Agenda item

This report provides details of the headline performance issues from the latest performance monitor session, presents the latest projection of the Council’s revenue income and expenditure for the current year and seeks Executive approval for budget virements and requests for contingency funding.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the performance issues identified in the report be noted and that the Executive place on record its thanks to Directors and staff for their contribution towards the continued improvement in public service standards in the City.

REASON:      To enable corrective action to be taken on these performance issues, whilst acknowledging the progress made overall.

                        (ii)        That the supplementary estimate request of £200k from the contingency fund for City Strategy bus pass costs, as set out in paragraph 49 of the report, be approved.

REASON:      In accordance with the Executive’s Constitutional powers to make decisions on this level and grant supplementary estimates.

                        (iii)       That the virements over £250k set out in paragraph 50 be approved.

                        (iv)       That the transfer of £295k between the general fund and the traded activities profit from Neighbourhood Services, as set out in paragraph 51, be approved.

REASON:      The virement requests are within the budget areas for which the Executive is the responsible body.

                        (v)        That the one-off transfer in 2007/08 from the job evaluation base budget to the project costs, as set out in paragraph 48, be approved, subject to further information being provided on the detail of Annex 14, and in particular the justification for the £150k ‘ongoing management costs’ of the pay and grading project.

REASON:      The virement request is within the budget areas for which the Executive is the responsible body, but more information is needed.

Members considered a report which provided details of the headline performance issues identified at the latest performance monitor session, presented the latest projection of the Council’s revenue income and expenditure for the current year and sought approval for budget virements and contingency funding requests.

Progress on the Council’s existing corporate priorities was detailed in Annex 1 to the report.  The monitor had highlighted extremely good improvement, in particular, on: decreasing landfill and increasing recycling; reducing violent crime and anti-social behaviour; cleaner streets and open spaces.  Staff related performance was set out in Annex 2 and indicated an encouraging improvement in staff sickness levels since the introduction of revised procedures in October 2007.  Officers also reported good progress within the Housing section in relation to the CPA score for the current year.  Key issues identified by the monitor, to be addressed before the end of the 2007/08 financial year, included:

• Detailed reporting on the new approach to reducing staff sickness absence
• Producing more data on equalities, to show what needs to improve
• Development of a reputation strategy by Marketing & Communications
• Continued management of budget areas that were overspending
• Continued control of capital schemes and spend profiles.

With regard to financial performance, it was projected that the Council would underspend by £2,901k if current action by Directors continued to be successful.  However, this was largely due to non-recurring savings, an improved position on interest rates and the ability to defer borrowing, without which the position would have been a net overspend of £934k.  Any overspends must therefore continue to be fully monitored and underlying pressures addressed, so as to leave as much scope as possible to reduce the impact of any service cuts and Council Tax increases in the medium term.  Members were asked to consider the following virement and contingency fund requests for which Executive approval was required:

• Virement of £295k from ITT underspend to easy@york to fund enterprise licenses
• Virement to offset the £295k increase in Property Services’ internal rental charge to Neighbourhood Services for the EcoDepot against Neighbourhoods’ expected profit from its trading activity.
• Job Evaluation - Transfer of the remaining £94k from the recurring base budget to cover project costs

The Shadow Executive had reserved their position on this item.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the performance issues identified in the report be noted and that the Executive place on record its thanks to Directors and staff for their contribution towards the continued improvement in public service standards in the City.

REASON:      To enable corrective action to be taken on these performance issues, whilst acknowledging the progress made overall.

                        (ii)        That the supplementary estimate request of £200k from the contingency fund for City Strategy bus pass costs, as set out in paragraph 49 of the report, be approved.¹

REASON:      In accordance with the Executive’s Constitutional powers to make decisions on this level and grant supplementary estimates.

                        (iii)       That the virements over £250k set out in paragraph 50 be approved.²

                        (iv)       That the transfer of £295k between the general fund and the traded activities profit from Neighbourhood Services, as set out in paragraph 51, be approved.³

REASON:      The virement requests are within the budget areas for which the Executive is the responsible body.

                        (v)        That the one-off transfer in 2007/08 from the job evaluation base budget to the project costs, as set out in paragraph 48, be approved, subject to further information being provided on the detail of Annex 14, and in particular the justification for the £150k ‘ongoing management costs’ of the pay and grading project.⁴

REASON:      The virement request is within the budget areas for which the Executive is the responsible body, but more information is needed.