Agenda item

Revenue budget monitoring 2020/21 (month 5)

Decision:

(a)       That having considered the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2020/21 Month 5 report, the Committee confirms that there are no issues to be raised with the Cabinet on this occasion;

 

(b)       That the Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee be requested to consider an item on Out of County Placements and the Mockingbird initiative;

 

(c)       That Finance officers look into the possibility of including an additional column in Table 1 of future reports to separate income from costs, and provide a response on movement within approved budgets of portfolios; and

 

(d)       That information be provided on the impact of Covid-19 on Out of County Placements.

Minutes:

The Corporate Finance Manager presented a report on the revenue budget monitoring position for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) as at Month 5 prior to consideration by Cabinet.  This reflected the budget position at the close of the financial year if all things remained unchanged and took into account the latest position on Welsh Government (WG) Emergency Grant Funding announcements.

 

The operating deficit of £0.921m was a positive movement of £0.062m from the previous month.  This projection did not include the impact of the two significant financial risks on Council Tax income and Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS), along with the pay award which would be met from reserves.  The overall position had benefitted from £0.316m of temporary savings identified as part of the review of non-essential spend, however this was offset by a significant increase in Out of County spend which was £0.144m above the £0.300m contingency level that was set aside.

 

Officers were continuing to liaise with WG on future support for the CTRS and would update Members accordingly, along with progress on new risks on free school meals and transportation.  To condense future reports, details of variances would only show those which had changed from the previous month.

 

On Reserves and Balances, the projected year-end balance on Contingency Reserves was £1.418m assuming that the projected overspend of £0.921m was met from the amount available in the £3m emergency ring-fenced fund, which would leave a remaining amount of £1.965m.  The projected year-end balance on earmarked reserves at this stage was £11.4m.

 

On the HRA, a projected underspend of £0.364m would leave a closing un-earmarked balance of £2.373m, which was above the recommended guidelines on spend.

 

Councillor Dunbobbin referred to the potential impact of the Mockingbird project and proposed that the overspend on Out of County Placements be referred to the Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

 

The proposal was seconded by Councillor Richard Jones who also asked about the effect of Covid-19 on Out of County Placements.  On the table showing the projected position by portfolio, he requested an extra column to identify income and costs and questioned the movement of funding within the ‘approved budget’ column for some portfolios (excluding Central and Corporate Finance) acknowledging that the total was reconciled at year-end.  On the first point, the Corporate Finance Manager referred to the software used to generate the data and suggested that future reports could instead provide narrative for portfolios which may help to provide context.  He also agreed look into the movement of funding in the approved budget of portfolios.

 

Councillor Banks spoke about the potential for long-term benefits of the Mockingbird project which was in the early stages of development and the first of its type in Wales.

 

The recommendations, which were amended to reflect the debate, were moved and seconded by Councillors Jones and Dunbobbin.

 

RESOLVED:

 

(a)       That having considered the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2020/21 Month 5 report, the Committee confirms that there are no issues to be raised with the Cabinet on this occasion;

 

(b)       That the Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee be requested to consider an item on Out of County Placements and the Mockingbird initiative;

 

(c)       That Finance officers look into the possibility of including an additional column in Table 1 of future reports to separate income from costs, and provide a response on movement within approved budgets of portfolios; and

 

(d)       That information be provided on the impact of Covid-19 on Out of County Placements.

Supporting documents: