Issue - meetings

Finance Monitoring Report Month 5

 

 

Meeting: 10/10/2022 - Housing and Community Services Scrutiny Panel (Item 21)

Finance and Capital Monitoring Report

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

The Chair advised Members that the month 3 Finance and Capital Monitoring Report attached to the main agenda pack was superseded by the month 5 Finance and Capital Monitoring Report that was sent out as a supplementary document therefore only the most recent report (month 5) would be considered.

 

David Northey (Interim Section 151 Officer) highlighted the following key points to Members:

 

(a)

the report to be considered provided information up to August 2022 and showed the position to the end of the financial year (March) with an overspend of £6.656m – this was an improvement of the previous report;

 

(b)

unforeseen cost was identified in the report in terms of the impact of utilities, and the pay settlement – this has driven up the cost by approximately £6m – it could be considered that if it wasn’t for those unforeseeable costs then the Council would be in a very good position at month 5 with a relatively small overspend.

 

In response to questions raised it was reported that –

 

(c)

the Council paid the Theatre Royal £350k per annum – Members would be advised if this figure was inclusive of the £100k reduction;

 

(d)

it was considered that bus shelter advertising would be an income generation opportunity for the Council – this linked to the £75k reduction in costs; more information on this contract would be provided to Members via a written response;

 

(e)

grants issued to the Theatre Royal came out of the Council’s general fund – this was set up by discretion. The Council’s Economic Development team worked closely with the Theatre Royal to ensure the decision to reduce funding was acceptable to both parties;

 

(f)

at this time of the year it was not unusual for the Council to show an overspend on the idiom budget – it was recognised that an awful lot of work had gone into getting the Council to this financial position having gone from a £14m overspend to a £6.6m overspend. Officers were happy to revisit the childrens services budget and have a deep dive into the budget. During discussion of this item Members discussed their dissatisfaction that responses to a previous action from 29 June 2022 scrutiny meeting relating to the childrens services budget had not been provided as it was considered that this would provide the committee with greater clarity on this matter;

 

(g)

the Council’s working balance was at £8.4m against a net budget of £198m – this was 4.2%; the industry standard was to try and get as close to 5% - this was not a statutory requirement;

 

(h)

the collection of garden green waste would not be reinstated in this financial year however was expected to be reinstated next year;

 

(i)

the Council was considering a reduction in the voltage of street lighting; the council was advised that it wouldn’t affect the lux value that the lights gave out so Plymouth wouldn’t be deprived of lighting;

 

(j)

it was not known at this stage  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21

Meeting: 06/10/2022 - Cabinet (Item 55)

Finance Monitoring Report Month 5

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Mark Shayer (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economy and Finance) introduced the report and highlighted –

 

a)    The report set out the revenue monitoring position to the end of the financial year 2022/23 with a reported overspend of £6.56 million which was down £2 million from the previous report;

b)    £6 million of non-controllable costs with £3.3 million relating to energy price inflation;

c)    The outturn forecast had been reduced by £1 million which would be confirmed once the detail of government support was made public;

d)    Legacy costs of COVID19 pandemic on Adult Social Care;

e)    High number of people who had required emergency bed and breakfast accommodation across the city;

f)     An in-year recovery plan covering all areas from fees and charges to reserves and contingencies had been developed and accounted for £7.7 million in additional savings including £1.5 million of reserves that were no longer required for their original purpose.

The Leader added –

 

g)    Emphasis to Appendix 1 and understanding the cost increases from areas such as Street Lighting, the Life Centre, Crematoriums and more;

h)    Important to keep services running for the people of Plymouth but the Council has a legal duty to deliver a balanced budget;

i)     Thanked the staff who had been involved in pulling data and savings information together.

 

In response to questions it was explained –

 

j)     The £1.5 million of reserves no longer required had been saved from £250,000 from Customer and Corporate Services, £700,000 from the People directorate and £750,000 in savings in the Place directorate following a lack of need for the resources that were earmarked as well as a further £250,000 of savings from corporate accounting and council wide items;

 

The Committee agreed to:

 

1)    Note the forecast revenue monitoring position at Period 5;

2)    Apply reserves that are no longer needed for their original purposes to offset the in-year overspend.