Agenda item

7.1

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 2014/15.

7.2

Dave Phillips, Assistant 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 the monthly trend 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 17^th December, 2014.

7.3

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

·                The Council’s contract with Veolia was one of many long-term contracts with external companies. Every effort was made, as part of the formulation of the contract, to try and negotiate savings in order to ensure that there was sufficient funding available for other, Council-led services.

·                It was accepted that there were a number of areas where there were underspends, such as the Inclusion and Learning Services and Lifelong Learning and Skills. Whilst there was not sufficient detail in the report to explain the reasons for such underspends, it could be due to the fact that there was less activity in a given year.

·                The Council generally recovered around 99% of its Council Tax, although it sometimes took a few years to achieve this figure.

·                There was very little detail in respect of the receipt of Grant Aid as the majority of Revenue Support Grants for specific services would be included in individual Portfolio budgets.

·                The underspend in respect of the Stop Smoking Service contracts had been as a result of the contractors not meeting a number of Performance Indicators and targets.

·                A considerable amount of work was being undertaken in an attempt to improve the commercial success of the Moor Markets.  Although people visiting the market were spending more, footfall had decreased.  It was hoped that this would increase when the development work on The Moor was complete. 

·                Electric Works had been under-occupied for some time, and the Council was still responsible for its running costs.  It was hoped that, as the economy improved, occupancy levels in terms of the units within the building would increase.  Considerable efforts were being made to encourage companies to take up occupancy in the building.

·                The overspend in respect of the Learning Disability Service was reducing month on month, and it was hoped that the Service could break even by the end of this financial year.  Whilst reducing the overspend, there was still the need to ensure that resources were distributed fairly and allocated to those who needed them most.  It had taken longer than expected to reduce the overspend, but progress was now being made.

7.4

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report now submitted, together with the responses provided to the questions raised, be noted.