6 Revenue Budget Monitoring Report 2024-25 PDF 299 KB
Additional documents:
Decision:
Following
scrutiny, the report was noted.
Minutes:
Members
considered the report as circulated within the agenda pack.
Officers
confirmed that this report shows income and expenditure until June 2024 and
then this data is taken and a projection is made for the end of the financial
year. As this point in time, the projected overspend for the whole of Council
at the year-end is £1.8m
Members
referred to the items identified using the RAG method and queried the status of
the amber items. If they are close to completion or are close to not being
completed. Officers confirmed that items identified as green are completed as
at the end of June. If an item is identified as amber, officers are confident
as at the end of March they will be completed.
Members
queried about the overspends in Education. Further, if there was an indication
about the anticipated level of school reserves as this will impact on the wider
council budget.
In
terms of the overspend, members drew attention to the unattained vacancy
targets. Members queried if there was an ongoing issue with regards to unattained
vacancy targets and what would the impact of achieving those have on the stresses
on staff moving forward? Officers confirmed in terms of schools, they are expected
to increase their deficits by £7.6m by the end of the financial year. Officers
have met with the Director of Education and the Chief Executive to try and
determine what can mitigate this. A report is also scheduled for a future Cabinet
meeting which will
Members
referred to ‘other country parks’ and also specifically The Gnoll. It was noted
that the report is up until the end of June, however references reasons
referring to August. Officers confirmed that officers will use information they
are aware of to predict the position as at the end of the financial year.
Therefore, information will be provided which refers to the whole year.
Members
referred to the item public lighting and the RAG table. The report references
that the £220k saving is unlikely to be achieved due to the price increases, however
the item is currently identified as green on the RAG table. Officers confirmed
that the saving in relation to dimming has been achieved, in terms of the energy
usage of the lights, however because the price has not decreased as much as
anticipated, it is still showing as an overspend. The RAG rating is green due
to the fact that the consumption target has been met, but it shows as an
overspend due to the price of the units, not the usage.
Members referred to the red item on the report, the technical infrastructure modernisation in digital services. Members queried if this is still going ahead and what the explanation is behind the red status. Officers advised that whilst the saving was attached to digital services, the budget for the savings sits within the Environment directorate. Therefore, the savings will not be achieved by digital services, therefore is flagged as red, however the savings itself has been ... view the full minutes text for item 6