Agenda item

To receive updates on the revenue and capital budgets as at Quarter 2

(Item 7 – Report of the Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement, Mr John Simmonds and Corporate Director of Finance and Procurement, Andy Wood)

Cabinet received a report providing the budget monitoring position for Quarter 2, to September 2014, for both the revenue and capital budgets and an update on key activity data.

Miss Susan Carey, was in attendance to introduce the item. She said the predicted overspend reported in quarter one had now been reduced and with management action an underspend was now predicted.  This would be difficult to deliver and would depend on various factors, in particular demand for services and unforeseen circumstances such as adverse weather or flooding.

In addition Miss Carey drew information from the report for particular attention including information on the reduction in numbers of looked after children, the continued cost of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum and the reduction in need for residential care for the elderly, as a result of successful preventative work.

Furthermore, she reported that:

      I.        Transformation work continued to be undertaken in Adult Social Care to create savings and manage costs, and such savings would be crucial to the success of the budget that savings were delivered on time

    II.        The Kent Support and Assistance Service had been successful and owing to the good management of the fund an underspend might be delivered which would be used to continue the scheme.

   III.        Pressure remained on the SEN Home to School Transport budget and work continued to be undertaken to manage that pressure, including independent travel training to enable young people to gain the skills and confidence to use public transport where appropriate.

  IV.        That waste tonnage continued to increase and remained a cause for concern with a forecast overspend of approximately £2.3m largely offset by underspending elsewhere.  The increase was largely attributed to the mild autumn and the associated impact on garden waste collection.

   V.        Take up of the Young Persons Travelcard had exceeded expectation, despite the reduction in subsidy, and might create continued pressure on the GET budget during the second half of the year.

In relation to the Capital Programme Miss Carey reported that pressure remained on the Basic Need programme for the provision of school places as did the special school programme, the latter of which would be met from underspend elsewhere.  However most projects remained on time and to budget.

Revenue Finance Manager, Simon Pleace, spoke to confirm those messages that Miss Carey had highlighted and also reminded members of the risks to predictions reliant on management action and the hard work that would be required to deliver the desired outcomes.

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Mr Dance, commented on the work underway to deliver Superfast Broadband in the County and the proposed phase 2 which would be pursued in the new financial year and how this might be able to take pressure off other departments in delivery of services via the internet.  A film had been made and was available for members to view.

Mr Simmonds concluded by considering the Government’s autumn statement and the impact that may have on local government, he noted that the pressures on Local Government funding where likely to remain.

It was RESOLVED that: