Councillor Muldowney introduced the report and stated that it updates Cabinet on the Council’s financial performance last year.  Councillor Muldowney commented that the Council was under a different administration last year.

Councillor V Morris Cook stated that she was concerned about the slippage in capital programmes.

Councillor J Kent permitted Councillor Speight to speak as a non-executive member. Councillor Speight expressed concern at the number of slippages in the final quarter and in particular Children’s Services. Councillor Speight sought assurance this would be addressed as the children are our future and there was a lot of pressure on Children’s health services and they are looking to make substantial investments in this and do not want to be running into problems where there isn’t enough money or they go over budget.

Councillor Muldowney responded that in September there will be a report covering the projected spend in that department.

Councillor J Kent stated that the Council is two years into intervention following the largest financial crash of any Local Authority in the history of this country. The Government support of over £200 million to bridge our budget is truly shocking. This is not money that is being given to us, it is borrowed and has to be paid back. On the first day of this financial year we were already £17 million down.

RESOLVED:

1.1.        That Cabinet notes the revenue outturn positions for:

·       General Fund - exceptional government support of £206.7m is required to balance 2023/24 revenue budget,

·       Dedicated Schools Budget – underspend of £1.2m (transferred to ring-fenced reserve)

·       Public Health – underspend of £0.3m (transferred to ring-fenced reserve),

·       Housing Revenue Account (HRA) – underspend of 1.6m (transferred to ring-fenced reserve),

·       Capital programme -General Fund slippage of £8.4m, HRA slippage of £3.2m,

1.2.        That Cabinet note the reserves position (as set out in section 6 and Appendix 2) and approve net movement to reserves of £19.1m which includes the additional contribution to the Transformation reserve of £2.5m (as per para 3.6)

1.3.        That Cabinet comment on the capital budget additions set out in section 8

1.4.        That Cabinet note an action plan will be drawn up by officers to address the capital programme slippage set out in section 8 and that this will be reported into the Finance Recovery Board 

Reason for the decision: as outlined in the report

This decision is subject to call-in