Issue - meetings

The Director of Customer & Corporate Services to present a report which provides a year end analysis of the council’s overall finance and performance position for the 2018/19 financial year, including progress on delivering savings.

Resolved:  (i)      That the year end underspend of £153k and the unused contingency of £648k be noted.

                   (ii)      That approval be given to transfer the overall underspend of £801k to the 2019/20 contingency, pending consideration by the new Executive of budget amendment proposals to Council in July 2019.

                   (iii)     That the proposals for the Housing Revenue Account balance outlined in paragraphs 42 and 43 of the report be approved.

                   (iv)    That the financial risks outlined in the report, and the need to continue to maintain a prudent contingency and reserves that are reflective of these risks, be noted.

                   (v)     That the continued effective financial management across the Council, and the ongoing delivery of savings, be noted.

                   (vi)    That the performance information set out in paragraph 52 of the report onwards be noted.

Reason:     To ensure that significant financial issues can be appropriately dealt with.

The Director of Customer & Corporate Services presented a report which provided an analysis of the council’s overall finance and performance position at the end of the 2018/19 financial year, including progress on delivering savings.

A provisional net underspend of £153k was reported on the net General Fund budget of £121.9m for 2018/19.  This maintained the council’s overall financial health and provided a strong platform from which to meet the challenges ahead. Good progress had also been made on achieving savings during the year, with delays in some areas generally being mitigated by savings in others.  Table 1, in paragraph 5 of the report, gave an overview of the out-turn; key variations within directorates, the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and corporate budgets were detailed in paragraphs 8 to 47.  Since the unallocated contingency of £648k was no longer needed to support general budget pressures as reported in Monitor 3, it was proposed that this be added to the 2019/20 contingency.

The performance update, in paragraphs 52 to 134 of the report, was based on the core indicators built around the priorities in the 2015-19 Council Plan.  Of the strategic indicators reporting new annual data, 6 had shown improvements while 2 showed a poor direction of travel.  The next quarterly update would be based on a new Council Plan for 2019-23.

Resolved:  (i)      That the year end underspend of £153k and the unused contingency of £648k be noted.

                   (ii)      That approval be given to transfer the overall underspend of £801k to the 2019/20 contingency, pending consideration by the new Executive of budget amendment proposals to Council in July 2019.

                   (iii)     That the proposals for the Housing Revenue Account balance outlined in paragraphs 42 and 43 of the report be approved.

                   (iv)    That the financial risks outlined in the report, and the need to continue to maintain a prudent contingency and reserves that are reflective of these risks, be noted.

                   (v)     That the continued effective financial management across the Council, and the ongoing delivery of savings, be noted.

                   (vi)    That the performance information set out in paragraph 52 of the report onwards be noted.

Reason:     To ensure that significant financial issues can be appropriately dealt with.