Agenda item

That the report be noted, including the following:

1.         That the council forecasts a £2.8m overall revenue budget underspend at year end, which includes use of £6.9m central government grant plus £0.8m unplanned underspend to offset pressures in Adult Social Care, as set out in the Annex, paragraph 1 of the submitted report.

2.         That services forecast to achieve £63.1m efficiencies and service reductions by year end, as set out in the Annex, paragraph 36 of the submitted report.

3.         That the total forecast capital expenditure for 2015/16, including long term investments, is £231.2m, as set out in the Annex, paragraph 47 of the submitted report.

4.       That services’ management actions to mitigate overspends were set out throughout 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 decisions on this item can be called in by the Council Overview Board]

The Leader of the Council presented the budget monitoring report for the eighth month of the 2015/16 financial year, covering the period up to 30 November 2015. He said that the County Council faced ever more intense pressures and hard choices as service demand grew and funding declined, and gave the following example, where last month grant reductions by the Department of Health meant that Cabinet had to approve £2.2m of in year loss of funding from Public Health spending and that these cuts, inevitably would mean some front line service reductions.

He confirmed, as stated at each Cabinet meeting that, the Council’s financial strategy had four key drivers to ensure sound governance in managing finances and providing value for money for Surrey residents.

These were:

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

The current forecast end of year revenue position was for an underspend of £2.8m and he was confident that Cabinet’s support for managers’ actions would make this the sixth consecutive year that the Council would have a small underspend or balanced outturn across the Council. He said that the Council’s multi-year approach to financial management aimed to smooth resource fluctuations over five years and managing budgets and overall resources to achieve a small underspend was important for giving some headroom and flexibility for managing future spending plans.

He drew attention to Adult Social Care’s forecast balanced out turn which included £7.7m one off support, which if left unchecked, would add to future years’ pressures.

2. To continuously drive the efficiency agenda

That, at the end of November, services forecast delivering £63.1m efficiencies.

Of this, £33m had either already been implemented or were on track, £8m had some issues, £19m were additional in-year or one off savings and £3m was considered to be at risk. He said that it was important that each Cabinet Member worked with their Strategic Director to achieve all efficiency savings.

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 that the Revolving Infrastructure & Investment Fund forecast investing another £66m this year.

4. To continue to maximise our investment in Surrey    

He said that the Council’s £696m capital programme for 2015-20, not only improved and maintained Council services, it was also a way of investing in Surrey and generating income for the Council, with forecast capital programme of £231m investment in 2015/16.

Finally, he thanked the S151 officer and her team for producing this Finance and Budget Monitoring Report a week earlier than normal.

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.         That the council forecasts a £2.8m overall revenue budget underspend at year end, which includes use of £6.9m central government grant plus £0.8m unplanned underspend to offset pressures in Adult Social Care, as set out in the Annex, paragraph 1 of the submitted report.

2.         That services forecast to achieve £63.1m efficiencies and service reductions by year end, as set out in the Annex, paragraph 36 of the submitted report.

3.         That the total forecast capital expenditure for 2015/16, including long term investments, is £231.2m, as set out in the Annex, paragraph 47 of the submitted report.

4.       That services’ management actions to mitigate overspends were set out throughout 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.