Issue - meetings

(1)     That the revenue budget to the end of June 2014 and the forecast outturn for 2014/15, as set out in the submitted report, be noted.

(2)     That the forecast ongoing efficiencies and service reductions achieved by year end, as set out in the submitted report, be noted.

(3)     That the capital budget position to the end of June 2014 and the forecast expenditure for 2014/15, as set out in the submitted report, be noted.

(4)     That the first quarter balance sheet, reserves, debt and treasury management report, including debt written off under the Director of Finance’s delegated authority, be noted.

(5)     That the Chief Executive’s and Director of Finance’s assessment of the council’s efficiency savings programme be noted.

(6)     That the request from Environment and Infrastructure for £0.3m additional funding, to cover planning and development work on the schools expansion programme, be approved.

(7)     That the re-profiling of the council’s capital programme for the years 2014 to 2019, as set out in the submitted report, be agreed.

(8)      That use of £1.8m revenue and £1.2m of capital developer contributions to fund the costs of response and recovery from the severe weather and flooding be approved.

(9)       That use of £10m of the current capital budget to fund the capital costs incurred in 2014/15 be approved.

(10)    That Highways realigns the revenue budget to respond to service pressures including flood repairs.

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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. Additionally, there is an up-date on the wider Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP 2014-19), in terms of the implications for savings delivery and the severe weather on the councils revenue and capital budgets. This up-date was requested when the MTFP was agreed in March 2014.

The Cabinet approved the carry forward of capital budget from 2013/14 at its meeting in May 2014. Since the setting of the capital budget, the schools basic need and property programmes have been reassessed. The recommendation of this report is to re-profile the council’s capital programme to ensure that its objectives are delivered and value for money is achieved.

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

The Leader of the Council presented the first quarter’s budget monitoring report for 2014/15, including recommendations for reprofiling the capital programme and the Council’s response to the severe winter weather. He said that the Council continued to face demand growth and funding reductions as austerity continued. As stated at previous Cabinet meetings, he referred to the Council’s financial strategy which had four key drivers to ensure sound governance in managing finances and providing value for money.

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

·      That the end of year forecast was for a balanced revenue position.

·      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.

·      This year it was important to remember that the Council’s risk contingency had been reduced to £5m and will be removed altogether next year. The reducing risk contingency required all Members and officers to focus on delivering the savings targets.

·      The Chief Executive and Director of Finance outlined progress with the support sessions they have held to ensure the robustness of services’ efficiency savings plans.

2. Continuously drive the efficiency agenda

·      At the end of June, services forecast delivering efficiencies of £71m and of the £71m, over half has either already been achieved or is on track, a third has some issues and less than £10m 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 £5m this year.

4. Continue to maximise our investment in Surrey         

·      The council’s capital programme not only improved and maintained our service delivery, it was also a way of investing in Surrey and generating income for the council. The reprofiled capital programme plans £780m investment for 2014-19, including £195m in 2014/15. The current forecast is to overspend by nearly £7m, including long term investments.

Finally, he drew Cabinet attention to:

(i)         a typo on page 3, Annex 1, paragraph 3, third bullet point:

The Environment and Infrastructure end of June variance was correct at £1.6m but the reason was due to the timing of the waste sinking fund payment and not flooding as shown in the report.

(ii)        paragraph 27, Annex 1 which said:

‘Following robust negotiations Public Health (PH) has now had agreement to invoice the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) for the £3.3 million genitourinary medicine (GUM) funding which was misallocated from the government grant. Work was now underway to ensure that the GUM funding is in the base budget for 2015/16.’

Other Cabinet Members were invited to highlight the key points and issues from their portfolios, as set out in the Annex to the report.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 153