Issue - meetings

To provide an overview of the Council’s actual financial position against the Budget as at the end of December 2016.

That the financial position, as at the end of December 2016, be noted.

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There was submitted a report by the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Revenues & Benefits (Report A.3), which provided Cabinet with an overview of the Council’s financial position against the budget as at the end of December 2016.

Cabinet was informed that the position to the end of December 2016 showed that overall the actual General Fund Revenue position was behind the profiled budget by £2.949 million.After allowing for significant one-off budgets such as the Fit for Purpose Budget where commitments or decisions were still to be made, the position was revised to £0.532 million ahead of the profiled budget.  A considerable element of that variance was due to the timing of expenditure and income although some emerging issues had been identified which were explained within the report.

It was reported that in respect of other areas of the budget such as the Housing Revenue Account, Capital Programme, debt recovery, treasury activity and LCTSS / council tax and business rates there were no significant issues that had been identified to date.

Cabinet was made aware that, as in previous years, it was recognised that a number of smaller variances within services emerged over the course of the year that would not necessarily be specifically highlighted or discussed within the Corporate Budget Monitoring reports. .Although a significant number of budgets had been revised as part of the financial strategy process, it was still possible that a range of smaller variances may remain at the end of the year and contribute to the overall position. Also it was reported that a number of budgets that related to schemes / initiatives or earmarked for specific purposes might not be fully spent by the end of the year and could be subject to end of year processes, such as carry forward requests, and therefore remain committed. However, at this stage and after taking into account the current position and information available, it was anticipated by officers that any adverse issues would be offset by favourable variances elsewhere within the budget at the end of the year.

Having considered the information provided:

It was moved by Councillor G V Guglielmi, seconded by Councillor Honeywood and:

RESOLVED that the financial position, as at the end of December 2016, be noted.