Agenda item

Cabinet received a report providing the budget monitoring position for December 2013-14 for both revenue and capital budgets and which also included an update on key activity data.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Mr Simmonds introduced the report and in particular referred to the following:

Revenue Budget:

      i.        That the underspend had increased, since the last report, to £9.5 million before management action but monies ring-fenced for Social Fund spending for 2013-14 and 2014-15 would reduce this figure to £6.3million, increasing to £6.8million with management action.

     ii.        That £4million of the predicted underspend had already been committed to the 2014-15 budget and therefore it would be crucial that this minimum underspend figure were achieved.

    iii.        It was important to note that the report being considered did not include the full financial impact of the flooding at Christmas and New Year, but the recent announcement that a grant of £8.6million would be received from Central Government would reduce any impact and allow work on road maintenance and other repairs to continue at pace.  In addition, work continued to produce a bid to the Bellwin Scheme to further negate any impact of the floods and help with recovery costs.

   iv.        That a return of £2.1million of costs related to unaccompanied young people seeking asylum continued to be pursued from the Government and that although negotiations were complicated and on-going he was cautiously optimistic that some agreement could be reached following positive results for other local authorities with the same issue.  

    v.        Pressures remained on SEN transport and Children Services but both areas showed slight improvement in this round of reporting.

   vi.        Government funding had increased by £1million since the last report.

Capital Budget:

      i.        A working budget of £315million was reported with a forecast spend of £253million, creating a variance of £62million.  However, a large proportion of this, £60million, was a result of rephasing, the reasons for which were included within the report.

Corporate Director for Finance, Andy Wood added to the comments made; he reported that:

      i.        That of the £174million distributed by Government to those areas worst affected by flooding, £45million was allocated to councils in the South East and £47million to Councils in the South West.  Allocations were being assessed by Finance officers to ensure that they were fair and correct.

     ii.        That the underspend continued to increase and an important contribution had been made, approximately £2million, by managers reviewing and limiting spending where possible over the last two months.

It was RESOLVED that: