Issue - meetings

Executive Board considered the attached report.

RECOMMENDED: That Council be asked to approve the revised Capital Programme as set out in the Appendix attached to the report.

            The Council considered a report of the Operational Director, Finance, which sought approval for a number of revisions to the Council’s 2019/20 Capital Programme.

            RESOLVED: That the revisions to the Council’s 2019/20 Capital Programme, as set out in paragraph 3.2 of the report, be approved.

The Board considered a report of the Operational Director, Finance, which reported on the 2019/20 Quarter 3 spending as at 31 December 2019.

A summary of spending against revenue budget up to 31 December 2019 was attached to the report at Appendix 1. This provided individual statements for each department. The Board was advised that, in overall terms, revenue expenditure was £3.790m above the budget profile. Whilst the overspend position had increased since Quarter 2, the trend had slowed over the previous 3 months as action taken by all departments continued to restrict spending.

            The Board was advised that a number of budget savings proposals approved by Council in March 2019 were yet to be implemented. These were detailed in Table 1. The main budget pressures continued to be within the Children and Families Department. In addition, service demand for Adult Social Care had increased over the year.

The report also provided details of other services which had experienced budget variances including the Children and Families Department; Community and Environment Department; the Education, Inclusion and Provision Department; ICT and Support Services; Adult Social Care including the Complex Care Pool. An underspend in Corporate and Democracy was noted.

The Capital Programme had been revised to reflect a number of changes in spending profiles as schemes had developed, and these were detailed in the report.

RESOLVED: That

1)     all spending continues to be limited to only absolutely essential items;

2)     Departments continue to seek to implement the 2019/20 budget savings proposals  listed in Table A, which were approved by Council in March 2019;

3)     Strategic Directors take appropriate action to ensure that overall spending was contained as far as possible within their total operational budget by year-end; and

4)    Council be recommended to approve the revised Capital Programme as set out in Appendix 2 attached to the report.