·        

the report covered both the revenue forecasts and the capital position as at the end of September 2021 and were the same figures as those presented at full Council on the 22 November 2021 with the capital programme being voted through;

·        

the capital programme had been updated to reflect the newly approved schemes and full disclosure of the revenue savings targets and latest forecasts with regards to delivery. The forecast revenue outturn after the application of COVID grants and accounts or mitigating actions, was currently in overspend of £729k;

·        

the Customer and Corporate Services directorate, moved from an overspend of £1.185 million to £765k, and this positive movement was attributed to further vacancy management and treasury savings; the Director was continuing to explore further opportunities to manage this position;

·        

the Place Directorate was reporting an overspend of approximately £38,000 which was an adverse movement from month 5 where there was an underspend of £139k and this was due to the pressure on income targets, especially around car parking. Service areas were taking action to mitigate these additional costs and loss of income;

·        

the position of the additional costs and income lost due to COVID was currently showing a drawdown against grants of £16.562m; officers and members would work closely to manage the finances towards a balanced position at the end of the year;

·        

after the second quarter the Council was reporting achieved savings of just over £3m and savings on track of a further £6.41 million making a total of just under £9.5 million of the £13.845 million target savings for revenue; with regards to capital and the five year capital budget from 2021 to 2026 it was currently forecast at approximately £647.5m as at the 30 September 2021 and it's been adjusted to take into account the newly approved schemes and to adjust future funding assumptions.

·        

the £420k saving in the Corporate and Customer Services directorate from £1.185m overspend down to £765k and how that would impact on the performance; it was responded that there was a significant downward variance due to the sensible and pragmatic judgments about the use of temporary staff

which was done in a way so that performance was not adversely affected. In addition the Directorate has tightened its belt in terms of expenditure and so there was not the same level of orders for some goods and services going through to bring the overspend under control;

·        

was the use of temporary staff more generally used across customer services and on what scale? It was responded that a written response could be provided however the Strategic Director of Customer and Corporate Services also covered finance, FM as well as customer services. The current vacancy rate across the department was in excess of approximately 6% of the establishment. The business support review that was started last year was now coming to fruition. The consultation process has been completed with the new structure due to be implemented on 12 January 2022; there would be some savings that are drawn from that;

·        

in respect of the capital programme, could reassurance be provided that there was some structure in place to look at the risk and cost base that was increasing specifically for construction related projects; it was responded that a structured review of business cases was already being undertaken and business cases submitted to the City Council Investment Board were considered if they were still affordable against the original business case. Members were advised that a written response to this would be provided to the committee;

·        

were the grants from government addressing the overspend within the childrens and adults social care department? Were the council expecting to receive further grants from Government? It was responded that the Covid 19 grants that have been provided in the drawdowns that have been made in terms of additional monies. Inflation was spiking around 4%, and that made everything far more expensive. The children and adults departments were still under pressure however were presently sitting within the budget assumptions that were built in when the 2021/22 budget was set;

·        

an indication as to what the £500k savings in facilities managements included and when it would be delivered; it was responded that condition surveys were currently being carried out on the corporate estate and this would achieve savings with shortfalls coming from within the Customer and Corporate Services department; the surveys were expected to be completed by the end of February;

·        

responses were still required regarding costs for manifesto commitments that were raised at a previous meeting; it was responded that some information had already been provided to a number of questions however the final responses linked to mitigation, would be provided.

1.

Members note the Finance and Capital Monitoring Report September 2021;

2.

Members were advised that a written response would be provided detailing the risk and affordability of the council’s business cases, specifically regarding construction, would be provided.