DECISION

1.    Note the council’s position and consequent forecast outturn as at 30^th September 2023, against General Fund Budget (based on the previous structures), Dedicated Schools Budget, Housing Revenue Account and earmarked reserves for 2023-24. 

2.    Note the actions taken to date to address the demand pressures as set out in Appendix A to the report, Section 3.2.

3.    Note the progress made against the 2023-24 savings targets, based on forecasts as of 30^th September 2023.

4.    Note the council’s forecast outturn position against General Fund and Housing Revenue Account capital programme approved budgets for 2023-24, based on forecasts as of 30^th September 2023.

5.    Note that there are no equalities implications directly resulting from this report, as set out in Section 4 of the report.

Action by

CORPORATE DIRECTOR RESOURCES (J. LORRAINE)

Interim Director of Finance, Procurement and Audit (J. Harrison)

Head of Strategic Finance (C. Leslie)

The pre decision scrutiny questions and tabled responses were noted.

Councillor Saied Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Resources and the Cost of Living, introduced the report that introduced the report that presented the forecast year end outturn compared to the budget as at 30^th September 2023 (Period 6/Quarter 2) for the General Fund, Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), Housing Revenue Account (HRA), progress against savings targets, the council’s capital programme and provides projections on General Fund earmarked reserves. Councillor Ahmed explained that a challenging local government environment was making it particularly challenging in areas such as homelessness support and adult social care. He outlined the main areas of variance and briefly explained the reasons for each.

Julie Lorraine, Corporate Director Resources added further context. She asked the Mayor and Cabinet to note that the forecast reflected the position if the Council took no action to address it. However, there was a lot of work behind the scenes to act quickly and with agility to address overspends and manage pressures.

At the invitation of the Mayor, Cabinet members and relevant corporate directors introduced the key variances that fell within their portfolio areas and explained the drivers for each. It was noted that the Council had limited ability to contain overspends that related to core statutory duties.

The Mayor offered his thanks to Cabinet members and officers for their contributions. With regards to the capital forecast, he stressed it was of paramount importance that any potential slippages or additional costs were contained.

RESOLVED that the Mayor in Cabinet:

1.    Notes the council’s position and consequent forecast outturn as at 30^th September 2023, against General Fund Budget (based on the previous structures), Dedicated Schools Budget, Housing Revenue Account and earmarked reserves for 2023-24. 

2.    Notes the actions taken to date to address the demand pressures as set out in Appendix A to the report, Section 3.2.

3.    Notes the progress made against the 2023-24 savings targets, based on forecasts as of 30^th September 2023.

4.    Notes the council’s forecast outturn position against General Fund and Housing Revenue Account capital programme approved budgets for 2023-24, based on forecasts as of 30^th September 2023.

5.    Notes that there are no equalities implications directly resulting from this report, as set out in Section 4 of the report.