Issue - meetings

The Strategic Director, Finance and Investment introduced the Council’s revenue budget monitoring report for the 2022/23 financial year as at 31 August 2022 (period 5), which also included the quarter 1 Capital Programme update and funding allocations from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) towards various projects over the next three years.

The Council’s General Fund revenue budget for 2022/23 was £183.06m, which represented a net increase of £9.4m on the budget for 2021/22.  Despite that increase, the forecast outturn position at the end of August showed a projected net overspend of £17.59m, which was an increase of £1.3m on the period 4 position reported at the last meeting. 

The Strategic Director advised that the key factors behind the overspend position reported to the last meeting continued to exist and he clarified that the projected 2022/23 Local Government fixed-sum pay award was expected to add approximately 6%, equivalent to £6m, to the Council’s annual wage bill.  He was confident, however, that the current overspend position would reduce significantly over the coming months as mitigating measures began to take effect and potential risks and opportunities became more apparent. 

The revised Capital Programme for 2022/23 was £417.05m, split into £315.5m for the Investment and Acquisition Strategy (IAS), £70.5m for General Fund (GF) and £31.1m for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), and total spend at the end of quarter 1 was £40.803m.  With regard to the UKSPF allocation, it was noted that the Council’s submission to the Greater London Authority (GLA), which was overseeing the allocation for London, amounted to circa £3.3m in the first tranche for various projects covered by the Fund.

Several Cabinet Members spoke on the pressures within their respective portfolios and the positive steps being taken by the Council to support the local community, despite the Government’s inability to understand and tackle the current cost-of-living crisis.  The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health Integration was particularly critical of the recent suggestion by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Therese Coffey, that one way to alleviate pressures on struggling GPs was to share unused medicines with family and friends, which had drawn stark criticism from the British Medical Association due to the dangers associated with using unprescribed medication.  The Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Core Services also referred to the inevitable cuts to local authority funding due to the Government’s mis-management of the nation’s finances.

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;

(ii)  Approve the revised Capital Programme for 2022/23, including carry forwards to 2022/23, as set out in section 4 and Appendices B and D of the report;

(iii)  Note the capital expenditure at 30 June 2022 (Quarter 1) as set out in Appendix C of the report; and

(iv)  Endorse the Council’s submission for UKSPF funding as set out in section 5 of the report and delegate authority to the Strategic  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44