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 2021)

That the current position of the revenue budget be noted.

A report was submitted to the Executive on Revenue Budget Monitoring for quarter 3 of 2021/22.  An underspend of £7.366m (excluding schools and Covid-19) had been forecasted for 2021/22, with the key variants detailed in the report.

The report estimated that the Council’s forecasted Covid-19 position would be slightly above the Government’s emergency grant which was received, and an overall deficit of £0.041m was forecasted.  The Council would continue to monitor the forecasted spend on Covid-19 for the rest of the year, with the aim of containing it within the total grant available.

In terms of the budget setting process, it was reported that the cost pressures for Home to School Transport had increased significantly.  However, there was a project in place to manage this.

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Board had considered the report at its meeting on 24 February 2022, and the Vice Chairman of the Board presented the Board’s comments to the Executive, and highlighted the points around the additional £10m for highways maintenance.

The Lead of the Council sought clarification that using the additional highways funding for pre-planned work was more cost effective that trying to spend it as problems arose.

RESOLVED

That the current position of the revenue budget be noted.