Issue - meetings

That the reports be noted.         

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report to provide Members with the revenue budget monitoring 2013/14 (Month 6) information for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) which was being submitted to Cabinet on 17 December 2013.  

For the Council Fund, the projected net in-year expenditure was reported to be £1.012m less than the budget which was a decrease of £0.062m on the £1.074m reported at Month 5 as reflected in the table at paragraph 3.01. 

The main reasons for the changes related to two main areas, a reduction in the projected underspend of £0.171m in Community Services, although this was off set by by an improved position of £0.124m within Corporate Services.

Progress of the programme of efficiencies were detailed in paragraph 3.04 which currently indicated that £4.506m of the £5.331m included in the budget (84.5%) would be achieved, resulting in a net under-achievement of £0.825m; full details were provided in appendix 9. 

Paragraph 4 detailed the amounts for pay inflation and non standard price inflation which had not changed from Month 5 and the risks and assumptions were identified in section 5.00.  These included the increasing costs in relation to Out of County Placements,, costs associated with the former chemical plant in Sandycroft (Euticals Ltd) and also the risks associated with any periods of severe weather which would impact on the Winter Maintenance reserve.

The current position of unearmarked reserves was detailed in paragraphs 6.01 and 6.02 where it was reported that after taking account of an allocation for £0.518m for recovery costs following the March 2013 severe weather, and taking account of the impact of the projected in year budget position, the current projected level of the contingency reserve at the end of March 2014 was £3.653m.   

The Corporate Finance Manager also advised of a projected underspend of £0.062m on the HRA which was an increase on the underspend of £0.014m reported at Month 5.  The projected closing balance at Month 6 of £1.495m was 5.2% of the total expenditure and satisfied the prudent approach of ensuring a minimum level of 3%.  Appendix 8 detailed the reasons for significant variances occurring to date and the actions planned to deal with them.    

In response to a query from Councillor Haydn Bateman about the lower than anticipated levels of income for Fixed Penalty Notices for Highways Development Control & Regulatory Services, the Corporate Finance Manager advised that he would provide a written response. 

Councillor Bateman also asked about the variance of £0.276m in Repairs and Maintenance and its cause.  The Corporate Finance Manager said that the increase in costs was to do with an increase in the number of jobs undertaken so there was an overspend on materials but that work was ongoing to try and mitigate some of the overspend in the second half of the financial year.  The Head of Finance said that the HRA was still anticipated to come in on target so overall, it was a good news story.  The Leader of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54