Issue - meetings

Received a report from the Cabinet Member for Finance, Revenues and Benefits on the Council’s revenue and capital position for 2010/11 as at the end of January 2011.

The projected service overspends, taking account of in-year savings, have decreased from £2.2m to £1.7m since the last report as a result of continued reductions across departments and particularly within the Children’s Services department.  As a result, the General Fund balance is now projected to be £9.3m at the year end, compared to a planned level of £10m, and the Contingency Fund balance is currently at £6.6m, although it was stressed that this should be considered in relation to the projected departmental overspends and the assumption that all the in-year savings are delivered.  The Cabinet Member also gave a verbal update on the overspend position which indicated further improvement towards a year end balanced budget position.

The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) has maintained its position with a projected underspend of £1m, which would result in a final balance of £4.4m.  In respect of the Capital Programme the Cabinet Member reported on the proposed re-profiling of a number of further schemes, with current projections suggesting a £9.248m slippage against the overall revised budget of £116m.

Agreed, as a matter of good financial practice, to:-

(i)  Note the current projected outturn position for 2010/11 of the Council’s revenue and capital budgets as detailed in paragraphs 3 and 5 and Appendices A and C to the report,

(ii)  Note the position of the HRA as detailed in paragraph 4 and Appendix B to the report;

(iii)  Note the position of the Contingency Fund as detailed in paragraph 3.1.5 of the report; and

(iv)  The re-profiling of schemes within the Capital Programme as detailed in Appendix D to the report.