Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Central Services introduced the report on the Council’s capital and revenue position for the 2015/16 financial year, as at 31 January 2016.

The General Fund showed a projected end of year overspend of £5.5m against the approved budget of £151.4m, which represented an improvement of £0.2m on the position reported for the end of December.  The Cabinet Member advised that senior management and staff had all played their part in helping to manage the overspend position and he expected it to be brought down to nearer £4m by the end of the financial year.

The Capital Programme for 2015/16 was forecast to exceed the reprofiled budget of £134.7m by approximately £6.7m due to a number of housing and school expansion projects being brought forward from subsequent years, which Members welcomed.  The Cabinet Member also advised on the variations within Housing Revenue Account (HRA) income and expenditure budgets, although it was noted that the HRA was projected to show a break-even position at the year end.

With regard to the ‘In / Out’ European Union (EU) Referendum to take place on 23 June 2016, the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Social Care asked that Cabinet Members be briefed on the potential implications for the Council of an ‘out’ vote in terms of funding already sourced via the EU and potential future bids.  The Strategic Director of Finance and Investment confirmed that existing funding arrangements, such as the £89m loan from the European Investment Bank to support the Gascoigne Estate (East) Phase 1 and Abbey Road Phase 2 projects, would be unaffected as formal agreements were in place.  However, it was likely that any future funding bids would be looked at less favourably if the United Kingdom was to be outside of the EU.  The Strategic Director was asked to lead on a briefing document for Cabinet Members and it was also suggested that the information should be shared with all councillors and the local community to help inform the debate and raise awareness of some of the local issues relevant to the referendum.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the projected outturn position for 2015/16 of the Council’s General Fund revenue budget at 31 January 2016, as detailed in paragraphs 2.1, 2.4 to 2.10 and Appendix A of the report;

(ii)  Note the progress against the agreed 2015/16 savings at 31 January 2016, as detailed in paragraph 2.11 and Appendix B of the report;

(iii)  Note the overall position for the HRA at 31 January 2016, as detailed in paragraph 2.12 and Appendix C of the report; and

(iv)  Note the projected outturn position for 2015/16 of the Council’s capital budget as at 31 January 2016, as detailed in paragraph 2.13 and Appendix D of the report.