Issue - meetings

To seek approval of the allocation of the overall 2023/24 General Fund revenue variance along with a number of proposed budget adjustments in 2024/25.

RESOLVED that Cabinet -

(a)    notes the high level Financial Outturn Position, as set out in the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.9) and the initial favourable General Fund Revenue variance of £1.829m for the year, which is currently held within the Revenue Commitments Reserve;

(b)    agrees the use of the General Fund Outturn for the Year of £1.829m, as set out in Appendix A (Section 1a);

(c)    endorses the use of existing budget of £0.144m to provide financial support to Citizens Advice Tendring (CAT) in 2024/25, as set out within Appendix A (Section 1b);

(d)    in respect of the additional £0.259m set aside for reinvestment in the Parking Service, agrees a delegation to the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm to utilise this funding during the year;

(e)    in respect of the additional £0.100m made available to support the Waste, Recycling and Street Cleansing Contract, agrees a delegation to the Corporate Director (Operations and Delivery), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for the Environment, to utilise the additional proposed budget to support the work associated with the options appraisal / tender activities for the Waste and Street Cleansing Contract;

(f)     in respect of the additional £0.100m made available to support the Seasonal Grounds Maintenance and Cleansing Costs, agrees a delegation to the Corporate Director (Operations and Delivery), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for the Environment and the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm to utilise the additional proposed budget to support any associated work; 

(g)    in respect of the £0.150m made available to support the Walton-on-the-Naze Lifestyles Facility projects associated with the Swimming Pool Grant Funded Capital Projects, agrees a delegation to the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm to determine the business case and associated allocation of this funding;

(h)    in respect of the contribution of £0.144m to CAT, agrees a delegation to the Leader of the Council, in consultation with the Assistant Director (Partnerships) and the Monitoring Officer, to extend the current Subsidy Scheme for 2024/25 (along the same principles of the decisions of Cabinet in July 2023) before any payment is made along with other associated governance arrangements ahead of 2025/26 as required;    

(i)     agrees the budget adjustments for 2024/25, as set out in Appendix A (Section 2);

(j)     agrees the establishment of a Corporate Investment Fund (CIF) along with the associated budget adjustments for 2024/25, as set out in Appendix A (Section 3), which includes the three initial allocations from this fund; 

(k)    after the further review of Carry Forwards from 2023/24 that for any items subsequently not approved the associated amount shall be transferred to the CIF;

(l)     notes the updates previously requested by Cabinet that relate to the two carry forwards from 2022/23, as set out within this report;

(m)  agrees a delegation to the Council’s Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Corporate Finance and Governance Portfolio Holder, to adjust the outturn position for 2023/24 along with any corresponding adjustment to earmarked reserves as a direct result of any  ...  view the full decision text for item 38

Earlier on in the meeting as detailed under Minute 24 above, Councillor Barry had declared an interest in agenda item 17 (report A.9) insofar as the report mentioned the Brightlingsea Lido of which he was a Trustee.

Cabinet considered a report of the Corporate Finance and Governance Portfolio Holder (A.9), which sought its approval of the allocation of the overall 2023/24 General Fund revenue variance along with a number of proposed budget adjustments in 2024/25.

Cabinet was informed that the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Governance had agreed the overall outturn position for 2023/24 on 17 July 2024, with a high level summary of the General Fund revenue position set out below:-

Some key highlights in the Portfolio Holder’s decision were as follows:

1)  the favourable variance for the year of £1.829m was currently being held in the Revenue Commitments Reserve;

2)  carry forwards totalling £9.879m that had been requested by Services had been agreed, with a number of carry forwards totalling £2.732m remaining subject to further review, with the outcome of this review being reported separately in the year. In respect of any carry forwards subsequently not approved, they would be added to the overall outturn variance for the year that could then be considered alongside the development of the forecast / financial performance reports during the year; and 

3)  a number of recommendations to Cabinet relating to the potential allocation of the variance of £1.829mhighlighted in the table above were proposed with the full resolution as follows:

(f) notes the overall General Fund outturn variance of £1.829m for 2023/24 that is  being carried forward via the Revenue Commitments Reserve, and:

i)    recommends to Cabinet that £0.259m of this overall General Fund variance that relates to the net outturn surplus on Off-Street Parking ‘Account’ is set aside for investment in that Service;

ii)   agrees that the remaining balance of £1.570m is set aside to support the items included in Table 3 within the report and that final proposals be recommended to Cabinet when they consider the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Governance’s Outturn report at their meeting on 26 July 2024.

In respect of the items highlighted in 3) above, the final proposed adjustments are included within Appendix A (Section 1) to this Portfolio Holder report(A.9).

The Portfolio Holder’s report also provided a timely opportunity to briefly reflect on the in-year position for 2024/25, with some further proposed adjustments set out within Appendix A (Section 2).

In respect of 2024/25, it was also proposed to bring together a number of existing budgets to create a ‘Corporate Investment Fund’ to support the long term forecast and to enable key investments in ‘spend to save initiatives’, delivering priorities and supporting existing services. The proposed adjustments were set out within Appendix A (Section 3). Although further use of this fund would be subject to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38