Issue - meetings

Report of the Deputy Director of Finance (Section 151 Officer).

Decision made (unanimously):

1.    Cabinet notes and accepts the recommendations of the Scrutiny Budget and Performance Panel made at its meeting on 14 September 2020.

2.    Cabinet notes the contents of this report including the forecast £29,000 underspend in 2020/21.

3.    Cabinet approves the allocation of the £150,000 staffing savings target and the £37,000 residual shared services savings target against the £499,000 forecast staffing underspend.

4.    Cabinet approves the use of general reserves for one-off increases to the revenue budget in relation to the following items:

a)    Dial-a-ride £20,000

b)    IDOX Enterprise and Capability Review £26,000

c)    Extra Care preparatory work £50,000

5.    Cabinet approves the re-profiled budgets for the capital programme, which reflects forecasted underspend against the existing budgets, as detailed in Appendix C.

The Cabinet Member (Finance, Property and Assets) presented a report of the Deputy Director of Finance (Section 151 officer) explaining the Council’s overall financial position for quarter 1 of the financial year 2020-21.  He stressed that due to the circumstances surrounding CO-VID 19 re-profiling may need to take place again.

Councillor Bretherton asked a question with regard to the Bellis Way Playground. He said that there had been forecast of £20k and the budget was now £30k. The Director of Neighbourhoods and Development confirmed that the budget was £30k (match funding). The Cabinet Member for Environment agreed to investigate and report back after the meeting.

Decision made (unanimously):

1.    Cabinet notes and accepts the recommendations of the Scrutiny Budget and Performance Panel made at its meeting on 14 September 2020.

2.    Cabinet notes the contents of this report including the forecast £29,000 underspend in 2020/21.

3.    Cabinet approves the allocation of the £150,000 staffing savings target and the £37,000 residual shared services savings target against the £499,000 forecast staffing underspend.

4.    Cabinet approves the use of general reserves for one-off increases to the revenue budget in relation to the following items:

a)    Dial-a-ride £20,000

b)    IDOX Enterprise and Capability Review £26,000

c)    Extra Care preparatory work £50,000

5.    Cabinet approves the re-profiled budgets for the capital programme, which reflects forecasted underspend against the existing budgets, as detailed in Appendix C.

Reasons for Decision

The Cabinet’s decisions reflect the recommendations of the Section 151 officer, which will ensure the Council’s best overall financial position.

1.    The overall forecast for 2020/21 for the revenue budget is a net surplus of £29,000.  A summary of the variances by directorate is shown in Table 1, and a detailed list of the main variances within each directorate is shown in Table 2.

2.    In addition, it is requested that £67,000 (Table 3) is allocated against the current general fund balance of £4.239m leaving £4.172m remaining. It should be noted that this use of the general fund will be reviewed throughout the financial year and may not be required if further underspends are identified in 2020/21.

3.    The forecasts for staffing costs are an overall saving of £499,000.  It is recommended to allocate the full £150,000 staffing savings target.  Also, it is recommended to allocate an additional £37,000 from the areas of forecasted underspending to cover the deficit against the shared services savings figure.

4.    The report outlines the impact Covid-19 has had on the budget in 2020/21 including the additional grant funding received and the management of the business grant schemes.

5.    The total capital spend including commitments in 2020/21 is £2.768m, which is 29% of the total budget of £9,614.  Appendix C gives the details for individual schemes and the revised forecasts, both for 2020/21 and the following 3 years.

Cabinet approved a number of one – off revenue budget increases for the following reasons:

Dial-a-ride

A delegated decision was approved in June to provide grant support of £20,000 per year to the delivery  ...  view the full minutes text for item 132

Report of the Section 151 Officer attached.

The Panel considered a report of the Section 151 Officer which provided an update on the Council’s overall financial position at the end of Quarter 1 of the 2020-21 financial year.

Councillor Matthew Tomlinson, Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Assets, informed the Panel that an underspend of £29,000 was forecasted for the end of the financial year.

Additional capital had been spent due to COVID-19 to the sum of £16 million, but this was covered by central government grants.

Discussion largely focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and members questioned the concern of is this to the Cabinet Member and Section 151 Officer. In response, members were advised that concerns were minimal due to government support and the ability to spread any deficit over three years.

Queries were also raised on staff vacancies and the impact of this on service delivery. Delays in recruitment were acknowledged but the Council was still delivering on its targets.

Some concern was raised that the Council’s earmarked reserves remained high and members requested further clarity on how these are assessed to ensure appropriacy. In response, the Panel was advised that the reserves are assessed annually but commitment was provided to review these reserves given the situation surrounding the pandemic.

In response to queries regarding the Borough Investment Account, confirmation was provided that this money would be invested into South Ribble but work was still ongoing to identify opportunities for a sufficient return and tangible benefits for residents.

Members were pleased that the additional narrative as requested at the last meeting had been included in the Capital Programme and sought assurances that the newly-reprofiled Capital Programme was deliverable. The Cabinet Member and Section 151 confirmed their confidence in this.

RESOLVED: (Unanimously)

That

1.    the Panel thanks the Cabinet Member and Section 151 Officer for their report and for answering the Panel’s questions.

2.    the Panel welcomes the Cabinet Member’s commitment to review the level of earmarked reserves.

3.    the Panel expresses its thanks for taking its feedback forward in providing greater narrative.