Issue - meetings

(To receive a report from the Executive Director – Resources, which provides an update on revenue spending compared with budgets for the financial year which started on 1 April 2019)

That the current position on the revenue budget be noted.

Consideration was given to a report from the Executive Director – Resources, which provided an update on revenue spending compared with budgets for the financial year which started on 1 April 2019.

The Assistant Director – Strategic Finance presented the report and advised that the tables in the report showed the actual income and expenditure for the financial year to 31 August 2019, along with the forecasts for spending and a comparison of the forecasts against the approved budgets.

It was reported that the total revenue spending was forecast to be £5.017m less than the total budget; general reserves at the year-end would be within the 2.5% to 3.5% range, but this assumed that some of the forecast underspend would be moved to earmarked reserves to avoid general reserves being above 3.5% of the total budget; savings built into the 2019/20 revenue budget were forecast to be delivered with the exception of the £0.100m saving relating to the Coroners Service (page 26 of the agenda pack refers); and following assessment, the Council's financial resilience remained strong.

The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board advised that on 26 September 2019, the Board had considered the Revenue Budget Monitoring Report 2019/20 and had agreed to note the current position on the revenue budget. The Board's comments were circulated in advance of the meeting.

The Board had challenged the level of impact on IMT services as a result of the on-going infrastructure issues and had queried whether the estimated budget had been allocated without a full awareness of the requirements or a defined programme of work for IMT service improvements.  Further to the discussion under Minute 29, detailed work had been undertaken to identify the Council's IMT requirements, which would be reflected in future budget setting.

The significant on-going work to modernise technology and overall IT performance was welcomed by the Executive and the Board.

RESOLVED

That the current position on the revenue budget be noted.