Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Community Leadership and Engagement introduced a report on the Council’s capital and revenue position for the 2016/17 financial year, as at 31 January 2017.

The General Fund showed a projected end of year spend of £155.3m against the approved budget of £150.3m, which represented an increased deficit of approximately £0.5m on the previous month’s position.  The main budget pressures continued to be within the Children’s Social Care and Homelessness services, while historical pressures within the Enforcement and Clean and Green services also contributed £1.295m to the overspend position.  The Cabinet Member stressed the importance of tackling overspends to protect the level of revenue reserves going forward.

The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) continued to show a projected year end underspend which would result in a contribution of £1.92m to the HRA reserve, although it was noted that approximately £1.4m was earmarked for the Housing Transformation Programme.  Expenditure on the wide range of projects within the Capital Programme was forecast to be slightly over budget at £200.028m due to several school expansion projects being ahead of schedule.

The Cabinet Member also reported on the proposed introduction of fees and charges for work undertaken by the Council’s legal service, BDT Legal, in respect of contract and procurement work and planning and highways agreements. 

Arising from the discussions:

·  The Director of Law and Governance undertook to provide the Cabinet Member for Corporate Performance and Delivery with details of the benchmarking exercise that supported the proposed level of fees; and

·  The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration advised that a report would be presented to Cabinet later in the year on the Social Care Ambition and Financial Efficiency (SAFE) Programme, including progress regarding social worker retention.  On that issue, the Leader advised that Coventry University London, based at the Civic Centre, Dagenham, would be offering teaching and social work courses in its curriculum.

The Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the projected outturn position for 2016/17 of the Council’s General Fund revenue budget at 31 January 2017, as detailed in section 4 and Appendix A to the report;

(ii)  Note the overall position for the Housing Revenue Account at 31 January 2017 as detailed in section 5 of the report;

(iii)  Note the progress made on budgeted savings to date, as detailed in section 6 and Appendix B to the report;

(iv)  Note the projected outturn position for 2016/17 of the Council’s capital budget as at 31 January 2017, as detailed in section 7 and Appendix C;

(v)  Approve the flat rate sliding scale (discretionary) legal fees to be charged in connection with the preparation and sealing of contracts awarded where the value of a contract exceeds £100,000, as set out in section 8 and Appendices D and E to the report; and

(vi)  Approve the hourly rate of £175 (plus VAT) to cover the Council’s legal fees (operating through BDT Legal) in connection with planning and highways matters, namely agreements and undertakings under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) and highways agreements under Sections 38 and 278 of the Highways Act 1980, as set out in section 8 and Appendices D and E to the report.