Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 The report presents the provisional revenue and capital outturn for 2008/09.

1.2 The report refers to known potential revenue pressures for the current year, as a preface to a request to carry forward specific revenue budget items to 2009/10, and to write-off revenue overspends where recovery in future years, in combination with containing those pressures in the current year, would have an adverse impact on continuing service delivery.

1.3 The report also refers to requests to rephase specific capital budget items and to write off capital underspends in 2008/09 and to approve specific capital budget items in the 2009/10 capital programme.

2 RECOMMENDATIONS

2.1 The provisional revenue budget outturn for 2008/09 as set out in Appendix 2 is noted.

2.2 The emerging revenue pressures for 2009/10 (Appendix 1 paragraph 1.11) are noted and that action plans are being prepared by Strategic Directors and Divisional Directors to address these implications.

2.3 The revenue carry forward proposals and write-off requests listed in the tables in Appendix 4 as exceptions to the Budget Management Scheme are approved. The approval of write-off requests is conditional upon action plans being in place to meet the already identified pressures in 2009/10, and in the case of Development & Major Projects subject to further review of the proposed programme of expenditure by the Cabinet Member.

2.4 The first £500k of any resulting surplus arising from decisions made should be allocated to the Revenue Budget Contingency Reserve, a further £36k to support PCT integration, with the remaining balance being set aside as an addition to the Medium Term Financial Challenge reserve.

2.5 Drawdown from any of the earmarked reserves is subject to agreement by the Section 151 Officer & relevant Strategic Director, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Resources & relevant Cabinet Member.

2.6 The revenue virements for 2008/08 and 2009/10 as listed in Appendix 5(i) & 5(iii) are approved.

2.7 The provisional outturn of the 2008/09 capital programme in Appendix 6, and the funding as laid out in the table in Appendix 1 Paragraph 1.30, is noted.

2.8 The capital rephasing as listed in Appendix 7 is approved.

2.9 The additions to the 2009/10 capital programme as detailed in Appendix 8 are approved.

2.10 The adjustments to the 2008/09 & 2009/10 capital programme as detailed in Appendix 9(i) & 9(iii) are approved.

2.11 The use of growth points funding in 2008/09 is noted and the proposed approach for 2009/10 and 2010/11 is agreed as set out in appendix 1 paragraph 1.34.

2.12 The summary of capital receipts in 2008/09 are noted.

2.13 The reserves position shown in Appendix 11 is noted, and that as a result of the outturn the Council's reserves strategy is on of target (Appendix 1 paragraph 1.19).

2.14 The Treasury Management Outturn position (Appendix 12) is noted.

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 These are contained throughout the Report and Appendices.

4 CORPORATE PRIORITIES

4.1 The Medium Term Finance & Planning process allocates scarce resources across services with alignment of these resources towards our corporate improvement priorities as set out in the Corporate Plan. This report monitors how the Council is performing against the financial targets set in February 2008 through the budget setting report.

5 THE REPORT

5.1 This report provides information about the Council's financial performance against its revenue and capital budgets in 2008/09. The report also provides information on the Council's Treasury Management position and performance during 2008/09.

5.2 This report enables Cabinet to review:

5.3 Details of and commentary on the outturn position for the revenue and capital budgets are provided in Appendices 1-11. The Treasury Management outturn position is presented in Appendix 12.

5.4 The Corporate Audit Committee will approve the statutory final accounts of the Council. This report presents the provisional 2008/09 outturn in the form that is routinely reported throughout the year as part of budget monitoring.

5.5 The Cabinet received financial reports throughout the year highlighting the known pressure areas, and identifying those actions that could be taken to reduce these to manageable proportions.

5.6 A Budget Management Scheme (BMS) is in force, which specifies how over and under spending should be treated in any year.

5.7 Under the Budget Management Scheme all revenue overspends should be carried forward, subject to a proposal from the service to recover them. At least 60% of any revenue underspends can also be carried forward providing that the management of all overspendings have been agreed within Strategic Directors' service areas and also providing these underspends were reported at January 2009. If not reported by then, they are considered "windfall" and should not be carried forward unless the Cabinet expressly approves.

6 RISK MANAGEMENT

6.1 The substance of this report is part of the Council's risk management process. The key risks in the Council's budget are assessed annually by each Strategic Director, with these risks re-assessed on a monthly basis as part of the budget monitoring process.

7 EQUALITIES

7.1 This report provides information about the financial performance of the Council and therefore no specific equalities impact assessment has been carried out on the report.

8 RATIONALE

8.1 The recommendations made are based upon the Budget Management Scheme and a consideration of the Council's latest financial position and reserves strategy.

9 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

9.1 Appendix 4 lists all options that can be considered in making a decision on carry forwards and write offs from 2008/09 to 2009/10.

10 CONSULTATION

10.1 Consultation has been carried out with the Deputy Leader of The Council & Cabinet Member for Resources, Strategic Directors, Section 151 Finance Officer, Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer.

10.2 The provisional outturn report has been discussed at Strategic Directors' Group and Divisional Directors' Group during May/June.

11 ISSUES TO CONSIDER IN REACHING THE DECISION

11.1 This report deals with issues of a corporate nature.

12 ADVICE SOUGHT

12.1 The Council's Monitoring Officer (Council Solicitor), Section 151 Officer (Strategic Director - Resources & Support Services), Strategic Directors' Group & Divisional Directors' Group have had the opportunity to input to this report and have cleared it for publication.