Issue - meetings

That the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2016/17 Month 5 report be noted.

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report on the revenue budget monitoring position for Month 5 of 2016/17 for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) prior to its consideration by Cabinet on 18 October 2016.

On the Council Fund, the projected position was that net spend would be £1.421m higher than the budget.  However, this deficit would be reduced to £0.981m with the successful negotiation of an additional Welsh Government transport grant to fund the cost of replacement bus services previously undertaken by GHA Coaches.  Progress on the final outcome of these discussions would be included in future budget monitoring reports.  Reference was also made to the impact of the use of £0.861m of contingency reserves in Month 4 upon the projected outturn for Month 5.  The revised efficiency target for 2016/17 was reported as £10.521m, of which 91% was expected to be met.  An update was also given on reserves and balances, together with a breakdown of projected balances as at the end of the current financial year.  The projected position for the HRA was also reported, along with a summary of the key risk areas in Section 4 of the report.

As an update for 2017/18, the provisional settlement was expected to be received on 19 October with the main impacts to be reported to Cabinet in November and a briefing note shared with Members.  The final Stage 1 proposals would also be reported to Cabinet at that time, with an outline of Stage 2 proposals.  These would be subject to consideration by the Committee in late November prior to seeking approval at full Council.  The final budget process was due to conclude in February 2017 in line with the usual practice.

In response to queries from Councillor Robin Guest, the Corporate Finance Manager said that the two main reasons for the overspend were the projected underachievement of £0.909m of efficiencies and the additional spend on bus services following the collapse of GHA Coaches.  On the table of projected balances on earmarked reserves, it was explained that ‘insurance funds’ represented the current level of the Council’s self-insurance whereas an estimated provision for Municipal Mutual Insurance (MMI) had been set aside elsewhere in service balances to meet that liability.

Councillor Ian Smith commented on the difficulty in reading the small text in Appendices 1 and 2 to the report.  The Corporate Finance Manager agreed to provide a written response on the proposed outsourcing of gas extraction from landfill sites and whether this would guarantee income levels.

Councillor Arnold Woolley drew attention to a typing error on the penultimate sentence in paragraph 4.03 on the Intermediate Care Fund.

RESOLVED:

That the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2016/17 Month 5 report be noted.