Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member: Finance

Forward Plan Ref: 2013/081

Contact: Stephanie Skivington, Corporate Finance Manager Tel: (01865) 323995

Report by Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer (CA6).

This report focuses on the delivery of the Directorate Business Strategies which were agreed as part of the Service and Resource Planning Process for 2013/14 – 2016/17. Parts 1 and 2 include projections for revenue, reserves and balances as at the end of August 2013.   The Capital Programme monitoring and programme update is included at Part 3.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

a)                 note the report;

b)                approve the virement requests set out in Annex 2a;

c)                 approve the transfer of the Schools Amalgamations Reserve to the Academy Conversion Support Reserve as set out in paragraph 37;

d)                 approve the creation of the reserve for Job Clubs as set out in paragraph 38;

e)                 note the updated Treasury Management lending list at Annex 4;

f)                   approve the use of £0.300m revenue funding towards the capital project to increase the provision for 2 year olds as set out in paragraph 9;

g)                 approve the changes to the Capital Programme set out in Annex 7c and the full updated Capital Programme presented in Annex 8;

h)                approve the addition of the Milton Interchange scheme in the Capital Programme as set out in paragraph 46.

The Cabinet considered a report (CA6) which set out the delivery of the Directorate Business Strategies which were agreed as part of the Service and Resource Planning Process for 2013/14 – 2016/17.  Parts 1 and 2 included projections for revenue, reserves and balances as at the end of August 2013.  The Capital Programme monitoring and programme update is included at Part 3.

Councillor Nick Hards, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance, expressed concern over the level of overspend in Environment & Economy in relation to road maintenance (pot holes) and highlighted the difficult decisions to be taken in balancing maintaining the roads to an adequate standard and a huge overspend.  He further expressed concern over the underspend in Street Lighting and sought assurance that the correct maintenance within that area was being carried out. 

In relation to paragraph 29 of the report, he stressed the importance of bidding for any available grants.

In response, the leader highlighted the need to ensure that the right strategies were in place for any funding strains bid for.

Councillor Nimmo Smith responded that the highway maintenance budget had an overspend due to exceptionally servere winters two years in a row.  The Council had now caught up on pothole maintenance.  He also reminded Councillor Hard that the Council had recently made successful bids for £1m funding for cycling improvements at the Plain and that the underspend in Street Lighting was due to a phased programme of replacing lights to LED.

RESOLVED: to

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

a)                 note the report;

b)                 approve the virement requests set out in Annex 2a;

c)                  approve the transfer of the Schools Amalgamations Reserve to the Academy Conversion Support Reserve as set out in paragraph 37;

d)                 approve the creation of the reserve for Job Clubs as set out in paragraph 38;

e)                 note the updated Treasury Management lending list at Annex 4;

f)                    approve the use of £0.300m revenue funding towards the capital project to increase the provision for 2 year olds as set out in paragraph 9;

g)                 approve the changes to the Capital Programme set out in Annex 7c and the full updated Capital Programme presented in Annex 8;

h)                  approve the addition of the Milton Interchange scheme in the Capital Programme as set out in paragraph 46.