Agenda item

Purpose:  To report on the quarter one revenue financial performance.

Resolved to note the report.

This decision is not subject to call in as:

·      Report is to note only

therefore it will be implemented immediately.

(Councillor Lee Dillon joined the meeting at 5.20pm).

The Executive considered a report (Agenda Item 6) which outlined the Quarter One revenue financial performance. Councillor Jeff Cant presented the report. He commented that officers were very adept at managing the Council’s budget in the face of many constraints.

The Quarter One forecast was an overspend of £620k, of which £210k was provided for in service risk reserves and risk management provision. If this was used then the forecast would reduce to a £410k overspend. This was 0.3% of the Council’s 2019/20 net revenue budget of £125m. Councillor Cant reported that this was a small variance. Spend against the budget would be carefully tracked throughout the year.

Councillor Cant also commented that announcements in relation to additional government funding for local government, in particular education, would hopefully assist the Council with its finances moving forward.

In response to the above point, Councillor Lee Dillon agreed that an increase in funding would be welcomed. However, he added that local government had been subjected to significant cuts since 2010 and the cumulative impact of this needed to be reflected upon alongside considering how much of the additional funding could actually be considered as an increase. Local government needed to be properly funded.

Councillor Cant agreed that local government funding needed to be at the right level, in particular for schools and care for the elderly.

Councillor Alan Macro referred to the savings and income generation programme, in particular the ‘red’ income target of £39k for the increase in summons (court) costs recovery of council tax debt. He noted that a report had yet to be written on this matter and queried if this delay was the reason why this target was reporting ‘red’. Councillor Cant agreed to provide a response in writing once he had consulted the Section 151 Officer.

RESOLVED to note the report.

Other options considered: None.