Issue - meetings

1.    That the forecast revenue budget for 2014/15 to underspend by £1.5m, as set out in paragraph 1 of the submitted report, be noted.

2.     That the forecast ongoing efficiencies and service reductions achieved by year end is £71.9m, as set out in paragraph 57 of the submitted report, be noted.

3.     That  the budget for Cultural Services be moved from Customers and Communities into the Chief Executive's Office to align management responsibilities with organisational structures.

4.     That a Virement of £0.8m from the Central HR Training Budget to most services that have service specific training budget allocations for 2014/15 be agreed.

Reasons for Decisions:

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 Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee]

The Leader of the Council presented the first budget monitoring report for the new financial year 2014/15, which saw the Council continue to face demand growth and funding reductions as austerity continues. He referred to the Council’s financial strategy of four key drivers which ensured sound governance in managing finances and providing value for money:

1. Keeping any additional call on the council taxpayer to a minimum

·      That the forecast end of year revenue position was for a small underspend of £1.5m and this year, it was important to remember that the risk contingency had been reduced to £5m and will be removed altogether next year.

·      Though it was early in the year, he believed that this would be the fifth consecutive year the Council had a small underspend or a balanced budget, demonstrating Cabinet’s strong commitment to tight financial management, backed up the actions of managers across the Council.

·      The Council’s multi-year approach to financial management aimed to smooth resource fluctuations over five years. As part of this to support 2014/15, Cabinet approved the use of £20.1m from the Budget Equalisation Reserve, plus £5.8m from other reserves and £5.5m revenue carry forward from 2013/14 for committed expenditure.

2. Continuously drive the efficiency agenda

·      At the end of May, services forecast delivering efficiencies of £72m and of the £72m, £35m had either already been achieved or was on track, £31m has some issues and £6m is considered to be at risk.

3. Develop a funding strategy to reduce the Council’s reliance on council tax and government grant income.

·      That reducing reliance on government grants and council tax was key to balancing the budgets over the longer term and the Revolving Infrastructure and Investment Fund had already invested nearly £4m this year.

4. Continue to maximise our investment in Surrey         

·      The Council’s capital programme not only improved and maintained service delivery, it was also a way of investing in Surrey and generating income for the council. The capital programme plans £760m investment for 2014-19, including £164m in 2014/15.

Finally, he drew Cabinet’s attention to a typo in the Appendix – Revolving Infrastructure and Investment Fund, Table 12 – the full year forecast, net income before funding, should be -3.2m and not -0.7m.

Other Cabinet Members were invited to highlight the key points and issues from their portfolios, as set out in the Annex to the report.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the forecast revenue budget for 2014/15 to underspend by £1.5m, as set out in paragraph 1 of the submitted report, be noted.

2.    That the forecast ongoing efficiencies and service reductions achieved by year end is £71.9m, as set out in paragraph 57 of the submitted report, be noted.

3.    That  the budget for Cultural Services be moved from Customers and Communities into the Chief Executive's Office to align management responsibilities with organisational structures.

4.    That a Virement of £0.8m from the Central HR Training Budget to most services that had service specific training budget allocations for 2014/15 be agreed.

Reasons for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 128