Agenda item

This report provides an update on carry forward issues that were deferred by the Executive at its meeting on 30th June 2008 and provides Members with information on the levels of the Council’s reserves over the next three years including the underspend from 2007/08 in order to consider if any of these reserves should be used for specific purposes in 2008/09.

Note:  The above report was published with this agenda on Monday, 21 July 2008.

[See also under Part B Minutes]

RESOLVED: (i)         That authority be delegated to the Chief Executive to approve the payment of £22k compensation to the Guildhall Orchestra, subject to the receipt of relevant supporting documentation from the Orchestra - that is, a breakdown of the concert income and costs data shown on the first sheet of the supplementary information circulated at the meeting, together with an explanation of the cost increases shown.

                        (ii)        That the payment of £2k compensation to other users of the Barbican, as highlighted in Annex 1 to the report, be approved.

REASON:      To ensure the fair payment of compensation for losses incurred as a result of the closure of the Barbican.

                        (iii)       That £18.8k be released from the 2008/09 contingency to fund the four schemes proposed to commence through the IT Development Plan and that the ongoing costs of £47.9k per annum be funded through the IT Development Plan from 2009/10 onwards, subject to a business case for the QPR/PMS system and home care monitoring system coming back to the Executive to detail the cost savings which will be generated from the investment.

REASON:      In accordance with the recommendation of the Corporate IT Strategy Group following consideration of the updated business cases for these schemes.

[See also under Part B Minutes]

Members considered a report which provided an update on the carry-forward issues deferred by the Executive on 30 June 2008, together with information on the level of the Council’s reserves over the next three years.  A decision was sought as to whether any of these reserves should be used for specific purposes in 2008/09.

The Executive had requested further information on the following carry-forward proposals:

• Unexpected social care costs of £275k - further work was on-going in this area and a report would be brought back in September.
• Compensation payment requests to the Guildhall Orchestra and two other users of the Barbican – further information was set out in Annex 1 to the report.
• £38k set aside in contingency for 2008/09 to include further schemes in the IT Development Plan that were on a reserve list – summaries of the updated business cases for these bids were presented in Annex 2.

A forecast position on the level of the Council’s reserves for the current financial year through to 2010/11 was attached at Annex 3 to the report.  This indicated a decline in the ‘headroom’ figure above the minimum level of reserves in each successive year, falling from £9,845k in the current year to £1,937k by the end of 2010/11.  The report advised that it would not be prudent to organise a separate allocation process to spend a one-off amount of reserves at this early stage in the year.  However, the Executive’s approval was sought in principle to create a separate fund for ‘invest to save’ schemes that would contribute to meeting the Council’s efficiency target. This would enable high levels of reserves to be used early in the period, on the basis that they were repaid from efficiencies made as levels of reserves began to fall.

Further information relating to the finances of the Guildhall Orchestra was circulated at the meeting.  [This has been made available on-line as an additional annex to the report on this item].

Having noted the advice of the Shadow Executive on this item, it was

RESOLVED: (i)         That authority be delegated to the Chief Executive to approve the payment of £22k compensation to the Guildhall Orchestra, subject to the receipt of relevant supporting documentation from the Orchestra - that is, a breakdown of the concert income and costs data shown on the first sheet of the supplementary information circulated at the meeting, together with an explanation of the cost increases shown.¹

                        (ii)        That the payment of £2k compensation to other users of the Barbican, as highlighted in Annex 1 to the report, be approved. ²

REASON:      To ensure the fair payment of compensation for losses incurred as a result of the closure of the Barbican.

                        (iii)       That £18.8k be released from the 2008/09 contingency to fund the four schemes proposed to commence through the IT Development Plan and that the ongoing costs of £47.9k per annum be funded through the IT Development Plan from 2009/10 onwards, subject to a business case for the QPR/PMS system and home care monitoring system coming back to the Executive to detail the cost savings which will be generated from the investment. ³

REASON:      In accordance with the recommendation of the Corporate IT Strategy Group following consideration of the updated business cases for these schemes.