Agenda item

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 back to the committee.

RESOLVED that:

1.              The financial performance for the period 1^st April to 31st December 2022, and the projected outturns for 2022/23 be noted.

2.              The underlying impact of the pressures and underspends identified in paragraphs 3.3 (and Appendix B), 4.3 (and Appendix D), and 5.2 (and Appendix F) be noted.

3.              The General Fund carry forward request as detailed in paragraph 3.12, be noted prior to reporting to the Executive.

4.              The changes to the General Investment Programme and Housing Investment Programme as approved by the Chief Finance Officer as detailed in paragraphs 7.4 and 7.11 be noted.

5.              The changes to the General Investment programme and the Housing Investment programme to be approved by the Executive as detailed in paragraphs 7.3, 7.9 and 7.10 be noted.