Agenda item

            That the report be noted.        

The Head of Finance introduced a report to provide Members with the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2013/14 (Month 10) information for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) which had been submitted to Cabinet on 15 April 2014.  She introduced the Finance Manager to the Committee.   On this occasion, the information had gone to Cabinet prior to coming to Scrutiny simply as a result of the change made to the date of the April meeting.

                        For the Council Fund, the projected net in-year expenditure was reported to be £2.151m less than budget which was an increase of £0.170m on the £1.981m reported at Month 9.  The main items contributing to the £0.170m variance included the identification of efficiencies under the Corporate Administration review and improved trading and reduced costs in Leisure which was offset by an overall increase in the cost of Out of County placements.  This continued to be a significant pressure on the budget and there was a need to ensure the issue was monitored for the remainder of the 2013/14 financial year and into 2014/15 and onwards. 

Carry forward requests were detailed in paragraphs 3.06 to 3.11 which were for works which had been planned for 2013/14 but had not been completed during this period.  Section 5 detailed the budget assumptions and new risks and explained that the costs associated with the clean up of the former chemical plan in Sandycroft (Euticals Ltd) were being monitored monthly.  The Head of Finance explained that it had previously been projected that the cost to the Council in 2013/14 would be £0.400m but it was now expected to be nearer to £0.300m, with further costs in 2014/15 which were being quantified; further details of the costs would be sent to Members when available.  She added that the Council were now in ownership of the site and once the clean-up had been completed, it was planned that the site would be decommissioned and sold.  Agreement of the clean up decommissioning plan would determine the cost in 2014/15.

The projected contingency reserve balance at 31 March 2014 was £4.792m.  The overall projected underspend for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for 2013/14 was £0.089m and a projected closing balance at Month 10 of £1.522m, which at 5.33% of total expenditure satisfied the prudent approach of ensuring a minimum level of 3%. 

                        In response to a query from Councillor Marion Bateman about whether the Council had incurred costs of £0.300m for the clear-up of the former Euticals site, the Head of Finance said that the Council and Natural Resources Wales had incurred costs and financial help had been sought from the Welsh Government but this had not been made available. Flintshire County Council had incurred costs due to it’s responsibilities for environmental protection to make the site safe and it was unlikely that all of the costs would be recovered. 

                        Councillor Haydn Bateman asked about the winter maintenance reserve and whether it had been used.  The Head of Finance explained that as part of the 2012/13 budget, it had been agreed that a reserve of £0.250m would be included for winter maintenance but due to the mild winter this had not been used so a top-up to the reserve would not be required as part of the closedown for the 2013/14 budget.  There had been a requirement to purchase salt and replenish the stocks and details of the amounts spent would be available in the budget outturn report. 

            RESOLVED:

            That the report be noted.