1.       PURPOSE OF REPORT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1     The remit of the Audit Governance and Standards Committee includes consideration of risk.  Accordingly, as part of the process of setting a budget for 2017/18, the Committee considered a risk analysis produced by the Finance Service for the Budget Strategy at its meeting on 16 January 2017.

1.2     Members requested that the Budget Risk Matrix and Risk Register be updated and reported to each meeting of the Committee, so that it continues to be fully briefed on factors likely to affect the Council’s budget position.

2.       INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

2.1     The key element in the Council’s budget strategy is its rolling five year Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).  The current MTFS also fulfils the government’s requirement that the Council prepare and publish an Efficiency Plan.  The MTFS and Efficiency Plan were approved by Council in September 2016.

2.2     Officers subsequently developed detailed budget proposals for 2017/18 and the remaining four years of the medium term financial strategy.  Following a thorough review of the budget proposals by the Council’s Service Committees and some modifications, these were reflected in the annual budget for 2017/18 approved by Council at its meeting on 1^st March 2017.

2.3     Since the last meeting of the Committee in March 2017, the General Election and its outcome have created greater uncertainty at a national level.  Locally, the final outturn for the Council’s financial year 2016/17 is now known, and an assessment of the risks of failing to deliver against the 2017/18 budget has been carried out.

2.4     The risks included in the Budget Risk Register have been reviewed in light of these developments.  A summary of the changes to the risk register are set out below.  Appendix A sets out the budget risks in the form of a Risk Matrix and Risk Register. 

3.       AVAILABLE OPTIONS

3.1    The Committee may wish to consider further risks not detailed in Appendix A or vary the impact or likelihood of any risks.  This may impact the Finance Section’s service planning and/or be reflected in the developing Medium Term Financial Strategy. 

3.2    There is no constitutional requirement for Policy and Resources Committee to consult with the Audit Governance and Standards Committee on this matter, and it is open to the Committee to make no comments or recommendations.

4.      CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

4.1    Each year the council as part of the development of the MTFS and budget carries out consultation on the priorities and spending of the council.

4.2    Consultation on the budget in Autumn 2016 took the form of a short survey. Residents were asked to prioritise ten areas of spending and then to consider whether the spending for those ten areas should remain the same, be reduced or cut altogether. The survey could be accessed both as a paper document or on-line via the Council’s website.  It was promoted through face to face budget roadshows at a wide range of venues around the borough, in the Kent Messenger and in a range of other media.  The results of the consultation were set out in reports to the Service Committees on the budget proposals.

4.3    For the 2018/19 budget, it is proposed to use the Residents’ Survey, to be undertaken in Summer 2017, to consult residents on budget priorities.

5.      NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

5.1              The Audit, Governance and Standards Committee plans to continue keeping the budget risk profile under review at subsequent meetings.

6.      CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

7.      BACKGROUND PAPERS

None.