Agenda item

(a)          That the Month 8 Revenue Budget Monitoring Report be received;

(b)          That no formal recommendations be made to the Cabinet on this occasion, but concern at the significant overspend in minor adaptations be registered; and

(c)          That the Committee notes the Corporate Finance Manager’s (Section 151 Officer) comments that this reports contains the outturn figures which have been used for the preparation of the 2016/17 budget. 

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report to provide Members with the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2015/16 (Month 8) for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) which was to be submitted to Cabinet on 16^th February 2016.

                        For the Council Fund, the projected net in year expenditure was forecast to be £0.743m lower than budget which was a positive movement of £0.356m from Month 7.  Appendix 1 detailed the movements from Month 7 with the main changes being an underspend in Children’s Services of £0.091m for Out of County Placements that had ended earlier than anticipated and £0.100m for an allocation of funding from the contingency reserve to partially mitigate for the increase in use of professional support.  At the beginning of the financial year, an amount had been set aside in Central and Corporate Finance for inflation costs and an amount of £0.110m for food and pay inflation was no longer required. 

The Programme of Efficiencies was reported in paragraphs 1.05 to 1.07 and it was currently projected that £10.702m (83%) would be achieved; appendix 3 provided details on the latest variation to the level of efficiency achievable compared to the budget.  Taking into account previous allocations and the current underspend at Month 8, the balance on the Contingency Reserve at 31^st March 2016 was projected to be £4.379m.  The Corporate Finance Manager commented that it was important to note that this report contained the outturn figures which had been used for the preparation of the 2016/17 budget. 

The HRA was projecting in year expenditure to be £0.149m lower than budget and a projected closing balance as at 31 March 2016 of £1.386m, which at 4.48% of total expenditure satisfied the prudent approach of ensuring a minimum level of 3%. 

                        In referring to page 61, Councillor Richard Jones sought clarification on the efficiency measure for £0.100m which was now considered to be unachievable with regard to minor adaptations.The Chief Executive confirmed that the £0.100m efficiency had not been achieved but work on other efficiencies had funded the development of the means testing approach.  The Corporate Finance Manager provided details of another example within the Central Loans and Investment Account (CLIA) which had met a previously reported underachievement of an efficiency of  of £0.600m through other compensatory savings..  Councillor Jones also queried why the entry for staff car parking was no longer showing in appendix 3 when it had been reported the previous month.  The Corporate Finance Manager advised that information sent out by the Member Engagement Manager the previous day explained that the efficiency had been included under both Streetscene & Transportation and Central & Corporate Finance but had now been removed from Streetscene & Transportation.  The Chief Executive confirmed that the staff car parking efficiency would achieve a nil return for 2015/16 due to the delay in its implementation.

                        Councillor Arnold Woolley queried whether the Council would adopt a policy on how to deal with levels of reserves if the proposal to merge authorities took place.  The Chief Executive advised that the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) covered the period to 2017/18 and that the next MTFS would cover to 2018/19, with the first elections for a Shadow Authority anticipated for May 2019 if the proposals went ahead, therefore the Council would already have planned financially for a Local Government Review (LGR).  He stated that Welsh Government Ministers had powers to direct how Councils should spend their reserves ensuring that they were disposed of appropriately but added that Flintshire County Council was not reserve rich.  Councillor Aaron Shotton felt that all Councils should be mindful of the issue of the use of reserves and that this had been raised at a recent meeting he had attended with the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA).  He said that he anticipated some debate at the Council meeting the following week on the use of reserves by the Council to achieve a balanced budget.  His understanding was that Ministers would ensure reserves were not spent inappropriately but he did not feel that this would be an issue for Flintshire County Council as it was being proposed for 2016/17 that reserves would be used to protect public services. 

                        Councillor Peter Curtis felt that as the Assembly Elections were being held in May 2016, some or all of the proposals put forward in the Local Government Bill may not be taken forward.

                        The Member Engagement Manager sought confirmation from the Committee about whether they had any concerns that they felt should be submitted to Cabinet.  Councillor Jones felt that the issue of the significant overspend in minor adaptations should be registered.

RESOLVED:

(a)          That the Month 8 Revenue Budget Monitoring Report be received;

(b)          That no formal recommendations be made to the Cabinet on this occasion, but concern at the significant overspend in minor adaptations be registered; and

(c)          That the Committee notes the Corporate Finance Manager’s (Section 151 Officer) comments that this reports contains the outturn figures which have been used for the preparation of the 2016/17 budget.