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 December 2014.

The General Fund showed a projected end of year spend of £166.9m against the total approved budget of £165.3m.  The Cabinet Member advised that he expected a balanced budget to be achieved by the year end but that the pressures within the Children’s Services division, which had increased by £0.1m on the position reported at the last meeting, continued to be challenging.  It was also noted that the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) continued to show a projected break-even position for the year.

With regard to capital expenditure, the projected spend was £134.6m against the revised budget of £143.2m which represented a further slippage of £1.3m on the position reported at the last meeting.  Cabinet Members sought assurances regarding the deliverability of the annual Capital Programme and referred in particular to the Decent Homes programme.  The Director of Housing commented that he shared Members’ concerns regarding slippage in the Decent Homes programme which had primarily stemmed from delays in procurement.  To that end, he had commissioned an independent review on deliverability and would report to Cabinet in due course.  In the meantime, the Director agreed to provide Cabinet Members with details of future years’ Decent Homes projects.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the projected outturn position for 2014/15 of the Council’s General Fund revenue budget at 31 December 2014, as detailed in paragraphs 2.1, 2.4 to 2.10 and Appendix A of the report;

(ii)  Note the progress against the agreed 2014/15 savings at 31 December 2014, as detailed in paragraph 2.11 and Appendix B of the report;

(iii)  Note progress against the agreed 2014/15 HRA savings as detailed in paragraph 2.12 and Appendix B of the report;

(iv)  Note the overall position for the HRA at 31 December 2014, as detailed in paragraph 2.12 and Appendix C of the report; and

(v)  Note the projected outturn position for 2014/15 of the Council’s capital budget as at 31 December 2014, as detailed in paragraph 2.13 and Appendix D of the report.