Issue - meetings

The report presents the financial monitoring information for the Authority as a whole for the financial year 2024/25, using information available as at the end of June 2024.

Cllr Mark Elliott, Cabinet Member for Resources, introduced the item, moved the officer recommendation and made the following statement:

“This report is looking at progress since April against this year's budget.  It's an early indication based on the first two month's data, which will allow us to spot risks early and, I hope, allow us to act on them early so that we're not having to take more dramatic action later in the year. 

The main headline is that the pressure on Children's Services which we experienced throughout last year isn't showing much sign of abating.  Of the £3.95m forecast overspend we're currently projecting, nearly £2.5m is in Children's Services.  Obviously, areas like this where we have a statutory, and moral, duty to provide care, and there is demand-led pressure, are the most difficult to mitigate.  But we have work already underway internally to try to address this, and we think some progress can be made.  The other significant area of pressure is the operational cost of the council's estate, and we have work ongoing in this area to make sure we're making best use our assets, to dispose of assets we no longer need, and to bring back into use assets where that's appropriate.  A good example of this is the decision we made at the last Cabinet meeting to place the specialist SEND and Alternative Provision schools on the Culverhay site.

So, for those areas where there is significant pressure, I've scheduled regular meetings with the responsible senior officers and cabinet members over the coming weeks so we can make sure everyone is focused on bringing those budgets back in line where possible, and making sure we understand exactly what the pressures are if it really isn't possible to bring the budgets back on track.

With regard to the Capital Budget, we're currently projecting we will spend £64.8m of the budgeted £76.6m, and if we can keep that on track, we'll be at around 85% which will meet the objective of improving upon the 77% we managed last year.

So, overall, the story is one of continuing pressure, but we've seen it early, and that gives us the best chance of being able to introduce mitigating measures before things get out of hand.”

Cllr Tim Ball seconded the motion.

RESOLVED (unanimously):

(1)  To note the 2024/25 revenue budget position (as at the end of June 2024).

(2)  To note the revenue virements listed for information in Appendix 3(i) of the report.

(3)  To note the capital year-end forecast detailed in paragraph 3.22 of the report.

(4)  To note the changes in the capital programme including capital schemes that have been agreed for full approval under delegation listed in Appendix 4(i) of the report.