Agenda item

– reportof the Deputy LeaderandCabinet Memberfor Financeand ProcurementMr JohnSimmondsand CorporateDirector forFinanceand Procurement,AndyWood)

Cabinetreceived a reportproviding the budgetmonitoringpositionforOctober 2013-14 forboth revenueand capitalbudgets.Dueto revenue financeresources being focusedpredominatelyon preparingthe 2014-15budget,no activitydata was supplied.

TheDeputyLeader andCabinetMemberforFinance andProcurementintroduced the reportforCabinet.He madethefollowing comments:

•        Thatthepredictedunderspendhadbeenreducedto £1mfrom£4mowing to certaincommitments andunexpected increasesto costs,suchas SEN Transport,which wouldrise to£2.4mfollowing managementaction.  However he remainedconfidentthat thetargeted£4munderspendwould beachieved.

In relation to the Capitalbudget

•        Thatthe budgetwas setat £316mbuttheforecastoutturnwas currently £273mowing largelyto the reschedulingofprojects

•        That£3mhad beenmadeavailable fromthe reservesfor severeweather action relatingto roadmaintenancerepairs requiredafter theflooding.

Inresponsetothea questionfrom the Leaderthe Corporate DirectorforFinanceand Procurement detailedwork thatwould beundertakento ensurethatthe targeted underspendof£4mwould beachievedby theendofthe financialyear.  Hereported thata moratoriumwould be putin placein orderthat departmentswere careful with discretionaryspendingand thiswas expectedto save £1.5m to £2m.

TheCabinetMember for Education andHealthreformspoketo theitem in orderto addressthe overspendin SENtransport.  He reported thatwork betweenthe Educationand TransportIntegrationteamscontinuedto attempttoidentifyreasons for  and  solutions  to  the  underspend.    The SEND Strategy dueforrelease the followingweek wouldhelp toaddress issuesoftransportby creating moreplaces in localschoolsfor childrenwith specialneedsamongstotheractions.

TheCabinetMember for SocialCare and PublicHealth, Mr Gibbens,confirmedthat thenumberofpeople withLearning Disabilitiesneedingservices andcarefromthe local  authority  was  increasing  and  that  this  would  continue  to  create  budget pressuresforthe AdultSocial Careportfolio.

The  Cabinet  Member  for  Community  Services,  Mr  Mike  Hill  welcomed  the underspendwithin thecommunitiesdirectorateand thankedtheCorporate Director for her continuedwork to deliver servicesunderbudget.

It wasRESOLVED that:

1.     Thatthe latestmonitoringposition onboth the revenueand capitalbudgetsbe noted

2.     Thatthe changes to the capitalprogrammeas detailedin theactionscolumn intable2 oftheannexreports be agreed.

3.     Thattheadditional capitalspendingas a resultofthe introductionofan emergency highwaysrepairprogramme,within the EH&Wportfolio,following the recentfloodingbe noted.