Agenda item

Context:

The purpose of the report is to provide Select Committee Members with information on the forecast revenue outturn position of the Authority at the end of reporting period 2 which represents month 6 financial information for the 2015/16 financial year.

This report will also be considered by Select Committees as part of their responsibility to,

·       assess whether effective budget monitoring is taking place,

·       monitor the extent to which budgets are spent in accordance with agreed budget and policy framework,

• Challenge the reasonableness of projected over or underspends, and monitor the achievement of predicted efficiency gains or progress in relation to savings proposals.

          Key Issues:

• That Members consider the position concerning the second period of revenue monitoring in 2015/16 (£1.066 million deficit) and seek a further report back to the next Cabinet outlining the Recovery Plans to be put in place to address the overspends in service areas

·         That Members note the forecast use of earmarked reserves and, in order to ensure adequacy of reserves for the MTFP, approve the following change in practice:

o   Increase workforce planning and redeployment to reduce the need for reserves to cover redundancies

o   Any request for reserve funding must first explore whether existing budgets, or external funding sources can be used for the proposal accepting this may require a change in  priorities if existing budget are used

o   Use of reserves to implement budget savings must use the saving first to repay the reserve

o   IT investment bids will need to be considered in the core capital programme when the IT investment reserve is extinguished, this may necessitate displacing some of the core capital programme allocations depending on the priorities agreed

·         Members consider the position concerning period 2 Capital Monitoring with a revised budget of £60.496 million for the 2015/16 financial year.

Member Scrutiny:

It was asked which set of toilets were responsible for the billing control overspend of 20K due to the delayed implementation of transfer to Town Council. It was answered that the Officer would check and get back to the Committee. (ACTION L.W.)

It was asked if PTU should have pressures which actually come from other directorates. It was answered that there is a mandate 2016/17 which is looking to review the budget position.

A Member asked for a comment on Community hubs and Leisure Services. It was answered that the 3G pitch had a cost overrun and delays in the build influenced the amount of income the pitch could generate. The Hubs forecasted saving was a full year saving if all the personnel processes could have been undertaken prior to the 1^st April 2015. There was a period full salary saving could not be made.

It was asked how much the Council had in reserve. An Officer answered it was in the considerations for Council at the next meeting.

It was asked about the under recovery of costs for the post of Digital Media Designer. An Officer offered to find an answer on this. (ACTION M.H.)