Issue - meetings
Budget monitoring report 2021-22 Period 8
Meeting: 07/03/2022 - Overview & Scrutiny Committee (Item 8)
8 Budget monitoring report 2021-22 - P9 PDF 196 KB
To review the council’s performance against the strategic goals and provide critical friend challenge to service delivery.
Members are asked to refer to the report included in the Tower Hamlets Council - Agenda for Cabinet on Wednesday, 9th March, 2022, 5.30 p.m.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Committee considered the P9 budget monitoring that report is going to Cabinet on 9th March 2022 which included details about the (i) General Fund Revenue, (ii) Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), (iii) Housing Revenue Account (HRA); and (iv) progress made against savings targets. The mains points arising from the questioning on the presentation are outlined below:
v Agreed that whilst new data shows that cases of Covid have fallen since the peak of the Omicron wave in January, the recent slight increase in infections in those over 55 has shown that the pandemic is not yet over and that there will be further Covid related expenditure in the year.
v Noted that LBTH will have to assess the ongoing pressures into the new year of Covid and that it is expected that there to be more calls on the available funding that LBTH has received instead of any funding being leftover to use next year.
v Noted the projection for the General Fund outturn is for an overspend of £0.1m, which already considers the use of some earmarked reserves in delivering services (i.e., without the use of these reserves there would be a higher forecast overspend). Moreover, given the latest forecast financial position, earmarked and General Fund reserves are consequently projected to reduce; from £212.2m to £189.4m by the end of this financial year.
v Noted that the reserves position of the Council is uncertain pending the closure of the statement of accounts for the period 2016 – 2021.
v Noted that the continuing reduction in reserves is clearly not a sustainable position for the Council given the constraints imposed by the current Medium Term Financial Strategy and the associated need to have net expenditure in line with approved budgets.
v Noted that a briefing note would be provided on technology enabled care to support people to live safely and independently in their own homes.
v Was informed that the continuing reduction in reserves is clearly not a sustainable position for the Council given the constraints imposed by the current Medium Term Financial Strategy and the associated need to have net expenditure in line with approved budgets.
v Noted in regard to the HRA capital spend a significant level of spend is forecast for the last quarter of the year.
Following discussions on the report Chair thanked all those Committee Members in attendance together with (i) Councillor Candida Ronald (Cabinet Member for Resources and the Voluntary Sector) and (ii) Nisar Visram (Director of Finance, Procurement & Audit), for their contributions to the discussions on the General Fund Revenue, Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and progress made against savings targets.