Agenda item

That the report be noted, including the following:

1.       the council’s forecast revenue position for 2015/16 is to overspend by £1.8m, as set out in Annex 1, paragraph 1 of the submitted report.

2.       the council’s forecast achievement of efficiencies for 2015/16 is £66.5m, as set out in Annex 1, paragraph 25 of the submitted report.

3.       the council’s forecast capital expenditure for 2015/16, including long term investments, is £189.1m, as set out in Annex 1, paragraphs 33 and 34 of the submitted report.

4.       services’ management actions to mitigate any significant overspends, as set out in Annex 1 of the submitted report be noted.

That the following virements be approved:

·         £1.0m revenue virement from the Economic Prosperity budget to budgets across Environment & Infrastructure Directorate to enable preparatory work on Local Growth Deal schemes to continue, as detailed in Annex 1, paragraph 14 of the submitted report.

·         £0.7m revenue virement from the Central HR Training Budget to most services to allocate service specific training budgets for 2015/16, as detailed in Annex 1, paragraph 15 of the submitted report.

·         £0.75m capital virement from highway maintenance to additional flooding and drainage and embankment works, as detailed in Annex 1, paragraph 35 of the submitted report.

·         £22.3m capital virement to reprofile of 2015/16 capital spending into future years, while maintaining the council’s overall investment over the five year programme, as detailed in Annex 1, paragraph 36 of the submitted report.

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 decision on this can be called in by the Council Overview Board]

The Leader of the Council presented the first budget monitoring report for the new financial year 2015/16 and said that the Council continued to face hard choices as demand grew and funding reductions continued.

He highlighted the following key changes to the report.

·      It was shorter, with comments focusing on matters that were significant at county council level.

·      Table 1 set out the current budget, including funding and spending changes for carry forwards and adjustments for other movements. The impact of these changes on the overall net budget was that the County Council would still draw £3.7m this year from the Budget Equalisation Reserve.

·      Reporting showed performance for each service.

As he has said before, the Council’s financial strategy had four key drivers to ensure sound governance to manage the finances and provide value for money.

These were:

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

Currently the forecast for the end of year revenue position was for an overspend of £1.8m. However, although it was early in the year, he considered that, provided the Council received its budgeted funding, he was confident that the Cabinet’s strong commitment to tight financial management, backed up by the actions of managers across the Council would make this the sixth consecutive year that the Council would have a small underspend or a balanced budget.

2.  Continuously drive the efficiency agenda

That, at the end of May, services forecast delivering efficiencies of nearly £67m - of this, over £20m had either already been implemented or was on track, £29m had some issues, £17m was additional in-year or one-off savings and less than £0.5m was considered to be at risk.

3.  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 Council’s budgets over the longer term and the Revolving Infrastructure and Investment Fund had invested nearly £8m this year and forecast investing another £10m by the year end.

4.  To continue to maximise investment in Surrey          

Finally, he said that the Council’s capital programme not only improved and maintained the Council’s services and it was also a way of investing in Surrey and generating income for the council.

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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:

That the report be noted, including the following:

1.       the council’s forecast revenue position for 2015/16 is to overspend by £1.8m, as set out in Annex 1, paragraph 1 of the submitted report.

2.       the council’s forecast achievement of efficiencies for 2015/16 is £66.5m, as set out in Annex 1, paragraph 25 of the submitted report.

3.       the council’s forecast capital expenditure for 2015/16, including long term investments, is £189.1m, as set out in Annex 1, paragraphs 33 and 34 of the submitted report.

4.       services’ management actions to mitigate any significant overspends, as set out in Annex 1 of the submitted report be noted.

That the following virements be approved:

·         £1.0m revenue virement from the Economic Prosperity budget to budgets across Environment & Infrastructure Directorate to enable preparatory work on Local Growth Deal schemes to continue, as detailed in Annex 1, paragraph 14 of the submitted report.

·         £0.7m revenue virement from the Central HR Training Budget to most services to allocate service specific training budgets for 2015/16, as detailed in Annex 1, paragraph 15 of the submitted report.

·         £0.75m capital virement from highway maintenance to additional flooding and drainage and embankment works, as detailed in Annex 1, paragraph 35 of the submitted report.

·         £22.3m capital virement to reprofile of 2015/16 capital spending into future years, while maintaining the council’s overall investment over the five year programme, as detailed in Annex 1, paragraph 36 of the submitted report.

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.