Agenda item

To seek approval of the allocation of the overall 2020/21 General Fund revenue variance and to provide an update on the Council’s financial performance in 2021/22.

RESOLVED - (1) That in respect of the Outturn Position for 2020/21, Cabinet:

(a)   agrees that the total of £0.536m requested by services can be retained by them via the associated carry forward requests, as set out in Appendix A to item A.6 of the Report of the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder; and

(b) after considering the recommendations of the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance, agrees:

(i)    that subject to the approval of an associated Project Initiation Document /  Business case, it is approved, in principle, that the necessary remedial works be carried out at the Weeley crematorium funded by using the overall General Fund Outturn Variance for the year of £1.539m;

(ii)        that, subject to b(i) above, the approval of the Project Initiation Document / Business Case associated with the proposed remedial works at the Weeley Crematorium be delegated to the Portfolio Holder for Environment and Public Spaces and the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance; and

(iii)       that £2.060m be allocated to support the recent bid to the Government’s ‘Levelling Up Fund’, funded by the use of amounts identified within the 2021/22 budget.

(2)   That, in respect of the Council’s Financial Performance for 2021/22, Cabinet:

(a)   notes the high level summary of the in-year position for 2021/22 to date and the long term forecast update for 2022/23 and beyond; 

(b)   agrees the proposed in-year adjustments to the budget, as set out in Appendix B to item A.6 of the Report of the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder;

(c)   agrees an exemption to the Council’s procurement rules in order to enable a Service Level Agreement to be entered into with Essex County Council to enable the Council to ‘buy in’ various procurement services from them to support its day-to-day operational activities and the delivery of one-off projects, as necessary; and

(d)   authorises the Assistant Director (Finance and IT) and the Deputy Chief Executive to agree the terms of the Service Level Agreement, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance.

Cabinet had before it a report of the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder (A.6) which sought its approval of the allocation of the overall 2020/21 General Fund revenue variance and which also provided it with an update on the Council’s financial performance in 2021/22.

Section 1 - Outturn for 2020/21

It was reported that the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance had agreed the overall outturn position for 2020/21 on 30 July 2021, with a high level summary of the General Fund revenue position as follows:

Note: The figures above exclude the revenue contribution to the capital programme, which was set out separately within the outturn report.

The variance for the year of £1.539m had been agreed by the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance on 30 July 2021 as part of the overall consideration of the outturn position for the year.

Members were informed that the £0.536m that had been requested by services to be carried forward at the end of the year had been subject to further review as the various items did not meet the associated qualifying criteria. As such they were in effect a ‘bid’ by services to retain a proportion of the overall favourable outturn variance of £2.075m before any further allocations were considered. The various items were set out in Appendix A to the Portfolio Holder’s report and it was therefore being proposed by the Portfolio Holder that of the items be agreed.

As a consequence of the above, the Portfolio Holder’s report therefore presented for consideration the £0.536m requested to be carried forward by services and the allocation of the remaining variance for the year of £1.539m.

In addition, the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance had also agreed the following two recommendations that Cabinet were now requested to consider, namely:

-     that the overall General Fund Outturn Variance for the year of £1.539m be used to support the essential works at the Weeley Crematorium; and

-     that £2.060m be allocated to support the recent bid to the Government’s ‘Levelling Up Fund’, funded by the use of amounts identified within the 2021/22 budget.

Cabinet was made aware that, in terms of the essential works at the crematorium, the cremators had become increasingly unreliable following the demise of the company who had supplied and fitted the existing cremators as well as providing on-going maintenance support via an associated contract. Following an independent assessment of the existing cremators, it was now recommended that a full replacement was the best and most cost effective option in order to ensure a reliable cremator service in future.

Section 2 - Financial Performance Update 2021/22

It was reported that a small number of in-year budget adjustments were set out in Appendix B to the Portfolio Holder’s report, one of which reflected a proposed service level agreement being entered into with Essex County Council (ECC) to enable the Council to ‘buy in’ procurement services from them.

Cabinet was informed that the long term forecast continued to provide flexibility in terms of managing the various risks to the forecast and it was highlighted that £3.753m remained in the Forecast Risk Fund at the end of 2020/21, which was in-line with the planned position going into 2022/23 and beyond.

Members were made aware that the outturn report considered by the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance and referred to above, included a detailed summary of the various COVID 19 grants paid to the Council by the Government / ECC. Associated activities remained on-going in 2021/22 and a detailed update would be provided as part of the financial performance report for Quarter 2 that would be presented to Cabinet in November 2021.

Having considered all of the information and proposals contained in the Portfolio Holder’s report:-

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

RESOLVED - (1) That in respect of the Outturn Position for 2020/21, Cabinet:

(a)   agrees that the total of £0.536m requested by services can be retained by them via the associated carry forward requests, as set out in Appendix A to item A.6 of the Report of the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder; and

(b) after considering the recommendations of the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance, agrees:

(i)    that subject to the approval of an associated Project Initiation Document /  Business case, it is approved, in principle, that the necessary remedial works be carried out at the Weeley crematorium funded by using the overall General Fund Outturn Variance for the year of £1.539m;

(ii)   that, subject to b(i) above, the approval of the Project Initiation Document / Business Case associated with the proposed remedial works at the Weeley Crematorium be delegated to the Portfolio Holder for Environment and Public Spaces and the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance; and

(iii)   that £2.060m be allocated to support the recent bid to the Government’s ‘Levelling Up Fund’, funded by the use of amounts identified within the 2021/22 budget.

(2)   That, in respect of the Council’s Financial Performance for 2021/22, Cabinet:

(a)   notes the high level summary of the in-year position for 2021/22 to date and the long term forecast update for 2022/23 and beyond; 

(b)   agrees the proposed in-year adjustments to the budget, as set out in Appendix B to item A.6 of the Report of the Corporate Finance & Governance Portfolio Holder;

(c)   agrees an exemption to the Council’s procurement rules in order to enable a Service Level Agreement to be entered into with Essex County Council to enable the Council to ‘buy in’ various procurement services from them to support its day-to-day operational activities and the delivery of one-off projects, as necessary; and

(d)   authorises the Assistant Director (Finance and IT) and the Deputy Chief Executive to agree the terms of the Service Level Agreement, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance.