Apologies were received from Councillor Andrew Judge.

No pecuniary declarations were made.

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Cabinet held on the 10 September 2014 were approved as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1.     notes the financial reporting data relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net overspend at year end of £5.28 million, 3.2% of the net budget, an increase of £1.6m from last month.

2.     notes that the Public Health underspend of £778k and the Local Welfare support underspend of £240k is to be carried forward and therefore a nil variance is reported this month.

3.     approves the virement of £170k from reserves to Communications to recruit 2 posts for sales and marketing to provide strategic advice, commercial working and drive forward the project to increase income in the borough. The funding is required for 2 years.

4.     notes the adjustments in Appendix 5b and approve the following adjustments:

5.     notes the following schemes have been removed from the Capital Programme in Appendix 5b:

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented the report which provided the regular monthly financial monitoring update for August. It detailed that the council’s overspend had increased from last month’s report to an expected end of year forecasted overspend of £5.28million. It was stated that one of the benefits of having the monthly financial reporting allowed Cabinet and officers to track the council’s spending and the direction of travel in real time and to plan and make necessary adjustments.

The report itself broke down each of the departments’ general expenditure and current financial position. It highlighted to the Cabinet that some of the significant overspends were within Children, Schools and Families; as a result of the considerable number of the council’s statutory responsibilities within the directorate and the increased use of those services. An example of that was the council supporting those families who were classed as ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ (NRPF). It was explained that in 2011-12 year the council on average were handling 4 NRPF cases at any one time. However, currently there were over 30 NRPF cases on going and as a result the expected end of year overspend was forecasted as £283,000.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1.     notes the financial reporting data relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net overspend at year end of £5.28 million, 3.2% of the net budget, an increase of £1.6m from last month.

2.     notes that the Public Health underspend of £778k and the Local Welfare support underspend of £240k is to be carried forward and therefore a nil variance is reported this month.

3.     approves the virement of £170k from reserves to Communications to recruit 2 posts for sales and marketing to provide strategic advice, commercial working and drive forward the project to increase income in the borough. The funding is required for 2 years.

4.     notes the adjustments in Appendix 5b and approve the following adjustments:

5.     notes the following schemes have been removed from the Capital Programme in Appendix 5b:

RESOLVED:

1.     That Cabinet notes the rolled forward MTFS for 2015– 2019.

2.     That Cabinet confirm the latest position with regards to savings already in the MTFS and agree the proposed amendments to savings set out in Appendix 6 and incorporated into the financial implications in the draft MTFS 2015-19.

3.     That Cabinet agrees the approach to setting a balanced budget and the basis for the setting of targets based on weighted controllable expenditure and capacity to generate income.

4.     That Cabinet agrees the proposed departmental targets to be met from savings and income

5.     That Cabinet agrees the timetable for the Business Plan 2015-19 including the revenue budget 2015/16, the MTFS 2015-19 and the Capital Programme for 2015-19.

6.     That Cabinet agrees the latest draft Capital Programme 2015-19 detailed in Appendix 5 for consideration by scrutiny in November and notes the indicative programme for 2020-24.

7.     That Cabinet note the process for the Service Plan 2015-19 and the progress made so far.

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented the Business Plan 2015-2019 report to the Cabinet. In doing this he highlighted that over the next 4 years there was likely to be a budget gap of £32million. In order to tackle this expected deficit, he proposed that the council continues with the ‘July principles’ which had been set in July 2010. They included focusing on providing statutory services, protecting vulnerable residents, low council tax, clean streets and a good place for young people to go to school.

In discussing the report the Cabinet were in support of the July principles continuing to be the driver for the savings, but also looking for ‘value for money’ in all services. On considering the capital expenditure Members acknowledged that the revenues expenditure of such projects must be considered together. It was noted that the updated version of the Business Plan 2015-2019 including the aligned draft services plans and capital programme would continue to go to scrutiny. 

RESOLVED:

1.     That Cabinet notes the rolled forward MTFS for 2015– 2019.

2.     That Cabinet confirm the latest position with regards to savings already in the MTFS and agree the proposed amendments to savings set out in Appendix 6 and incorporated into the financial implications in the draft MTFS 2015-19.

3.     That Cabinet agrees the approach to setting a balanced budget and the basis for the setting of targets based on weighted controllable expenditure and capacity to generate income.

4.     That Cabinet agrees the proposed departmental targets to be met from savings and income

5.     That Cabinet agrees the timetable for the Business Plan 2015-19 including the revenue budget 2015/16, the MTFS 2015-19 and the Capital Programme for 2015-19.

6.     That Cabinet agrees the latest draft Capital Programme 2015-19 detailed in Appendix 5 for consideration by scrutiny in November and notes the indicative programme for 2020-24.

7.     That Cabinet note the process for the Service Plan 2015-19 and the progress made so far.