Agenda item

– report of Mr John Simmonds, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance & Procurement and Andy Wood, Corporate Director of Finance and Procurement).

(1)     Cabinet received a report providing the first full quarterly budget monitoring position for 2013-14 for both revenue and capital budgets, including an update on key activity data.

(2)     The Corporate Director of Finance and Procurement reported that the format of the report was changed to focus more clearly on those areas where variations to the budget may be needed or had already occurred and would now be received in this format at every Cabinet meeting.

(3)     The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement introduced the report; in relation to the revenue budget he made the following comments:

(i)        That the first quarter was of particular importance when such significant savings were being sought over the financial year. 

(ii)       That he welcomed the reported underspend for the quarter of £498,000 before any management action had taken place but reminded members that after the deduction of monies ring-fenced for the Social Fund for 2013-14 and 2014-15 there was in fact a pressure of £94,000.

(iii)      With management action planned for the year it was expected that an underspend of £2million would be achieved.

(iv)      That a key management action to be undertaken in Specialist Children’s Services, which currently had an overspend of £4.7million, was a targeted drive to recruit permanent members of staff and reduce reliance on agency staff which would significantly reduce cost and improve services.

(v)       That pressures continued on the Environment, Highways and Waste portfolio budget owing largely to additional monies targeted to ‘find and fix’ potholes caused by the long and severe winter.

(vi)      That a further invoice had been submitted to the Home Office, to a value of £2.2million for cost incurred as a result of the UK Border Agency delays in deporting young people not granted leave to remain but he remained cautious about the probability of receiving payment.

(vii)    That the government had awarded £4.5million of additional funding for various activities and that he proposed to allocate £2million of this to the reserves to protect against the possibility of further cuts to funding in the future. 

(viii)   That SEN transport continued to show an overspend of £1.3million partially offset by underspends in Home to School transport and 16+ transport.

(ix)      That the Freedom pass scheme continued to be popular but that in light of an £800,000 overspend recorded last year a review would be needed in order to ensure the sustainability of the scheme.

(x)       That the adverse weather conditions experienced last winter had increased spending by £400,000 and that a particularly harsh winter in 2013-14 would put enormous pressure on the budget even considering the provisions that had been put in place.

(4)     In relation to the Capital budget the Cabinet member continued as follows:

(i)        That the current working Capital budget was £319 million with a forecast outturn of £306 million.  Various variances had occurred but could be largely accounted for by project delays that had occurred as a result of planning considerations and other factors.

(5)     The Deputy Leader thanked Members and officers for the hard work that had been done towards the underspend and remarked that he was pleased and cautious.

(6)     The Cabinet Member for Specialist Children’s Services spoke to the item.  She report that almost fifty newly qualified Social Workers would be joining KCC later that month and was pleased that this would not only relieve some of the pressures reported by Mr Simmonds in relation to the agency payments but would also provide a better more stable service for the young people of Kent. 

(7)     She added that amongst the pressures experienced by Specialist Children’s Services a more recent development had been the increased court costs associated with the increase in the numbers of children in care being approved for adoption. 

(8)     The Leader closed the discussion having received no more requests to speak to the item.  He welcomed the positive quarter 1 report and hoped it was the first step toward another balanced budget at the end of the financial year.

(9)     It was RESOLVED