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There was submitted a report by the Treasurer relative to the revenue estimates for the Joint Board including the requisition of constituent authorities for the financial year 2020/21 and indicative planning figures for 2021/22 and 2022/23.
The appendix to the report detailed the revenue estimates 2020/21 to 2022/23 for the Joint Board and the requisitions for constituent authorities were detailed in paragraph 6.4 of the report.
The report intimated that the financial environment in which the Joint Board and constituent authorities operated continued to be characterised by significant demand and cost pressures, compounded by reducing levels of government grant support. The Scottish Budget and local government settlement announced on 6 February 2020 again reflected a core revenue grant cut for local authorities and was for a single year only, adding some uncertainty to financial forecasts. However, it was recognised that over the medium-term, local government in Scotland was likely to face further contraction in available resources, relating predominantly to the provision of revenue grant from the Scottish Government. In this context, the Joint Board would continue to seek operational savings to ensure financial sustainability.
Following the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER) in 2014/15, the Cabinet Office had provided funding for costs incurred as a result of additional duties undertaken during the lifetime of this Parliament. This funding would end on 31 March 2020 and the Joint Board would be expected to meet the costs of the annual canvass, estimated at £70,000 for 2020/21, from its core budget. With no obligation to repay unspent funding received to date, underspends of IER funding carried forward from previous years amounting to £76,000 would be transferred into revenue reserves at the end of 2019/20. This would be drawn down over the next three years to contribute to ongoing canvassing costs, which would now form part of the Joint Board’s core activities.
The report provided information on the assumptions that the budget had been based on and a financial overview for the Joint Board.
As approved at the meeting of the Joint Board held on 18 February 2000, the allocation of the requisition across constituent authorities was based on the percentage proportions of GAE constituents in relation to council tax valuation, land valuation (NDR rateable subject numbers) and electoral registration as a proxy for the workload demand on the Assessor and Electoral Registration Officer in relation to each authority. There was now an anomalous position in Renfrewshire with the number of rateable subjects rising significantly due to a large self-storage facility, the only facility of this type in Scotland, securing authority based on an English court decision to classify each individual self-storage area as a rateable subject, adding around 3,000 additional subjects to Renfrewshire, an increase of approximately 55%.
This distortion was not reflective of the principle by which the original shares were agreed and the report proposed that while this position remained, the land valuation element of the requisition distribution agreed for 2019/20 remain in place with the other elements of council tax valuation and electoral registration being updated as per normal practice. The Treasurer would discuss a fair basis for future distribution which was not distorted by such exceptional issues with constituent authorities and submit further information to the next meeting of the Joint Board. The proposed basis for shares was detailed in the table in paragraph 6.2 of the report.
The proposed overall requisition level for constituent authorities was £2,278,570, a reduction of 1% on 2019/20 requisition levels. The individual requisition levels were detailed in the table in paragraph 6.3 of the report and these indicative figures represented planned requisition increases of 1.8% for 2021/22 and 2.5% for 2022/23. The total requisitions payable by constituent authorities, including the full pass-through of Barclay funding, was detailed in the table in paragraph 6.4 of the report.
DECIDED:
(a) That the 2020/21 revenue estimates, as detailed in the appendix to the report, be approved;
(b) That the total requisitions for constituent authorities, as detailed in paragraph 6.4 of the report, be approved;
(c) That the proposal to maintain each Council’s share of the land valuation element of the distribution mechanism at 2019/20 levels as an interim position while a revised distribution method was developed, as outlined in paragraph 6.2 of the report, be approved and that it be noted that the Treasurer would submit a further report to the next meeting of the Joint Board to be held on 29 May 2020; and
(d) That the indicative estimates for 2021/22 and 2022/23 be noted.