Issue - meetings

1.     RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND: to Council the approval of the revised Medium Term Financial Strategy for the period 2021/22 – 2025/26, including the recommendations at Section 2 of the Strategy.

Cllr Birnie commented and noted the Council will need to expand its commercial activities to enhance income streams, asking; will there be a specific officer in charge of that or is it a blanket request for all departments?

Cllr Elliott responded that currently working on team restructure, this will very much be about strategic planning and being commercially astute to deliver extra income streams that are required over next few years.  The Portfolio Holder advised the Council will be bringing in consultants to advise.

Cllr Birnie asked; are we recruiting specifically for that, or relying on existing officers.

Cllr Elliot advised that would be covered in the part 2 discussions.

Cllr Birnie referred to assumptions underlying MTFS, page 12, note 9 - budgeting for a 2% increase in supplies and services and asked; is that realistic given we are looking at inflation.

JDeane advised that we are seeing income fluctuation now, will be updating those assumptions as we move through.

Cllr Birnie asked; does that mean we might have to revisit this pretty quickly if inflation does accelerate?

JDeane confirmed that is correct, it will be looked at as part of next year’s budget setting, adding that this is an exceptional year and we expect to see more movement than we would ordinarily see.

Recommendations Agreed.

1.    RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND: to Council the approval of the revised Medium Term Financial Strategy for the period 2021/22 – 2025/26, including the recommendations at Section 2 of the Strategy.