Agenda item

Report by Corporate Director Alistair Cunningham.

Cllr Philip Whitehead presented a report which (i) advised on the revenue and capital budget monitoring position as at the end of period 7 (end of October 2018) for the financial year 2018/19 with suggested actions as appropriate, and (ii) advised on the position of the 2018/19 capital programme, as at period

7 (31 October 2018), including budget changes.

Matters raised in the course of the presentation and discussion included: that if no management action was taken that there would be a £2.064m deficit, but that action would be taken in many areas to ensure that a balanced budget would be delivered; that whilst it was a significant amount of money, the projected overspend represented 2 days spend.

In response to questions from Councillor Ian Thorn, Chair of the Financial Planning Task Group, Councillor Philip Whitehead stated that the Council had limited control over the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), provided by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, and the Interim Director Finance and Procurement, confirmed that the DSG could be carried forward for 3 years with the Council rectifying the issue within this timescale.

Councillor Mayes confirmed that the Council was still amongst one of the lowest 40 funded authorities and the consequences of this on the provision of SEND. A written response would be provided by Councillor Jerry Wickham about the cost for levels of spot purchases and how this could be addressed in the future.

Resolved:

i)     To note the outcome of the period 7 (end of October) budget monitoring and to approve all revenue budget amendments outlined in the report in appendix B.

ii)    To reinforce the need for expenditure to be contained within the budget agreed in February 2018, with individual recovery plans to be produced for areas showing overspends, and these will be reported to Members in the next monitoring report at period 9.

iii)  To note the budget movements undertaken to the capital programme shown in appendices E and F and to also note the reprogramming of £37.980 million capital budget between 2018/19 and 2019/20.

Reason for decision:

To inform effective decision making and ensure a sound financial control environment.

To inform Cabinet of the position of the 2018/19 capital programme as at Period 7 (31 October 2018), including highlighting any budget changes.