Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Investment presented a report on the provisional revenue and capital outturn position for the 2015/16 financial year.

The General Fund position showed a projected year-end overspend of £2.9m against the net revenue budget of £151.4m, which represented a significantly improved position to that projected throughout the year.  The Cabinet Member advised that the improved position was largely attributable to the Children’s Social Care Ambition and Financial Efficiency (SAFE) Programme, agreed by the Cabinet on 13 October 2015, starting to have an impact.  The overall effect of the overspend and the draw-down from reserves during the year to finance the Ambition 2020 and Growth Commission projects would result in the General Fund balance decreasing from £26.0m to £21.1m, which the Cabinet Member suggested was a healthy balance going forward and well above the £15m threshold target set by the Assembly.

The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) showed a breakeven position and an end of year balance of £8.7m, while the Capital Programme showed a projected outturn of £146.0m compared to the revised budget of £134.7m.  The Cabinet Member commented that the additional spending on capital projects reflected the Council’s commitment to enhancing the Borough’s infrastructure, particularly in relation to school provision.

Members also noted details of proposed revenue and capital roll-forwards into 2016/17 budgets and the provisional outturn position of the directorate savings targets for 2015/16.

The Cabinet Member for Corporate Performance and Delivery referred to issues relating to residential care numbers, visitor numbers for the new Abbey Sports Centre and Council house eviction levels.  Cabinet Members and officers alluded to some of the issues that had impacted on those areas and the Cabinet Member for Corporate Performance and Delivery agreed to clarify the full nature of his enquiries after the meeting, following which a detailed response would be circulated to all Cabinet Members.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the provisional outturn position for 2015/16 of the Council’s revenue budget as detailed in paragraphs 2.1 to 2.13 and Appendix A of the report;

(ii)  Note the provisional outturn against the 2015/16 savings targets in paragraph 2.14 and Appendix B of the report;

(iii)  Note the provisional outturn position for the HRA as detailed in paragraph 2.15 and Appendix C of the report;

(iv)  Approve the requests to roll forward revenue budgets into 2016/17 as noted in paragraph 2.4 and the resulting budget amendments contained in Appendix D of the report;

(v)  Note the provisional outturn position for 2015/16 of the Council’s capital budget as detailed in paragraph 2.16 and Appendix E of the report; and

(vi)  Approve the requests to roll forward slippage and re-profiled spend in capital projects to 2016/17 as contained in Appendix E of the report.