Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the report on the Council’s capital and revenue position for the 2014/15 financial year, as at 31 August 2014.

The General Fund showed a projected end of year spend of £169.6m against the total approved budget of £165.32m, which represented a further £0.8m overspend on the position as at the end of July.  The Cabinet Member for Finance advised that the Children’s Services budget was continuing to show considerable in-year pressures totalling £4.652m and a detailed report on the reasons for the forecast overspend, together with the options for substantially reducing or eliminating the overspend, would be presented to the next meeting of the Cabinet.  To assist in dealing with the overspend position in the meantime, it was proposed that the budget savings agreed by Cabinet under Minute 31(ii) of the last meeting should be implemented as soon as possible wherever it was practical to do so.

The Cabinet Member also referred to the proposal to release £500,000 from the Adult and Community Services revenue reserve to fund future implementation costs in relation to the Council’s duties under the Care Act 2014, as well as plans to include a new £709,000 scheme in the Capital Programme to acquire and demolish the former Remploy site in Creek Road, Barking.

It was further noted that the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) continued to show a projected break-even position for the year while the Capital Programme showed a projected spend of £145.076m against the total revised budget of £155.981m. 

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the projected outturn position for 2014/15 of the Council’s General Fund revenue budget at 31 August 2014, as detailed in paragraphs 2.4 to 2.9 and Appendix A of the report;

(ii)  Agree to the implementation of any savings proposal agreed by Minute 31 (7 October 2014) in the current financial year where it is possible to do so;

(iii)  Agree to the use of £500,000 from the Adult and Community Services reserve to fund work on the implementation of the Care Act 2014, as detailed in paragraph 2.4 of the report;

(iv)  Note the progress against the agreed 2014/15 savings at 31 August 2014, as detailed in paragraph 2.10 and Appendix B of the report;

(v)  Note progress against the agreed 2014/15 HRA savings as detailed in paragraph 2.11 and Appendix B of the report;

(vi)  Note the overall position for the HRA at 31 August 2014, as detailed in paragraph 2.11 and Appendix C of the report;

(vii)  Note the projected outturn position for 2014/15 of the Council’s capital budget as at 31 August 2014, as detailed in paragraph 2.12 and Appendix D of the report and

(viii)  Approve the new capital budget of £709,000 for a Regeneration scheme to acquire and demolish the former Remploy site on Creek Road as detailed in paragraph 2.12 of the report.