Agenda item

6.1

The Interim Executive Director, Resources, submitted a report providing the Month 6 Monitoring Statement on the City Council’s Revenue Budget and Capital Programme for 2015/16. 

6.2

Dave Phillips, Interim Director of Finance, introduced the report, referring to the overview report, which contained details on the movements in the budget since Month 3, a graph showing monthly trends in terms of Months 3 to 6, levels of variance, risks and the decision of the Cabinet, on the Month 6 Monitoring Statement, at its meeting held on 9^th December 2015. 

6.3

Members of the Committee raised questions and the following responses were provided:-

·                  Whilst there had been some success in terms of reduction in expenditure on legal fees within the Children, Young People and Families Portfolio, further work was being undertaken, specifically in terms of prevention and, which included work in connection with the Strengthening Families Programme, in the hope of reducing such costs further. The main aim of this work was to reduce placements and fostering, by enabling more children to remain safely in their own homes. A bi-product of this work should be a reduction in legal costs.

·                  Considerable efforts were being made to negotiate further reductions with regard to the Council’s larger, long-term  contracts, such as Streets Ahead and waste and recycling. Whilst there had been some success, it was acknowledged that further reductions were being sought, and the Council would continue to negotiate with the companies involved.

·                  The slippage in terms of the Capital Programme had been identified as an issue and as a result of this, there had been a considerable amount of work undertaken to review the Council’s processes, with particular attempts being made to try and link it in more with the Council’s priorities. 

·                  The amount of £382,000 had been showing as a forecast overspend for Policy, Performance and Communications, was primarily due to a delay in the advertising contract, resulting in an underachievement of income.  The contract negotiations had now been completed and the first income arising from the contract was expected within the next few weeks.

·                  The in-year reduction in Central Government funding for the Public Health contract had meant that reductions in various areas had had to be made in-year. An example of this was smoking cessation, where the increased popularity of e-cigarettes had meant that reduced funding had been possible.

·                  The majority of the Public Health projects listed in the report, were City-wide, although some were focused on those communities in the City, having specific needs. 

·                     The Council would continue to chase up residents/tenants in respect of rent and Council Tax arrears.  The recent changes to welfare benefits had put extra financial pressures on some residents, which made it more difficult for the Council in terms of collecting arrears.  The Council would focus its efforts on targeting those people it considered were able to pay, and deal with those having financial difficulties more sensitively.  Whilst it was considered that adequate progress in terms of the collection of arrears was being made, it was considered that the introduction of Universal Credit would have a major impact on people’s finances.

6.4

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       notes the contents of the report now submitted, the information now reported and the responses to the questions raised;

(b)       thanks Dave Phillips for attending the meeting and responding to the questions raised; and

(c)        requests the Interim Executive Director, Resources, to:-

(i)        circulate details of the information requested, which was not available at the meeting, to members of the Committee; and

(ii)       attend a future meeting of the Committee, in 2017, as part of a more in-depth scrutiny exercise with regard to the Capital Programme.