Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Investment introduced a report on the Council’s capital and revenue position for the 2016/17 financial year, as at 31 August 2016.

The General Fund showed a projected end of year spend of £156.1m against the approved budget of £150.3m.  The projected overspend of £5.786m was almost £1m lower than the estimate provided at last month’s Cabinet meeting, largely attributable to a further reduction in the pressures within the Children’s Social Care service.  However, the pressures within the Homelessness service were continuing, with the projected overspend increasing to £3.1m.  The Cabinet Member commented that although a range of measures were being put in place to mitigate that position, the cumulative effect of the Government’s cuts to the Council’s budget and the impact of its austerity measures on the local community would mean that the Council would be getting very close to its minimum reserves threshold level of £15m by the year end.  In that respect, the Cabinet Member encouraged his colleagues to continue to maximise efficiencies within all service areas in order to minimise the in-year call on reserves, bearing in mind that the Cabinet was committed to using some reserves in order to achieve a balanced budget for 2017/18.  The Leader also referred to the Government’s austerity measures and the documentary entitled “No Place to Call Home” that was to be broadcast the next evening on BBC2.  The documentary would reflect the pressures on housing in Barking and Dagenham and the ways that the Council was trying to help the local community into housing, against the backdrop of the severe Council housing shortage and ever-increasing demands.

The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) showed an increased revenue surplus of approximately £1m, which would increase the HRA reserve to £9.75m at the year end, while the forecast outturn for the revised Capital Programme was £202m.

With regard to directorate savings targets, the Cabinet Member for Environment and Street Scene advised that there had been a positive response so far to the green waste collection public consultation and it was hoped that some of the £110,000 target could be achieved in the current financial year.

The Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the projected outturn position for 2016/17 of the Council’s General Fund revenue budget at 31 August 2016, as detailed in section 2 of the report;

(ii)  Note the overall position for the HRA at 31 August 2016, as detailed in section 4.4 of the report;

(iii)  Note the progress made on budgeted savings to date, as detailed in section 5 and Appendix B of the report; and

(iv)  Note the projected outturn position for 2016/17 of the Council’s capital budget as at 31 August 2016, as detailed in section 6 and Appendix C of the report.