Agenda item

Context:

The purpose of this report is to provide Members with information on the forecast revenue outturn position of the Authority at the end of period 1 which represents month 2 financial information for the 2016/17 financial year. Revenue and Capital forecasting is being brought forward by a month against the usual timescale to provide members with relevant financial information before summer recess.

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.

Recommendations to Cabinet

•       That Cabinet notes the extent of forecast revenue overspend at period 1 of £1.37 million.

•       That Cabinet requires Chief Officers to provide information on how the overspend position will be brought back within budget, including alternative plans to deliver the £301,000 mandated savings reported as not achievable in the next monitoring report.

•       That Cabinet requires Directors to review levels of over and underspends and reallocate budgets to reduce the extent of compensatory positions needing to be reported prior to month 6 reporting.

•       That Cabinet appreciates the extent of predicted schools reserve usage and the anticipation that 13 schools will be in a deficit position by end of 2016-17.

•       That Cabinet considers the capital monitoring which exhibits only a small variance to budget as a result of recent Cabinet and Council approval on Caerwent House.

•       That Cabinet recognises the risk associated with having to rely on a use of capital receipts in the year anticipated and the potential for this to have significant revenue pressures should receipts be delayed and temporary borrowing be required.

Member Scrutiny:

We would told that the next budget review would provide more options for Members to consider with each department being asked to look for 5-10% savings.

The Chair asked for a report detailing the recent leadership restructure and information on senior salaries. In turn this led to a discussion regarding staff workloads. We were advised that the Audit Committee have already asked for a report from People Services regarding staff wellbeing and the Chair asked for this to be added to the Strong Communities work programme.

A Member questioned seeing members of staff who she had known to have been made redundant or retired back working for MCC. We were told that experienced staff who had left were valued and often useful to fill in short term roles within the Authority.

The Chair asked about The Borough theatre and we were told that this had been moved to a trust with a management agreement in place. Due to the infrastructure the market and theatre could not be dislocated, this will be the responsibility of the Estates department and then under Strong Communities remit.

The Committee also requested an update on Raglan Market from the Estates Department.