Decision details

To consider the month end budget report and make any recommendations as appropriate.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet noted the following:

1.         Forecast revenue budget outturn for 2017/18 is £6m overspend (Annex 1, paragraphs 1 and 7 to 42 of the submitted report). This included:
£9m savings to be identified,
£16m net savings considered unachievable in 2017/18,
£13m service demand and cost pressures
less
£32m net underspends, additional savings and income.

2.         Forecast planned savings for 2017/18 total £79m against £95m agreed savings and £104m target (Annex 1, paragraph 43 of the submitted report).

3.         All services continue to take all appropriate action to keep costs down and optimise income (e.g. minimising spending, managing vacancies wherever possible etc.).

4.         The Section 151 Officer’s commentary and the Monitoring Officer’s Legal Implications commentary in paragraphs 16 to 19 of the submitted report state that the council has a duty to ensure its expenditure does not exceed resources available and move towards a sustainable budget for future years.

The Cabinet approved the following:

5.         To transfer the Waste underspend, currently estimated at £1.8m, to the Waste Sinking Fund at financial year end to meet future costs (Annex 1, paragraph 26 of the submitted report).

6.         To transfer £3.9m to the Budget Equalisation Reserve in respect of additional Business Rates income (Annex 1, paragraph 38 of the submitted report).

7.         To draw down £0.9m to fund Place Development & Waste capital schemes (Annex 1, paragraph 58 of the submitted report).

8.         That the Leader of the Council write to the Secretary of State for Health and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to request fairer funding for public health and to seek assurance that business rate retention would not affect the Government grant funding.

Reasons for Decisions

This report is presented to comply with the agreed policy of providing a monthly budget monitoring report to Cabinet for approval and action as necessary.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Overview and Budget Scrutiny Committee]