The Committee and noted the report that details the financial outturn position of the Council at the end of Quarter 3 for 2015/16 compared to budget, and service performance against targets.  This included projected year-end position for the (i) General Fund Revenue; (ii) Housing Revenue Account and the (iii) Capital Programme.  The main points of the discussion maybe summarised as follows:

The Committee in considering the report:

·        Noted that there had been Slippage on the programme regarding provision for 2 year olds due to the timescale for resolving lease agreements and procurement/portal issues on the following schemes: Whitehorse Road 1 o'clock club, Bethnal Green Gardens new nursery, Limehouse child care provision and Lincoln Hall playgroup;

·        Was informed that the Adult Services Directorate had reported that there would be an overspend of £1m as a result of savings pressures, there are many factors and assumptions which need to be considered in order to achieve this position at year end. The Committee considered the analysis of these factors and highlights the variances and the risks associated with the budget monitor. It was noted that at present it appears that the current potential reserves held both in the Directorate and centrally would be sufficient to contain the position to an overspend of £1m. However, the Committee was advised that the use of any reserves (apart from growth and inflation) are one-off resources for this financial year only. The main factor it was noted at this juncture was that there are savings of £1m which are held in a central holding code, this forecast assumes that these savings are unlikely to be delivered. This has also been discussed at the Financial Strategy Group (FSG) and it had been agreed that the 2015/16 Medium Term Financial Plan Savings which are not being achieved and being covered by the use of reserves would be highlighted in the budget monitor as a potential directorate overspend; and

·        Noted that with regards to Children’s Services Area the main factor that needs to be noted at this juncture is that there are savings of £0.989m which are held in a central holding code in vote H82, up to this point the forecast had assumed that these savings will either be delivered or receive a target adjustment from corporate resources for slippage of savings or under-delivery, these are now being forecast as an overspend pressure. It was noted that there are however significant risks associated with this figure which need to be reported upwards in the form of potential overspends – prior to the use of reserves. In addition, it was noted that there are budget pressures which relate to Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) which is an area of work which is not receiving any extra funding.