Issue - meetings

That having considered the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2022/23 (month 10) report, the Committee confirms that there are no specific issues to be raised with Cabinet.

The Corporate Finance Manager presented the 2022/23 month 10 position for the revenue budget monitoring for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and the Capital Programme, prior to consideration by Cabinet.

On the Council Fund, the projected year-end position - without new actions to reduce cost pressures and/or improve the financial return on efficiency planning and cost control - was an operating surplus of £0.693m (excluding the impact of the pay award met by reserves).  This would leave a contingency reserve balance of £7.024m at year-end.  There were three main areas of overspend within Social Services, Out of County Placements and Streetscene & Transportation although these were offset by underspends across other portfolios, including Central and Corporate Finance.

The tracking of in-year risks reported the current position with Council Tax collection levels and pay awards, with no significant changes reported on other tracked risks.  An update on unearmarked reserves reported the current balance on the Covid-19 Emergency Reserve was £3.632m.  It was also reported that following approval of the Local Development Plan, £0.127m of earmarked reserves would be released to increase the projected contingency reserve to £7.151m.

On the HRA, net in-year revenue expenditure was forecast to be £3.101m higher than budget and would leave a closing un-earmarked balance of £3.373m, which was above the recommended guidelines on spend.

The Chairman highlighted the increasing costs for Out of County Placements and asked for more explanation to be included in future reports to explain movements in approved budgets, for example the reduction in Central & Corporate Finance.  This was noted by the Corporate Finance Manager who explained that pay provision was held centrally before distributing across portfolios.

Following comments from Councillor Paul Johnson on the work involved in producing the report, the Chairman spoke about the role of this Committee in working with officers to challenge and improve the content of these reports.

The recommendation was moved and seconded by Councillors Bill Crease and Jason Shallcross.

RESOLVED:

That having considered the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2022/23 (month 10) report, the Committee confirms that there are no specific issues to be raised with Cabinet.