Agenda item

Following consideration of the officer report, appendices and discussion, the Executive resolved to:

a)    Note the underspend of £1.8m (0.3%) for the 2023/24 financial year which will be added to the General Fund balance.

b)    Approve the draws and contributions to earmarked reserves set out in appendix 11.

c)    Approve to release £0.7m of available earmarked reserves funding to the General Fund balance.

d)    Agree to continue to receive monthly budget monitoring reports in 2024/25 which sets out the forecast outturn for the year with details of any mitigations and actions being taken to address any forecast variances.

e)    Note that the Collection Fund outturn position is still being finalised. Any over/underspend will be funded from/contributed to reserves. Any material changes to the reserve position will be noted in a future report.

f)      Approve the amendment to the Flexible Capital Receipts Strategy to include the Adult Social Care transformation programme, My Life, My Future (section 34/appendix 12).

Please note that some of the information in this report was incorrect at time of publication and has been corrected in a supplementary document.

The corrections are as follows:

• Gross expenditure budget and the gross income budgets have changed for Public Health (net budget is still the same).
• Transformation & Change and Digital Team gross budgets restated and net budgets (these net off between the two).
• Core Revenue Funding & main report – the table has been restated to change the headings around.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Bill Revans, invited the Lead Member for Finance, Procurement and Performance, Cllr Liz Leyshon, to introduce the report. Cllr Leyshon highlighted that the situation had improved since the report in July and that this would have a positive impact on General Fund Reserves, the impact of the control boards around budget, the hard work involved for the new unitary authority to prepare the accounts, and the concerns about the Dedicated Schools Grant.

Nicola Hix, Service Director Finance and Procurement, then highlighted the changes from the Month 10 Outturn predictions, the approach to budget monitoring for 24/25, and the need to assess the areas with significant underspends.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Bill Revans, invited comments from Committee Members and other Members present. Questions and points raised included: reflecting on the work with Adults on commissioning and the overall budget; appreciation for the hard work of everyone involved in delivering savings; the work with City/Town/Parish councils to secure alternative funding for CCTV services; the use of reserves; the impact of the underspend in the ‘place’ budget on residents; the need to recognise the difficult position of the council with regard to Adult Social Care and Children’s Social Care funding.

The Leader of the Council concluded the discussion and proceeded to a vote on the recommendations, which were agreed unanimously.

Following consideration of the officer report, appendices and discussion, the Executive resolved to:

a)    Note the underspend of £1.8m (0.3%) for the 2023/24 financial year which will be added to the General Fund balance.

b)    Approve the draws and contributions to earmarked reserves set out in appendix 11.

c)    Approve to release £0.7m of available earmarked reserves funding to the General Fund balance.

d)    Agree to continue to receive monthly budget monitoring reports in 2024/25 which sets out the forecast outturn for the year with details of any mitigations and actions being taken to address any forecast variances.

e)    Note that the Collection Fund outturn position is still being finalised. Any over/underspend will be funded from/contributed to reserves. Any material changes to the reserve position will be noted in a future report.

f)     Approve the amendment to the Flexible Capital Receipts Strategy to include the Adult Social Care transformation programme, My Life, My Future (section 34/appendix 12).