Budget Scrutiny


	Torbay Council
	Town Hall Castle Circus Torquay TQ1 3DS



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The overview and scrutiny boards carried out a detailed review of the proposals of each of the Council’s Business Unit’s priorities for the coming year together with the funding details of those priorities. The Board assessed the proposals against the Community Plan and the Medium Term Financial Plan. The findings of each Board were combined into one report that was considered by the Mayor when he made his recommendations for the Council’s overall budget for 2008/2009. This report, numbered OSB/01/2008, is available at the bottom of this page.

Throughout this process, the Board heard from stakeholders, members of the Community Pool and members of the public.

A number of recommendations from the Board were accepted by the Council when the budget was set, including:

An additional £100,000 was added to the Children’s Services budget to help safeguard the Bay’s children
Funding for the Beach Patrol boat was re-instated
Additional funding aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour was provided
An additional £25,000 was included in the budget for support IT investment within the Council

Making the budget work

The Council has a limited budget and each year must make difficult decisions about what it should spend its money on.

The Council must decide on:

What services should be given priority for funding;
What services could be delivered at a reduced cost; and
How each service can contribute to the Community Plan’s vision of making the Bay a better place.

What is budget scrutiny?

Budget scrutiny is when the Overview and Scrutiny boards look in detail at the Mayor’s proposals for next year’s budget. The boards try to involve as many people as possible in this process, including stakeholders and members of the public.

How does it happen?

Target budgets for each of the Council’s Services are set in December. The overview and scrutiny boards then meet to discuss with the Cabinet their spending proposals for the coming year, bearing in mind the Medium Term Financial Plan and the Community Plan (see ‘related documents’ below).