Agenda item

(Item 4 – report by Mr J Simmonds, Cabinet Member for Finance and Business Support and Mr A Wood, Corporate Director of Finance and Procurement)

Cabinet received a report of the member and officer named above the purpose of which was to provide details of exceptions and movements occurring since the previous full budget report was received by cabinet in July. Mr Simmonds introduced the report to cabinet and in particular referred to the following details contained within it, pertaining to the revenue budget:

• That the current underspend had increased by £292,000 since the report received by Cabinet in September, to £4.8m
• That targets continued to be demanding but that the current situation was good and taken in the context of budget reductions already made was extremely healthy.  Markets continued to be volatile and caution would continue to be exercised.
• That the department for Education, Learning and Skills had shown improvements, resulting in a slight underspend.
• That the Department for Adult and Social services continued to see significant pressures in demand for services and the underspend had reduced by £670k as a result, an example of this demand being additional numbers of people with learning disabilities requiring residential care. However, figures showed that this demand might be slowing and it was hoped that further improvements would follow. 
• The department for Environment, Highways and Waste continued to show an underspend of £341,000 and the Department for Finance an underspend of £438,000 by continued strategic use of cash balances, and no new borrowing.

Mr Simmonds continued to describe the key points within the report pertaining to the Capital Budget as follows:

·        There was an approved Capital Budget Programme in place of £621m and this was currently running an underspend of £8.1m

·        This budget contained several significant elements.  One such element was £16m of rephasing - Margate Housing Project and Sandwich Sea Defence

·        That there were £2.3m of unfunded variances, largely accounted for by the Multi Agency Strategic Hubs which had previously been the subject of discussion and of which members were aware.

·        That there were £6.8m of funded variances.

In response to a question from the Leader, the Director of Finance and Procurement reported that in the two and a half months from the end of the quarter referenced in the report, trends had continued in a similar direction.  The activity indicators would now be reassessed having in September reached the half way point of the financial year.  It could be assumed that Children’s services was unlikely to shift dramatically from the current position but that Adult Services may see a small reduction in the underspend.  However the work to align activity and finance was not yet complete and a fuller picture would be available shortly.  Mr Carter requested that Corporate Board receive the information referred to once completed, in order that any new trends might be identified at the earliest opportunity.

The Cabinet Member for Highways, Environment and Waste, Mr Sweetland, reported that the council was sending 20% of its waste to landfill and that this had an impact on the cost of waste disposal.  This figure, although kept low by the decision to build an incinerator some years ago, was targeted for further reduction, to 10% and Kent continued to the lead the way with innovative work being undertaken with the Boroughs to achieve this end and create further financial efficiencies.

RECORD OF DECISION