Issue - meetings

(a)       That the report be noted;   

(b)       That the establishment of a Task and Finish Group to consider Leisure Service Finances be considered during the item on the Forward Work Programme;

(c)        That an update report about the shortfall of industrial unit rental income due to Gaz de France decommissioning the Shotton Power Station site be provided;

(d)       That a breakdown of the amount of £1.500m approved in 2011/12 which was ringfenced for Investment in Change (as shown in appendix 7 on Unearmarked Reserves) be provided;

(e)       That a written response be provided by the Environment Directorate about the anticipated back pay for car park attendances; and

(f)         That a breakdown of the pressure of £0.383m in Facility Services be provided. 

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report to provide Members with the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2012/13 (Month 10) information for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) which was being submitted to Cabinet on 23 April 2013. 

            For Council Fund there was a projected year end underspend of £1.305m, which was an increase of £0.449m on the position reported at Month 9.  Appendix 1 showed a summary of the movements from Month 9 with the main change being in relation to Community Services (a positive movement of £0.431m). 

The Corporate Finance Manager reminded Members that the projection did not take into account any additional costs associated with the extreme weather conditions at the end of March and that the impact of this would be reported in future monitoring reports. 

The risks and assumptions associated with the projection were identified in paragraph 3.06 and an update on non standard inflation was shown in section 4.  A request for carry forward for ICT & Customer Services was detailed in paragraph 3.07 and was being recommended to Cabinet. 

Appendix 7 provided details on the movements on unearmarked reserves, which, after taking into account the current projection and previously committed amounts left a projected level of Contingency Reserves at 31 March 2013 of £0.894m. 

The Corporate Finance Manager also advised of a projected underspend of £0.491m on the Housing Revenue Account which was an increase of £0.020m in the underspend reported at Month 9 and details of the variances were provided in appendix 8.   

            The Leader of the Council referred to the costs of the extreme weather conditions which were not reflected in this report but would impact on Month 11 Budget Monitoring and the Cabinet Member for Corporate Management spoke of the tremendous work undertaken by the employees from Streetscene during the bad weather. 

            The Head of Culture and Leisure commented on the overspend of £0.179m in Leisure Services which included increased employee costs, asset management/operating costs and reduction in income; details of how the overspend had occurred were provided in appendix 1.  He explained that there was a need to stabilise employee costs and that a change in staff structure was being considered.  On the issue of asset management he said that costs were being incurred to address the issues of keeping facilities open and 62% of the operating costs had to be met from income; this was a challenge as customers had less disposal income available to them to spend in the Leisure facilities.  Work was ongoing to overcome these challenges but a solution had not yet been identified. 

            In response to a question from Councillor G.H. Bateman, the Head of Culture and Leisure said that the Purchase to Pay (P2P) system had not been implemented in Leisure Services but that it was hoped it would be available in the next few months.  Councillor Bateman also asked about the anticipated back pay for car park attendances and was advised that the question would be submitted to the Environment Directorate for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93