Agenda item

To consider this report.

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

a)    Note the Service Directorate Revenue forecast overspend of £5.324m for the year, showin in Table 1.

b)    Agree that mitigating actions are to be identified and implemented to pull back the forecast overspend in Service Directorates on an ongoing basis by outturn.

c)    Note the total Council Revenue forecast underspend of £0.736m for the year, due to contingency being released into the forecast outturn, shown in Table 1.

d)    Note the progress and delivery of the approved savings programme as set out in Table 2.

e)    Note the in-year overspend on the Dedicated Schools Grant of £7.509m, an increase of £2.100m from Month 4. Further details in Appendix B.

f)     Note the total forecast Dedicated Schools Grant year-end deficit of £61.780m. Further details in Appendix B.

g)    Agree that the council continues with the aim of avoiding a Section 114 notice by taking all of the necessary actions and continuing to operate as if one had been issued.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Bill Revans, invited the Deputy Leader and the Lead Member for Finance, Procurement and Performance, Cllr Liz Leyshon, to introduce the report. She highlighted that there is an improved position compared to the previous month but still requires the corporate contingency to project an underspend at the end of the year, and the pressures within the Children’s Services budget, including the Dedicated School Grant (DSG) deficit.

Cllr Leyshon proceeded to hand over to Nicola Hix, Service Director Finance and Procurement, who detailed the main reasons for the decrease in overspend, including: the improved position in the learning disability and leisure budgets; vacancies in Workforce and Localities; an underspend in ICT; an unbudgeted income that had been identified. She explained the progress towards achieving the savings and the savings that are at risk and effort to identify alternative savings.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Bill Revans, invited comments from Committee Members and other Members present, with officers providing responses as appropriate. Questions and points raised included: the ongoing work to reduce placement costs in Children’s Social Care and the importance of delivering Homes and Horizons; that reducing school exclusions is a protection measure for children’s life chances; the cost savings created by the seven operating Homes and Horizons and the progress towards further homes being delivered; the impact of the increase in employers costs as a result of the Autumn Budget on the cost of providing residential and nursing care; whether provision of special schools and specialist places at mainstream schools could be increased and the need for central government funding to do so; the challenge of funding school places for children who have or may have SEND; whether the overspend in Children’s services will increase further; the overspend in Places and mitigations in place; the increase in children coming into care, particularly in the 10-15 age range; the overspend in Waste services and mitigations.

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 Service Directorate Revenue forecast overspend of £5.324m for the year, showin in Table 1.

b)    Agree that mitigating actions are to be identified and implemented to pull back the forecast overspend in Service Directorates on an ongoing basis by outturn.

c)    Note the total Council Revenue forecast underspend of £0.736m for the year, due to contingency being released into the forecast outturn, shown in Table 1.

d)    Note the progress and delivery of the approved savings programme as set out in Table 2.

e)    Note the in-year overspend on the Dedicated Schools Grant of £7.509m, an increase of £2.100m from Month 4. Further details in Appendix B.

f)     Note the total forecast Dedicated Schools Grant year-end deficit of £61.780m. Further details in Appendix B.

g)    Agree that the council continues with the aim of avoiding a Section 114 notice by taking all of the necessary actions and continuing to operate as if one had been issued.