Issue - meetings

The report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services is attached.

The Financial Services Manager presented the report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services which outlined the quarter two position in terms of financial and performance monitoring for 2020/21. This report presented the budget position for revenue and capital as at 30September 2020. This report provided an update to the report to Cabinet on 8September 2020 and included the in-year variances along with variances which had resulted from Covid-19. It was noted that this report did not take into account the effects of the implementation of further restrictions from 26 November and 2 December and did not include potential income from the reimbursement of lost fees and charges.

It was noted that for this financial year the budget gap including Covid related pressures and in-year efficiencies is expected to be at least £0.244m. The financial position to date also reflected a number of positive variances totalling £0.890m however, there were also several adverse variances totalling £2.667m. The majority of the adverse variances were from lost income from reduced demand relating to Covid such as facility hire (£0.139m), planning applications (£0.200m), reduced car parking income (£0.310m) and additional payments to Parkwood (£1.008m).

Additionally, the original Capital Programme of £18.936m has been supplemented by a net brought forward and in-year adjustments of £19.435m giving a revised total of £38.371m. The net expenditure efficiency position of £23.8m is primarily due to the projects of Bingham Leisure Centre and the crematorium. The Group were also informed that the Council was due to receive capital receipts of £20m in the year, primarily from the disposal of surplus operational and investment property: Abbey Road Depot, Land at Hollygate Lane and also from an overage agreement in place for Sharphill Wood site. However, Covid-19 had impacted on the progress of these schemes with receipts projected to be £4.4m in 2020/21.

The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services asked the Group to comment on the monitored tasks which were outlined in the Corporate Strategy and the performance measures within the Corporate Scorecard. The Group were reminded that some targets had been omitted as a way of measuring performance for those indicators that are being impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. There were two exceptions within the operational score card:

·       LICO41 Percentage of householder planning applications processed within target times

·       LINS19a Number of household waste collections missed twice or more in the last 3-month period

The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services explained that despite the percentage of householder planning applications processed within target times being an exception for this quarter, this was a direct result of the planning officers hitting targets for major applications and developments. The Group were also informed that additional resources were going to be assisting the planning team over the next couple of months in order to focus on householder planning applications. It was explained that the number of household waste collections missed had increased due to an increased number of agency staff who have had to be recruited  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22