The Assistant Director of Finance and Procurement will submit a report (Document “AC”) which provides Members with an overview of the forecast financial position of the Council for 2017-18.

It examines the latest spend against revenue and capital budgets and forecasts the financial position at the year end. It states the Council’s current balances and reserves and forecasts school balances for the year. 

This report was considered by the Executive at its meeting held on 6 February 2018.

Recommended –

That the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee review and comment on the Qtr 3 Finance Position Statement for 2017-18.

(Andrew Cross - 01274 436823)

The Assistant Director of Finance and Procurement submitted a report (Document “AC”) which provided Members with an overview of the forecast financial position of the Council for 2017-18.

It examined the latest spend against revenue and capital budgets and forecasted the financial position at the year end. It stated the Council’s current balances and reserves and forecasts school balances for the year. 

This report was considered by the Executive at its meeting held on 6 February 2018.

During the discussion Members asked a number of questions, the questions together with the responses are detailed below:

A Member ascertained that under a number of the budget headings, anticipated savings had not been realised and the savings that had been made, what impact had  this had on the unplanned savings.  In response the Assistant Director Finance and Procurement explained that a number of actions had been taken to balance the budget, albeit some of this money was one of monies such as the use of non-spend capital financing and the use of corporate contingencies.  He urged caution in delivering the 2018/19 budget, as this would pose a number of challenges to implement and his concerns were outlined in the Section 151 officer’s report being considered at the Budget Council meeting on 22 February 2018.

In relation to the Adult Social Care budget, officers from the department explained that the Service was making significant progress in demand management, and it was on track to deliver saving by reducing the number of placements in residential care and offering more care in peoples own homes.  It was however acknowledged that in the area of learning disabilities savings had not been realised.  The cost of providing certain types of care was alluded to and that key risks remained in a number areas.

The Health and Wellbeing Portfolio Holder in acknowledging the issues raised stressed that a number of projected changes were taking longer than anticipated but that efforts were on-going to ensure the budget was brought back on track.

In relation to a question regarding school balances the Strategic Director Children’s Services explained that reserves have been reducing over a number of years, and that there was an imperative to maintain an adequate level of reserves to deal with the budgetary challenges facing schools and that the Schools Forum were fully aware of the issues.

In relation to Children’s Social, the Strategic Director also stated that despite efforts to reduce the number of children in care, in hindsight this had been over ambitious as there had been a corresponding increase in demand, which mirrored the national picture.

In addition the projected savings in transport assistance had not been realised, in the context of growing demand and historical overreliance on assistance.  He added that in conjunction with the Department of Place, a new tender would look at what efficiency savings can be made, however any savings would be modest compared to the original forecast.  The Portfolio Holder added that this had been an area of frustration in terms of not being able to make the savings, however in other areas of the service, community centred approaches were paying dividend.

Resolved –

That officers be thanked for presenting the report and providing detailed responses to Members’ questions.

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