teams including HRODT, Legal and Finance had been involved in preparing Delivery Model Assessments to date and feedback had subsequently been taken on board.

Decision

The Executive agree to adopt the proposed Sourcing Policy.

Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods), which sought approval of the Council’s Serious Violence Strategy, which reflected the learning from the Joint Targeted Area Inspection and supported compliance with the Serious Violence Duty.

The delivery of the Serious Violence Strategy would be governed by the Serious Violence Board which reported to the Community Safety Partnership. This would include approving delivery plans, commissioning activity and analysis, monitoring activity and outcomes in line with the key priorities and principles of delivery.   Progress would also be reported to the Manchester Safeguarding Partnership for assurance and support.

Decision

The Executive approve the Serious Violence Strategy for the city.

Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods), which sought approval of the Council’s refreshed Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) policy and procedure, which had been developed following updates to legislation, developments in practice and a public consultation.

The previous ASB Policy and Procedure for the Council was approved 26 July 2017.

Since then, Northwards Housing had transferred back into the Council as Housing Operations and as a part of the transition arrangements the ASB policy and procedure was identified as an area for alignment with existing council services in the Anti-Social Behaviour Team. It was agreed that a joint consultation would take place to refresh the policies and combine to one Manchester City Council Policy and Procedure.

Decision

The Executive approve the Anti-Social Behaviour Policy and Procedure for the city.