Agenda item

Report of the Chief Fire Officer (DSFRA/16/9) attached.

(An item taken in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 during which the press and public were excluded from the meeting).

The Authority considered a report of the Chief Fire Officer (DSFRA/16/9) on a request for the Authority, as Scheme Manager for Firefighters’ Pensions Schemes, to exercise, in relation to the terms and conditions of the particular Firefighters Pensions Scheme, its discretion in relation to an application for reinstatement of a widow’s pension.

RESOLVED that reinstatement of the widow’s pension be approved with effect from the date of the decree absolute and on the basis of the full award permissible.

The meeting started at 10.00hours and finished at 12.47hours

APPENDIX A TO THE MINUTES OF THE BUDGET MEETING OF THE AUTHORITY HELD ON 19 FEBRUARY 2016

STATEMENT OF THE ROBUSTNESS OF THE BUDGET ESTIMATES AND THE ADEQUACY OF THE DEVON AND SOMERSET FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY LEVELS OF RESERVES

It is a legal requirement under Section 25 of the Local Government Act 2003 that the person appointed as the ‘Chief Finance Officer’ to the Authority reports on the robustness of the budget estimates and the adequacy of the level of reserves. The Act requires the Authority to have regard to the report in making its decisions.

                  THE ROBUSTNESS OF THE 2016-17 BUDGET

                  The net revenue budget requirement for 2016-17 has been assessed as £73.977m (Option B in report). In arriving at this figure a detailed assessment has been made of the risks associated with each of the budget headings and the adequacy in terms of supporting the goals and objectives of the authority as included in the Corporate Plan. It should be emphasised that these assessments are being made for a period up to the 31^st March 2017, in which time external factors, which are outside of the control of the authority, may arise which will cause additional expenditure to be incurred. For example, the majority of retained pay costs are dependent on the number of call outs during the year, which can be subject to volatility dependent on spate weather conditions. Other budgets, such as fuel are affected by market forces that often lead to fluctuations in price that are difficult to predict. Details of those budget heads that are most at risk from these uncertainties are included in Table 1 overleaf, along with details of the action taken to mitigate each of these identified risks.

Whilst there is only a legal requirement to set a budget requirement for the forthcoming financial year, the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) provides forecasts to be made of indicative budget requirements over a four year period covering the years 2016-17 to 2019-20. These forecasts include only prudent assumptions in relation future pay awards and prices increases, which will need to be reviewed in light of pay settlements and movement in the Consumer Prices Index.

APPENDIX B TO THE MINUTES OF THE BUDGET MEETING OF THE AUTHORITY HELD ON 19 FEBRUARY 2016

APPENDIX C TO THE MINUTES OF THE BUDGET MEETING OF THE AUTHORITY HELD ON 19 FEBRUARY 2016

APPENDIX D TO THE MINUTES OF THE BUDGET MEETING OF THE AUTHORITY HELD ON 19 FEBRUARY 2016

MINIMUM REVENUE PROVISION STATEMENT (MRP) 2016-17

Supported Borrowing

The MRP will be calculated using the regulatory method (option 1). MRP will therefore be calculated using the formulae in the old regulations, since future entitlement to RSG in support of this borrowing will continue to be calculated on this basis.

Un-Supported Borrowing (including un-supported borrowing prior to 1 April 2008)

The MRP in respect of unsupported borrowing under the prudential system will be calculated using the asset life method (option 3). The MRP will therefore be calculated to repay the borrowing in equal annual instalments over the life of the class of assets which it is funding. The repayment period of all such borrowing will be calculated when it takes place and will be based on the finite life of the class of asset at that time and will not be changed.

Finance Lease and PFI

In the case of Finance Leases and on balance sheet PFI schemes, the MRP requirement is regarded as met by a charge equal to the element of the annual charge that goes to write down the balance sheet liability. Where a lease of PFI scheme is brought, having previously been accounted for off-balance sheet, the MRP requirement is regarded as having been met by the inclusion of the charge, for the year in which the restatement occurs, of an amount equal to the write-down for the year plus retrospective writing down of the balance sheet liability that arises from the restatement. This approach produces an MRP charge that is comparable to that of the Option 3 approach in that it will run over the life of the lease or PFI scheme and will have a profile similar to that of the annuity method.

MRP will normally commence in the financial year following the one in which the expenditure was incurred. However, when borrowing to construct an asset, the authority may treat the asset life as commencing in the year in which the asset first becomes operational. It may accordingly postpone the beginning to make MRP until that year. Investment properties will be regarded as becoming operational when they begin to generate revenues.