Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Core Services introduced the Council’s revenue budget monitoring report for the 2022/23 financial year as at 31 October 2022 (period 7) and the quarter 2 Capital Programme update.

The Council’s General Fund revenue budget for 2022/23 was £183.06m and the forecast outturn position at the end of October projected a net overspend of £16.603m once movements to and from reserves and income had been taken into account, which represented a worsening of almost £3m compared to the previous month.  The Cabinet Member alluded to the main causes of the overspend which he had explained at previous meetings and he and other Cabinet colleagues continued their criticism of the Government for failing to properly fund the significant increases in demand being experienced by many local authorities.  The Cabinet Member confirmed that the Council’s Budget Reserve was sufficient to cover the current level of overspend, adding that he was confident that the position would improve significantly by the year end.

With regard to the Capital Programme for 2022/23, the Cabinet noted a number of proposals that would increase the overall programme from the current level of £417.05m to £452.611m.  It was further noted that expenditure at the end of quarter 2 was only at 31.5% and although Investment and Acquisition Strategy (IAS) and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) capital budgets were expected to be fully spent by the year end, it was likely that a number of General Fund projects, especially those relating to the Schools Programme, would slip into future years.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the projected revenue outturn forecast for the 2022/23 financial year as set out in section 2 and Appendix A of the report; and

(ii)  Note the capital expenditure at 30 September 2022 (Quarter 2) and approve the revised Capital Programme for 2022/23, as detailed in section 4 and Appendices B and C of the report.