Agenda item

            That the report be received and noted.   

The Finance Manager introduced a report to provide Members with the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2014/15 and Capital Programme 2014/15 reports as at Outturn. 

            Revenue Budget Monitoring 2014/15

                        The final position in relation to revenue was that net in-year expenditure was £1.804m lower than budget.  The report included a brief overview of the year and included details of the significant work that needed to be undertaken to rebase the staffing budgets following the implementation of the Single Status agreement in June 2014.  On Corporate and Functional Efficiencies, the Finance Manager explained that £7.675m (87%), of the £8.840m of specific efficiencies that had been budgeted for, had been achieved and this had resulted in a net underachievement of £1.165m.  The full analysis was provided in appendix 3.  Section 4 explained that the carry forward requests for 2015/16 that were identified in the month 12 report had all been approved and this report included two additional carry forward requests for Community & Enterprise.  Details of the provisions for inflation and non-standard inflation were provided in Section 5 and Unearmarked reserves at 31 March 2015 was £4.745m; full details were provided in appendix 4.  On the Housing Revenue Account, the outturn position reported an overall underspend of £0.345m and a closing balance of £1.510m which at 5% of total expenditure satisfied the prudent approach of ensuring a minimum level of 3%. 

            Capital Programme 2014/15 (Outturn)

                        The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report to provide Members with the Capital Programme Outturn information for 2014/15.  The table in the report set out how the programme had changed during 2014/15 and detailed cumulative information relating to each programme area was provided in appendix A.  Changes during the programme had resulted in a net increase in the programme total of £1.1865m (Council Fund (CF) £1.790m, Housing Revenue Account (HRA) £0.075m).  Outturn expenditure across the whole of the programme was £40.372m and it was reported that 92.90% of the budget had been spent (CF 91.68% and HRA 95.90%).  The Corporate Finance Manager explained that during the quarter, further rollover of £3.087m had been identified and would result in a total of £5.449m rollover into 2015/16 if the request was approved. 

Section 3.07 provided details on how the capital programme was to be financed through a combination of general and specific financing routes and also detailed the final position in relation to capital receipts.

In relation to capital receipts, the table in 3.07.3 showed that the shortfall brought forward of £1.578m had now moved into a surplus position of £1.322m which in effect was due to the sale of 2 large assets at the very end of March 2015 which it had been assumed would be completed in 2015/16 and that this surplus amount of £1.322m was in addition to the unallocated amount of £0.333m approved in the budget which meant that there was £1.655m of capital funding available to fund the ongoing demands of the capital programme from 2015/16.  One such call on these resources would be some of the capital implications arising from Portfolio Business Plans aimed at improving services and achieving efficiencies.

            RESOLVED:

            That the report be received and noted.