Agenda item

(a)          That the Committee is assured by the reporting on the Revenue Budget Monitoring (Month 3); and

(b)          That the Committee’s concerns at the level of overspend in Streetscene be specifically drawn to the attention of the Cabinet.

The Chairman welcomed the new format of report which prioritised the Executive Summary and Recommendations.

The Corporate Finance Manager presented the first detailed Revenue Budget Monitoring 2015/16 (Month 3) for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) which was due to be submitted to Cabinet on 15 September.

For the Council Fund, the first early projection was an overall underspend of £212K.  Paragraph 1.04 advised of a projected £573K underspend within Social Care, although £338k of this related to the Independent Living Fund as the amount included in the budget was no longer required following confirmation of the grant.  It was recommended that £300k was transferred to be held centrally pending future details on the grant.

The Corporate Finance Manager advised of the position in relation to the programme of efficiencies which he said were being tracked through various programme boards.  Appendix 2 provided details on the latest position with regards to the achievement of each of the efficiencies and it was reported that at this stage, £10.876m of the £12.874m included in the budget were expected to be achieved, which equated to 84%.

On unearmarked reserves, the balance of contingency reserves at 31 March 2015 was projected to be £4.958m, however this would be reduced by £210K to meet the costs of the Speed Limit Review as approved by Cabinet in June.

On the HRA, the net in-year expenditure was projected to be £70K more than the budget forecast.

Councillor Carolyn Thomas raised queries on the efficiencies made from Post Office payments and the first phase of the switchboard changes.  She also raised concerns about the overspend position in Streetscene and the possible impact of outsourcing services.  The Corporate Finance Manager stated that the impact of the efficiencies not expected to be achieved were already assumed in the projections and as such had been offset by compensatory savings.  The Chief Executive explained that the eight programme boards (involving Cabinet Members for their respective portfolios) met monthly to oversee any changes and track the budget, which helped to inform this update report.  He said that slippage on efficiency targets could not always be predicted and was taken into account, with the expectation for other efficiencies to be identified.

Following remarks from Councillor Richard Jones on the projected achievement of efficiencies, the Chief Executive said that this was only the latest prediction and that whilst some were achievable in-year, others may not be.  He suggested that it could be helpful for future update reports to give analysis on the impact for the next financial year.  He confirmed that work was continuing to achieve the remaining 16% of efficiencies whilst also identifying other efficiencies to compensate that gap.

Councillor Thomas said that realistic budgets were needed and asked that her concerns about the overspend in Streetscene be referred to Cabinet.  The Chief Executive reiterated his comments about the role of the programme boards in overseeing changes and would request an informal report on the changes to Streetscene to be circulated to the Committee.

RESOLVED:

(a)          That the Committee is assured by the reporting on the Revenue Budget Monitoring (Month 3); and

(b)          That the Committee’s concerns at the level of overspend in Streetscene be specifically drawn to the attention of the Cabinet.