Issue - meetings

That the report be noted.

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report to provide Members with Revenue Budget Monitoring 2013/14 (Month 5) information for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) due for submission to Cabinet on 19 November 2013.

It was reported that the projected year end position, as estimated at Month 5, was a net underspend of £1.074m on the Council Fund and a projected net underspend of £0.014m on the HRA.  For the Council Fund, a projected positive variation of expenditure was reported.  In Community Services, additional costs for out of county placements and locality teams were offset by additional funding in disability services.  Explanation on movements from Month 4 were appended to the report and the Programme of Efficiencies indicated that 83.7% of the anticipated efficiencies were on target to be achieved by the end of the financial year.  An update was given on non-standard inflation and the position on pay inflation remained unchanged from Month 4.

Councillor Robin Guest queried the increase in the projected one-off underspend for Extra Care on Llys Jasmine and said that this would need to be rectified on completion of the project.  The Corporate Finance Manager agreed to provide a separate response.

Following queries raised by Councillor Haydn Bateman on new risks, the Corporate Finance Manager explained that the potential costs relating to the former chemical plant in Sandycroft covered a six month period and were therefore relevant to this report.  The projected costs for Social Services for Children were in response to the increasing number of referrals which was a national issue and work was being undertaken locally to look at ways of reducing these costs.  The Corporate Finance Manager agreed to respond separately to requests for information on potential risks in Waste Services and the overspend on materials in Repairs and Maintenance.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.