Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendation.

The Corporate Finance Manager provided Members with the first available revenue budget monitoring information for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for 2015/16.

            As in previous years, during the early part of the 2015/16 financial year Corporate Finance resources had been dedicated to the closure of the accounts for 2014/15 to ensure that the statutory deadline of the end of June was met.  However, significant work had been undertaken to review the progress and risks associated with the efficiencies included in the 2015/16 budget which were detailed in the report.

            The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment said there was an error in paragraph 3.14 of the report as a separate report on the Reduction of Cleansing Standards was not included on the agenda.

            The Chief Executive commented that the significant level of efficiencies needed to deliver the budget had led to the establishment of Programme Boards with the remit of tracking efficiencies and mitigating risks to the 2015/16 budget.

            The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance commented on the underspend of £0.300m against a new pressure of £0.338m in respect of the transfer of the responsibility for the former Independent Living Fund (ILF) from UK Government to devolved administrations which he welcomed.  The Corporate Finance Manager explained that following the Council’s budget being set, it was determined that the funding would be distributed as a specific grant amount based on the amount actually required to pay service users.  There was no allocation to cover the administration of the scheme so it was the intention to keep an element of the allocation to fund the additional administration burden and to cover for obligations to meet employer liability insurance for carers employed by service users.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.