Issue - meetings

That the report be noted. 

Revenue Budget Monitoring 2014/15 (Month 9)

                        The Finance Manager introduced a report to provide Members with the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2014/15 (Month 9) for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) which was to be submitted to Cabinet on 17 March 2015. 

                        For the Council Fund, the projected net in-year expenditure was forecast to be £1.978m lower than budget and was an increase of £0.964m on the underspend at Month 8.  Appendix 1 detailed the reasons for the changes which included a net reduction in the projected underspend for Social Services due to additional income and additional one-off vacancy savings which had contributed to an improved position on workforce efficiencies.  Section 3.06 detailed the efficiencies and it was currently projected that £7.588m of the £8.840m (86%) would be achieved.  Details of the un-achieved efficiencies were reported in appendix 3.   

                        Section 4 detailed the provisions for inflation and section 5 reported the existing risks and changes to previously reported risks.  Taking into account amounts needed to be used from the unearmarked reserves and the current projected outturn at month 8, the projected balance on the contingency reserve at 31 March 2015 was £4.919m; details were summarised in appendix 4.  

                        The HRA was projected to have an overall underspend of £0.304m and a projected balance at month 9 of £1.470m, which at 4.89% of total expenditure satisfied the prudent approach of ensuring a minimum level of 3%. 

                        Councillor Tim Newhouse welcomed the projected underspend of £1.978m. 

            Capital Programme 2014/15 (Month 9)

                        The Finance Manager – Technical Accountancy introduced a report to provide Members with the Month 9 (end of December) capital programme information for 2014/15 which would also be submitted to Cabinet on 17 March 2015. 

                        The table at paragraph 3.01.1 set out how the programme had changed during 2014/15 with the revised figure being £30.194m for Council Fund and £12.431m for HRA.  The changes during this period were reflected in the table at paragraph 3.03.1 and full details were provided in appendix A.  The capital expenditure compared to budget and a required rollover to 2015/16 of £2.225m, were reported and details were shown in appendix B.  The overall position showed a projected underspend of £0.090m. 

                        In response to a question from Councillor Ron Hampson about the offices at Ewloe, the Chief Officer (Organisational Change) advised that Unilever’s lease on the building would terminate in July 2016 and added that the building was currently empty. 

                        Councillor Tim Newhouse referred to capital receipts that had been received by the Council following the sale of land and suggested that future Capital Programme update reports include specific information on any large receipts received by the Council.              

            RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.