Agenda item

RECOMMENDATION:

It is recommended that the committee scrutinise and comment on the proposals within the attached draft cabinet report, ref CAB3464 which is to be considered by cabinet at its meeting on the 11 September 2024.

Councillor Neil Cutler, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance introduced the report, ref CAB3464 which set out proposals for the General Fund Outturn 2023/2024, (available here).  The introduction included the following points

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1.             The General Fund revenue budget for 2023/2024, approved in February 2023, was balanced. However, quarterly monitoring throughout the year forecasted a small surplus, culminating in a final outturn surplus of £900,000, up from the previously reported £530,000 in the Q3 report.

2.             The final net service surplus was transferred to the transitional reserve to support the Council's transformation programme (TC25), which aims to save £3 million over the next three years, addressing the budget gap identified in the medium-term financial strategy.

3.             The surplus was attributed to both baseline (ongoing) variances in core service budgets, as outlined in Section 13 of the report, and one-off budget variances for projects during the financial year, detailed in Section 14 of the report.

4.             The capital programme outturn was also presented, with a spend of £6.2 million against a revised budget of £10 million. Councillor Cutler noted that it is not uncommon for large-scale capital projects to experience slippage due to the difficulty in estimating the timing of works.

5.             Key capital projects completed in 2023/24 included the opening of the new pavilion at King George V Playing Field; £1.6 million worth of home adaptations for disabled residents; the demolition of the Friarsgate Medical Centre and creation of interim open space; and the completion of the King's Walk refresh.

In addition, Liz Keys, Director (Finance) advised the committee of the use of outturn information to inform the medium-term financial strategy and the development of the 2025/26 budget.

The committee was recommended to scrutinise and comment on the proposals within the attached draft cabinet report, ref CAB3464, which is to be considered by the cabinet at its meeting on the 11th of September 2024.

The committee proceeded to ask questions and debate the report. In summary, the following matters were raised.

1.             A question was asked regarding the definition of unusable reserves as mentioned on page 90, paragraph 12.3.

2.             Further clarification was sought on the visibility of property and asset management as discussed in Section 5 of the report, particularly whether councillors should receive more detailed and regular updates on these matters.

3.             A question was raised about how the council’s assets were performing compared to benchmarks, with a suggestion that more comparative data would help the scrutiny committee evaluate asset performance.

4.             A question was asked about what qualifies for "one-off budgets" and how these differ from regular budgets.

5.             Clarification was sought regarding the General Fund Capital Spend, which showed a difference between the original budget and the outturn, and whether there were specific reasons for this.

6.             A question was raised about Section 14, noting that some budgets were underspent, particularly those related to the climate emergency and transformation programme.

7.             Further clarification was sought on whether anything specific was causing slippage in these budgets and projects.

8.             A question was asked about Appendix 5, specifically regarding the reference to the "Bone Store" and its significance.

9.             A question was raised concerning Appendix 1 and whether the reserves-related movements reflected an addition of £5.6 million to the reserves instead of the previously anticipated use of £0.9 million.

10.          A question was asked about the energy management projects in Appendix 4, specifically regarding the transfer of £125,000 for solar PV at Meadowside Leisure Centre and the details of these projects.

These points were responded to by Simon Hendey, Strategic Director, Liz Keys Director (Finance), and Neil Aitken, Service Lead: Finance accordingly.

RESOLVED:

1.    The committee agreed to ask the Cabinet Member to consider the following:

a.    a possible benchmarking of asset management performance in line with question 3 above.

b.    To provide a Member Briefing, potentially as part of a wider TC-25 briefing regarding council assets.

2.    That the Cabinet Member and officers note the committee's comments.