Recommendations
The Leaders’ Committee is asked to approve the following borough subscription and charges:
• The proposed Joint Committee subscription for boroughs of £161,958 per borough for 2016/17, a reduction of 3.3% on the charge of £167,473 for 2015/16. The City of London will pay £158,195, in recognition of the fact the City is historically not part of the regional Local Government Employers (LGE) arrangements (paragraphs 11-12);
• The proposed Joint Committee subscription for the MOPAC and the LFEPA of £15,410 for 2016/17, a reduction of 3.3% on the charge of £15,920 for 2015/16 (paragraph 13);
• An overall level of expenditure of £10 million for the Grants Scheme in 2016/17 (inclusive of £2 million gross ESF programme); and
• that taking into account the application of £1 million ESF grant, net borough contributions for 2016/17 should be £9 million, the same level as for 2015/16 (paragraphs 14-16).
The Leaders’ Committee is also asked to endorse the following subscription and charges for 2016/17 for TEC, which were considered by the TEC Executive Sub-Committee on 24 November, and which will be considered by the full meeting of TEC on 10 December:
• The Parking Core Administration Charge of £1,500 per borough and for TfL (2015/16 - £1,500) (paragraph 17);
• No charge to boroughs in respect of the Freedom Pass Administration Charge, which is covered by replacement Freedom Pass income (2015/16 - £8,674) (paragraph 19);
• The net Taxicard Administration Charge to boroughs of £338,182 in total (2015/16 - £338,182); (paragraph 20);
• No charge to boroughs and TfL in respect of the Lorry Control Administration Charge, which is fully covered by estimated PCN income (2015/16 – no charge) (paragraph 21);
• The Parking Enforcement Service Charge of £0.4681 per PCN, which will be distributed to boroughs and TfL in accordance with the number of PCNs issued in 2014/15 (2015/16 - £0.4333 per PCN; paragraphs 24-25);
• The Parking and Traffic Appeals Charge of £33.32 per appeal or £29.90 per appeal where electronic evidence is provided by the enforcing authority (2015/16 - £33.40/£29.97 per appeal).In addition, a new differential charge is proposed for hearing Statutory Declarations of £28.17 for hard copy submissions and £27.49 for electronic submissions (2015/16 - £33.40/£29.97 per SD) (paragraphs 26-27);
• Congestion Charging Appeals – to be recovered on a full cost recovery basis, as for 2015/16, subject to the continuing agreement of the GLA under existing contractual arrangements (paragraph 28);
• The TRACE (Electronic) Charge of £7.31 per transaction (2015/16 - £8.60) (paragraphs 29-31);
• The TRACE (Fax) Charge of £7.48 per transaction (2015/16 - £8.80) (paragraphs 29-31); and
• The PEC, PED and PIE Charges of £0.17 per transaction (2015/16 - £0.20) (paragraphs 29-31).
On the basis of the above proposed level of subscriptions and charges, the Leaders’ Committee is asked to approve:
• The provisional consolidated revenue expenditure budget for 2016/17 for London Councils of £398.193 million, as per Table 4 at paragraph 32 and Appendix A of this report;
• The provisional consolidated revenue income budget for 2016/17 for London Councils of £398.193 million, also as per Table 4 at paragraph 32 and Appendix B;
• Within the total income requirement, the use of London Council reserves of £2.469 million in 2016/17, inclusive of the proposed £1.651 million repatriation to borough in 2016/17, as detailed in paragraph 3, Table 12 at paragraph 56 and Appendix C.
The Leaders’ Committee is also asked to note:
• The indicative London Councils revenue budget, for the period 2017/18 and 2018/19, as detailed in paragraphs 51-53;
• The position in respect of forecast uncommitted London Council reserves as at 31 March 2016, as detailed at paragraphs 54-60; and
• The positive statement on the adequacy of the residual London Councils reserves issued by the Director of Corporate Resources, as detailed in paragraphs 61-62.