Issue - meetings

Colleen Warren, Financial Services Manager:

a)    presented a report to Performance Scrutiny Committee with a summary of actual income and expenditure for the Council compared to the revised budget, and how any surpluses had been allocated to reserves

b)    provided information on the Council’s:

·         General Fund Revenue Account – for 2022/23 the Council’s net General Fund Revenue Budget was set at £8,907,490, including a planned contribution from balances of £60,700, resulting in an estimated level of general balances at the year-end of £2,262,761 (after allowing for the 2021/22 outturn position). The General Fund Summary was currently projecting a forecast overspend of £39,548 (Appendix A provided a forecast General Fund Summary). There were a significant number of forecast year-end variations in income and expenditure against the approved budget. Full details of the main variances were provided in Appendix B.

·         Housing Revenue Account – The Housing Revenue Account was currently projecting a forecast underspend of £961.00 which could increase the general balances to £1,064,833 (Appendix C provided a forecast Housing Revenue Account Summary). There were a number of forecast year-end variations in income and expenditure against the approved budget. Full details of the main variances were provided in Appendix D.

·         Housing Repairs Service – at Quarter 3 the Housing Repairs Service was forecasting a deficit of £420,284 in 2022/23. Appendix E provided a forecast HRS summary, with full details of the main variances provided in Appendix F.

c)    provided information in the following areas:

·         General Investment Programme – the revised General Investment Programme for 2022/23 amounted to £30.156m following the quarter 2 report. At Quarter 3 the programme had been decreased by £21.296m to £17.860m as shown at paragraph 7.2.

The overall spending on the General Investment Programme for the third quarter of 2022/23 was £5.9m which was 39.8% of the 2022/23 active programme (excluding externally delivered schemes).

·         Housing Investment Programme (HIP) – the Housing Investment Programme for 2022/23 in the MTFS 2022–2023 amounted to £22.133m following the Quarter 2 report. At Quarter 3, the programme had been decreased by £1.634m to £20.499m.

d)    advised the committee that due to unforeseen circumstances out of their control, the current fleet provider no longer wished to lease the HRS vehicles and had requested either to surrender the vehicles back to them or purchase the vehicles from them by 6^th March 2023. At this point the actual cost for purchasing the vehicles was unknown and dependent upon the vehicle valuations and the rationalisation of the fleet to keep the impact to a minimum. An estimate of £500k was therefore proposed for inclusion in the HIP and would be adjusted through the appropriate approval limits once the actual purchase price was confirmed.

e)    invited members’ comments and questions.

Members discussed the content of the report in further detail, asked questions and received relevant responses from officer’s as follows:

·         Question: Was it possible to have a breakdown of the overspend for Quarter 3?

·         Response: Officers advised they would collate this information and feed it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63

Colleen Warren, Financial Services Manager:

a)    presented a report to Performance Scrutiny Committee with a summary of actual income and expenditure for the Council, compared to the revised budget and how any surpluses had been allocated to reserves

b)    provided information on the Council’s:

·         General Fund Revenue Account – for 2022/23 the Council’s net General Fund Revenue Budget was set at £8,907,490, including a planned contribution from balances of £60,700, resulting in an estimated level of general balances at the year-end of £2,262,761 (after allowing for the 2021/22 outturn position). The General Fund Summary was currently projecting a forecast overspend of £912,511 (Appendix A provided a forecast General Fund Summary). There were a significant number of forecast year-end variations in income and expenditure against the approved budget. Full details of the main variances were provided in Appendix B.

·         Housing Revenue Account – The Housing Revenue Account was projecting a forecast overspend of £173,049 (Appendix C provided a forecast Housing Revenue Account Summary). There were a number of forecast year-end variations in income and expenditure against the approved budget. Full details of the main variances were provided in Appendix D.

·         Housing Repairs Service – at quarter 2 the Housing Repairs Service was forecasting a deficit of £573,908 in 2022/23. Appendix E provided a forecast summary, with full details of the main variances provided in Appendix F.

c)    provided information in the following areas:

·         General Investment Programme – the revised General Investment Programme for 2022/23 amounted to £32.342m following the quarter 1 report. At quarter 2 the programme had been reduced by £2.186m to £30.156m as shown at paragraph 7.2.

The overall spending on the General Investment Programme for the second quarter of 2022/23 was £2.2m which was 8.8% pf the 2022/23 active programme (excluding externally delivered schemes).

·         Housing Investment Programme – the Housing Investment Programme for 2022/23 in the MTFS 2022 – 2027 amounted to £21.72m. This was increased to £23.17m following approvals and year end re-profiles as part of the 2021/22 outturn. The Overall expenditure on the Housing Investment Programme for the second quarter of 2022/23 was £3.835m, which was 17% of the 2022/23 revised programme.

d)    invited members’ comments and questions.

Members discussed the content of the report in further detail, asked questions and received relevant responses from officer’s as follows:

·         Question: What was the impact of the Chancellor’s announcements today on the Council’s finances?

·         Response: There had been an increase announced on business rate relief from 50% to 75%. The referendum cap had been lifted to allow council taxes to be raised by 4.99 per cent. The business rate threshold was to stay the same. Housing rents were capped at 7%. Most of the impact would fall on the individual member of public

·         Question: Why was there a reduced income of £30,090 from garden waste?

·         Response: This was due to a decrease in take up of the scheme due to the current cost of living crisis.

·         Question: There was a significant anticipated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39