Issue - meetings

Report by Dr Carlton Brand, Corporate Director.

Councillor Philip Whitehead presented the report which advised Cabinet of the (unaudited) General Revenue Fund and Housing Revenue Account outturn positions for financial year 2017/18, as well as the position for the Collection Fund and Reserves; and provided Cabinet with oversight of the unaudited Statement of Accounts, including the narrative report.

Matters highlighted in the course of the presentation and discussion included: that the council had ended the year with a budget surplus which would transfer to reserves; that there was an underspend of under £1m on Housing Revenue Account; that the £144m capital programme was underspent by £30m; the highlighted major changes to the budgets and the reasons for those including changes in income and spending assumptions.

Cllr Ian Thorn, Chairman Financial Planning Task Group thanked Ian Duncan and Councillor Whitehead for meeting with the task group and stated that he was encouraged that the Council had ended the year with an underspend, and agreed that the underspend on capital funding should be addressed.

Resolved

To note:

a)    the outturn for the General Revenue Fund and HRA, subject to external audit, of a General Fund underspend of £0.410 million and an HRA underspend of £0.951 million and planned draw from reserve of £6.762 million. This gives an overall draw from HRA reserves of £5.811 million.

b)   the transfers to the General Revenue Fund and Earmarked reserves, as set out in Sections 38-43 of the report, and return to HRA reserves.

c)    the unaudited Statement of Accounts for 2017/18.

To approve:

d)   The position of the 2017/18 capital programme at Outturn (31 March 2018) including highlighted budget changes.

Reason for Decision:

As part of its role in ensuring sound financial management and financial soundness, Cabinet are required to assess and note the final revenue outturns for 2017/18 and assess any impact on the longer term financial standing of the Council.