Agenda item

Colleen Warren, Financial Services Manager:

 

·         Presented the first quarter’s performance up to 30 June 2019 on the Councils General Fund, Housing Revenue Account, Housing Repairs Service, Capital Programmes and provided a review of budget risk assessments.

 

·         Highlighted that the General Fund Summary was currently projecting a forecast over spend of £235,912. This forecast variance was the result of a number of forecast year-end variations in income and expenditure against the approved budget. The key variances were:

 

-       Housing Benefit Overpayment reduction - £368,000

-       HIMO reduced income - £93,260

-       Christmas market reduced income and additional expenditure - £77,470

-       Car Parking additional income net of additional expenditure – (£175,000)

-       Crematorium additional income – (£106,000)

 

·         Explained the additional contributions to earmarked reserves that had been identified as being required, subject to outturn. These being:

 

-       Western Growth Corridor – Local Planning Authority: Contribution of £150,000 – it was proposed that the planning application fee received for the Western Growth Corridor submission was transferred to a reserve and used for additional resourcing requirements in determining the application.

-       Active Nation – As part of the Active Nation agreement it was proposed that any underspends on maintenance and utilities would be put into an Earmarked Reserve to help fund any future major maintenance requirements.

 

·         Highlighted that the Housing Revenue Account was currently projecting an in-year underspend of £98,923, which would increase the General Balances to £1,133,102, at the end of 2019/20. The assessed prudent minimum balance for the HRA was currently £1,000,000. The level of forecast HRA balances would be monitored closely during the coming quarter and would be subject to a fundamental review as part of the MTFS 2018-23 process which was currently underway.

 

·         Highlighted the components of this underspend as detailed at paragraph 4.3 of her report.

 

·         Reported that at Quarter 1, the Housing Repairs Service (HRS) was forecasting a surplus of £287,268 in 2019/20.

 

·         Highlighted changes that required Executive approval for the first quarter in respect of the General Investment Programme as detailed at paragraph 7.4 of her report.

 

·         Detailed expenditure against the Housing Investment Programme (HIP) during the first quarter at £1.558m and a further £626.6k had been spent at the end of July at paragraph 7.13 of her report.

 

·         Invited members’ comments and questions.

 

Question: Members were unsure as to why there was a reduced income for HIMO’s and asked whether this was due to overestimating the amount of landlords that would register?

 

Response: When the HIMO regulations came in for two storey accommodation it was predicted that there were 900 properties which in reality all have not come forward by the deadline in Oct 18. All the income had been profiled for the first two years but each actual licence lasts for 5 years. There was a backlog of properties that had applied. The income would catch up in the next few years. There was a lot of work to do and any landlords that had not come forward would be looked for.

 

Question: Members asked what the Market Share for Building Control was?

 

Response: Independent Building Inspectors could operate but City of Lincoln Council still held 72% of the market which was quite high.

 

Question: Members asked for the total amount that had been put into the WGC budget and what the extra £150k would be used for?

 

Response: The additional £150k would be used to bring in specialist advice for  the planning authority to help evaluate the application.

 

Question: Members asked if there was still cash available for the Flood Alleviation Scheme at Hartsholme Lake as they believed this had been completed previously?

 

Response: There was money in the Capital Fund that was left over from the grant. This money wasn’t sufficient to cover the costs of the works. Other grants would be pursued to help bring in funding to continue with the works. The grant was ring-fenced and could only be spent on flood alleviation works.

 

Question: Members asked why the play area works were unplanned as the surface had been changed 3 or 4 times already?

 

Response: The play area works were unplanned as the work that needed to be done was under the insurance claim limit, therefore the cost had to be funded by ourselves. The surface had been tested and determined that it needed replacement to improve its shock absorbency.

 

Question: Members asked why Universal Credit was seen as a negative as this was working well?

 

Response: This was due to claimants moving to Universal Credit and coming off housing benefit. This meant that less government subsidy was being collected for housing benefit overpayments. This also meant that there would be housing benefit legacy overpayments which was hard to link to Universal Credit.

 

Question: Members asked how HIMO properties that were not registered or had not made a planning application would be found and if there was a contact number that could be given to the public if they suspected a property was in multiple occupation?

 

Response: Records would be checked against council tax and we would encourage the students of the universities to report non registered properties they were living in. Once a property was licensed this must be displayed.

 

Question: Members asked whether an additional tier of licensing could be used?

 

Response: Officers were to look into this as it could potentially bring in more income.

 

Question: Members asked whether customers that asked us for advice with Universal Credit would be referred to The Citizens Advice Bureau?

 

Response: Our team were still in situ and would help customers where they could as this service was not provided by The Citizens Advice Bureau. Our team would help as much as they could as this could potentially affect such things as our housing tenants and income from this. Martin Walmsley was carrying out a review which was due to be completed hopefully by the end of November.

 

Question: Members asked why the roof was being repaired at Birchwood Leisure Centre after millions had already been spent on the building?

 

Response: When the work had previously been scoped the roof was watertight but was now leaking. The cost of this repair was higher than anticipated.  The roof leaking was not affecting the operational side of the leisure centre.

 

Question: Members asked for more information regarding the extra funding for Park and Ride.

 

Response: This was an annual payment to Lincoln BIG which was originally for 2 years and had been extended for another year.

 

Question: Members asked what was included in the £50k overspend on equipment for car parks?

 

Response:  When the Central Car Park was built the cleaning of the building was not factored in along with new style of payment machines

 

Question: Members asked what the best outturn of income received had been since providing car parking?

 

Response: This had been looked at. Figures only went as far back as 2005 but it was really hard to get a figure as car parks had always been moved or been closed for repairs etc. Income was growing year on year.

 

Question: Members asked why there were two rows for paralegals, what the extra funding related to and why this had to be bought in?

 

Response: There were two rows of funding as this came from two different reserves. Colleen Warren was to look into why these paralegals were brought in.

 

RESOLVED that:

-       The progress on the financial performance for the period 1^st April to 30^th June 2019 and the projected outturns for 2019/20 be noted

-       The underlying impact of the pressures and underspends identified in paragraphs 3.2, 4.3 and 5.2 be noted.

-       The changes to the General Investment Programme and Housing Investment Programme as detailed in paragraphs 7.4 and 7.13 be noted.

-       The proposed contributions to and from reserves be noted.