(a)

this was the second quarterly monitoring report for 2012-13 and outlined the finance monitoring position of the council as at the end of  September 2012;

(b)

the primary purpose of the report was to detail how the council was delivering against its financial measures using its capital and revenue resources and to approve relevant revenue and capital budget variations and virements and the inclusion of new schemes to the capital programme where required; 

(c)

the estimated revenue overspend was now showing as £3.221m, an increase of £1.432m in this quarter; the current estimated position showed an overspend of £3.215m across the People Directorate; an overspend of £0.863m in the Place Directorate; an overspend of £0.253m across Corporate Services Directorate; these overspends were offset in part by a small saving with the Chief Executive Officer of £0.010m and £1.1m of savings from corporate items;

(d)

the main reason for the overspend within the People Directorate were pressures totalling £3.151m in Adult Social Care linked to demographic changes, increased demand for supported living and reduced income from a number of sources; Plymouth was not alone in facing severe funding shortages as demand increased due to the aging population, with people living longer with disabilities or illness;

(e)

the council was currently forecasting a revenue over spend at year end of £3.221m against a net revenue budget of £203,766m; this equated to a net spend of £206,987m which was a variance of 1.6 per cent; this included corrective actions where identified to date; officers were still tasked with working with the relevant portfolio holders to identify further options for delivering a balanced budget;

(f)

in the budget report taken to Full Council in February 2012, the 2012/13 Capital Programme stood at £51.121m; following approval of new schemes, re-profiling and variations, the capital programme for 2012/13 was £60.481m following the September Council meeting; the latest forecast at the end of September 2012, was now £57.390m, which assumed approval of the recommendations for new schemes;

(g)

at the Cabinet meeting held on 13 November 2012 the recommendations contained with the report were agreed together with an additional two recommendations –

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the introduction of a staff incentive scheme, to engage all members of staff to put forward cost saving initiatives;

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the re-introduction of a voluntary release scheme to allow staff to leave during the current financial year.

(h)

Cabinet had noted that in the light of the emerging pressure in Adult Social Care, the Chief Executive had commissioned a full review of all demographic pressures across the council; once a full understanding of this situation had been gained, consideration could be given as to the measures required to address this matter; in order to assist in addressing the deficit, the planned cuts for the  2013/14 would be brought forward for the whole of the council;

(j)

although there had been an inflationary increase, it was hoped that there would not be a significant rise in the cost of council tax;

(k)

monies in the sum of £100,000 had been accrued from the enforcement of the use of bus lanes;

(l)

assets such as land and buildings would be reviewed to ascertain the level of work required to realise their full sales potential on the open market;  it was more prudent for the council to use its own resources in order to achieve a more advantageous return when the asset was marketed.