Issue - meetings

The Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services is attached

It was RESOLVED that the report be approved and the following be noted:

a)           the projected revenue budget efficiency for the year of £0.637m and proposals to earmark this for cost pressures given in Appendix A and paragraph 4.1 to the report;

b)           the projected capital budget efficiencies of £0.681m including the budget changes given in Appendix D to the report; and

c)           the projected overspend on Special Expenses of £11.3k given in paragraph 4.7 to the report.

The Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Finance, Transformation and Governance, Councillor Virdi, presented the report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services, which set out the Quarter 1 budget position for revenue and capital.

In introducing the report, Councillor Virdi confirmed that given the current state of public finances, overall the report was positive; however, the Council could not be complacent given the many challenges that lay ahead. Councillor Virdi provided Cabinet with a breakdown of the report highlights.

In respect of revenue, Councillor Virdi advised that there was an overall budget efficiency for the year of £0.637m and referred to Table 1 of the report and Appendix B, which highlighted the reasons.  Appendix F detailed a projected minor overspend on the Special Expenses of £11.3k, with details of that in paragraph 4.7. Paragraphs 4.10 to 4.13 provided details of additional financial pressures that the Council continued to face and Councillor Virdi reiterated that  the Council had no external borrowing. He stated that the Transformation and Efficiency Plan was progressing well and on target, with details highlighted in paragraph 4.12.  In respect of capital, Appendices C, D and E detailed its overall position, with a projected underspend of £0.681m, with Table 2 detailing the reasons.

In conclusion, whilst noting the Council’s positive financial position, Councillor Virdi said that things could change, and the Council’s healthy reserves allowed it to mitigate risks, whilst maximising opportunities. With future uncertainty around Government funding, those reserves would help to protect the Council.

In seconding the recommendation, Councillor J Wheeler referred to the huge impact that Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) was already having and given future uncertainty regarding Government funding, he agreed that it was important to be cautious, whilst still investing wisely through the Capital Programme. Councillor Wheeler thanked the Director – Finance and Corporate Services and his team for continuing to manage the Council’s finances so well. He felt that rather than penalising well run councils by cutting funding, the Government should be holding less well run councils to account.

The Leader echoed those comments, with the report demonstrating that the Council’s finances continued to be very well managed, and he reiterated thanks given to the Director – Finance and Corporate Services and his team

It was RESOLVED that the report be approved and the following be noted:

a)           the projected revenue budget efficiency for the year of £0.637m and proposals to earmark this for cost pressures given in Appendix A and paragraph 4.1 to the report;

b)           the projected capital budget efficiencies of £0.681m including the budget changes given in Appendix D to the report; and

c)           the projected overspend on Special Expenses of £11.3k given in paragraph 4.7 to the report.