Agenda item

Jaclyn Gibson, Chief Finance Officer:

a)    presented a report to Performance Scrutiny Committee on the third quarter’s performance (up to 31 December 2020)

b)    provided information on the Council’s:

·         General Fund Revenue Account –The General Fund Summary was currently projecting a forecast underspend of £122,723 (as shown in Appendix A), resulting in general balance at the year-end of £2,645,911 (subject to any final contributions to earmarked reserves). There were a significant number of forecast year-end variations in income and expenditure against the approved budget, primarily as a result of Covid-19 along with variances arising from measures taken to address the budget pressures and the financial support provided by Government, Full details of the main variances were provided in Appendix B.

The most significant impact of Covid-19 had been on the Council’s income streams with monthly income levels plummeting across a range of discretionary services as well as through investments and rental streams, as a result of the shutdown of the economy and its likely phased path to recovery. The most significant of income losses had been:

-       Car Parking

-       Development Management, Land Charges and Building Control

-       Leisure, Recreation and Tourism

-       Christmas Market

-       Commercial Rents

-       Treasury Management

-       Court Cost Charges

-       Other Income Areas

·         Housing Revenue Account – the HRA was projecting an in-year variance of a £772,391 underspend, which would increase the general balances to £1,693,462 at the end of 2020/21. Although the forecast position was an underspend there were a number of forecast year-end variations in income and expenditure as a result of Covid19 along with variances arising from measures taken to address the budget pressures. Full details of the main variances were provided in Appendix D.

Significant pressures facing the HRA related to its income streams, primarily its housing rent income, as follows:

-       Housing Rents

-       Housing Voids

-       Treasury Management

-       Court Cost Charges

·         Housing Repairs Service – the HRS was forecasting a surplus of £204,670 in 2020/21. Appendix E provided a forecast summary, with full details of the main variances provided in Appendix F.

c)    provided information on:

·         General Investment Programme – the original General Investment Programme for 2020/21 in the MTFS 2020-25 amounted to £15.6m. This was increased to £16.4m following quarter 4 approvals and year end re-profiles from 2019/20. At quarter 2 the programme was reduced to £11,1m and at quarter 3 the programme had been reduced by a further £5,987m to £5,117m as shown at paragraph 7.2.

The overall spending on the General Investment Programme for the first three quarters of 2020/21 was £0.885m, which was 17.5% of the 2020/21 programme and 17% of the active programme. This was detailed further at Appendix J.

·         Housing Investment Programme – the original Housing Investment Programme for 2020/21 in the MTFS 2020-25 amounted to £25.640m. This was increased to £28.505m following approvals and year end re-profiles as part of the 2019/20 outturn. As at quarter 2 the budget was revised to £22.3m and had been further adjusted by £2.6m to £19.7m at Quarter 3. A summary of the changes were shown in paragraph 7.9.

d)    invited members’ comments and questions.

Question: Members asked whether the £20k that was in the HRA reserves for re-wiring was for new consumer units?

Response: This money was not specifically ring-fenced for this reason but if the consumer unit needed replacing then it would be used for this purpose.

Question: Members asked what the costs were for security at the Christmas Market 2021?

Response: The costs had remained the same or had risen slightly with inflation.

Question: Members asked whether the work on Greyfriars would only take place if funding was secured?

Response: Yes, this would only go ahead if funding was obtained.

Question: Members asked when the Car Park Strategy would commence?

Response: This would depend on what the easing of lockdown road-mapping looked like when it was released by the Prime Minister in the coming weeks. Pricing strategies were being looked at to entice people to the city centre once this was safe to do so.

Question: Members asked for clarification on the money that had been kept for Active Nation as a bond.

Response: Active Nation should have a bond that they would pay to us if they were to go into administration. Currently they could not aquire a bond due to the pandemic so in the first lockdown they were awarded an £83,000 business grant which was kept in lieu just incase the worse was to happen. The bond should be around £200k.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.