The Cabinet considered a report of the Strategic Director (Finance and Resources) presenting the Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring report for the period ending 31^st January 2019.

Resolved:

That, in respect of the 2018/19 Revenue Budget Monitoring as set out in Appendix 1 to the submitted report:

1. That the forecast £1,631,000 net surplus for the General Fund and the forecast £119,000 net surplus for the Housing Revenue Account, as at January 2019, be noted.

2. That the planned management actions of £721,000 to achieve that forecast outturn, be noted.

3. That the planned budget transfers (virements) of £377,000, be approved.

4. That the transfer of £300,000 to the Public Health Reserve as a result of unspent ring fenced grant, be approved.

5. That the transfer of £200,000 from the Interest Equalisation Reserve to mitigate against the impact of a change in Government regulations, be approved.

6. That the transfer of £65,000 from the Supporting People Reserve to mitigate the temporary non-delivery of a budget saving, be approved.

7. That the transfer of £790,000 from the Grants Reserve to release surplus funds within the Reserve, be approved.

8. That, as a result of the forecast net surplus, the following one-off investments totalling £480,000 be approved:

·         £100,000 to support secondary schools;

·         £130,000 additional support for children and vulnerable adults subject to gang exploitation;

·         £100,000 for a deep clean of the High Street;

·         £100,000 for Place branding, marketing and signage costs;

·         £50,000 for additional parking enforcement provision.

9. That the potential transfer of £1,151,000 to the Business Transformation Reserve in respect of the residual forecast General Fund net surplus, be noted.

10. That the potential transfer of £119,000 to the HRA Capital Investment Reserve in respect of the forecast HRA net surplus, be noted.

In respect of the 2018/19 Capital Budget Monitoring as set out in Appendix 2 to the report:

11. That the expenditure to date and the forecast outturn as at January 2019 and its financing, be noted.

12. That the requested changes to the 2018/19 capital investment programme as set out in Section 2 of Appendix 2 of the report, be approved.

Reasons for decision:

The regular reporting of Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring information provides detailed financial information to members, senior officers and other interested parties on the financial performance of the Council.  It sets out the key variances being reported by budget holders and the management action being implemented to address the identified issues.

Other options:

The Council could choose to monitor its budgetary performance against an alternative timeframe but it is considered that the reporting schedule provides the appropriate balance to allow strategic oversight of the budget by Councillors and to manage the Council’s exposure to financial risk.  More frequent monitoring is undertaken by officers and considered by individual service Directors and the Council’s Corporate Management Team (CMT) including approval of management action.

Note: This is an Executive Function

Eligible for call-in to: All three Scrutiny Committees

Cabinet Member: Cllr Lamb