Agenda item

That the content of the reports be noted.

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report to provide Members with the latest Revenue Budget Monitoring information for 2013/14 (as at Month 8) for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA).  The report was due to be considered by Cabinet on 18 February 2014 alongside the final budget proposals for 2014/15 which had been despatched to Members the previous day.

For the Council Fund, the projected net in-year expenditure was reported to be £1.068m less than the budget, which was an increase of £0.124m from that reported at Month 7.  Explanation was provided on the main reasons for variances from Month 7, as outlined in paragraphs 3.04 to 3.06 of the report.

An update on the Programme of Efficiencies indicated that £4.146m of the £5.331m included in the budget had either been achieved or were expected to be achieved by the end of the financial year, which equated to 78%.

The position on pay inflation and non-standard price inflation remained unchanged from that reported at Month 7.

An update on unearmarked reserves reported a projected level of £3.709m of contingency reserves at the end of the financial year.

For the HRA, it was reported that an underspend of £0.212m was projected which would result in a closing balance of £1.646m, which at 5.76% of total expenditure was above the recommended level of 3%.

In response to a question from Councillor Robin Guest on the underachievement of some efficiencies in the programme of efficiencies, the Corporate Finance Manager confirmed that these figures were already assumed in the projected outturn figures.  When asked about the £1.068m of variances from the budget, the Corporate Finance Manager explained that these were a mix of recurring and non-recurring items which had been considered as part of the finalisation of the 2014/15 budget proposals.  Following a request, he agreed to carry out analysis of the detail which was appended to the report and provide a breakdown of recurring and one-off expenditure.

The Head of Finance said that the outturn figures included a mix of pressures and efficiencies such as the £0.381m in-year efficiencies on discretionary housing payments which represented an in-year saving and would continue.  As a further example, an underspend on learning disability services in Community Services in 2012/13 had been recognised for the 2013/14 budget and would continue to be recognised for 2014/15.

Following a query from Councillor Clive Carver on the projected underachievement of £0.286m of efficiencies in the Flintshire Futures - Customer Programme, the Chief Executive explained that this was a deferred efficiency due to timing implications from the Flintshire Connects programme.  He reported on ongoing work to back-office systems and teams, resulting in reduced costs to the organisation and spoke of further work to be done on all Flintshire Connects centres.

Councillor Arnold Woolley commented on the reduction in the budget for Services for Adults and the increase for Central and Corporate Finance.  The Corporate Finance Manager explained that around £1.2m of recurring efficiencies in Social Services for Adults had been identified at the start of the financial year during a review of the outturn for 2012/13.  This amount had been transferred to be held centrally in the 2013/14 budget on a recurring basis and was made up of various service efficiencies.  The Chief Executive added that these were savings from a broader transfer programme and were not a reflection on targets/needs within the service.

Councillor Paul Shotton praised the work carried out by the Welfare Response Team to help residents to manage financial change, resulting in a reduced level of need for discretionary housing payments to achieve an in-year efficiency.  He welcomed the developments in the Flintshire Connects programme.

On the expected efficiencies in Streetscene, Councillor Haydn Bateman referred to the indication that the new income target was expected to be met on leachate processing.  The Corporate Finance Manager advised that this efficiency was expected to be achieved in-year against the new target and agreed to provide details of the change from the original target.

RESOLVED:

That the content of the reports be noted.