The Head of Financial Services and Head of Business Improvementsubmitted a report to the City Executive Board on 16 June 2016 which provided an update on Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of the financial year and included recommendations on budgetary provision.

The report, appendices, and Finance Panel report of 30 June are attached. The relevant Executive Board minute (18) is attached later in the agenda.

The Board Member will move the recommendation.

Recommendations

The City ExecutiveBoard recommends that Council establish budgetary provision in respect of the new bids show in paragraphs 7 and Appendix 4 of the officers’ report.

Council considered a report to the City Executive Board on 16 June 2016 which provided an update on Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of the financial year and included recommendations on budgetary provision

Council resolved to establish budgetary provision in respect of the new bids show in paragraphs 7 and Appendix 4 of the officers’ report.

The Head of Financial Services and Head of Business Improvementhave submitted a report which provides an update on Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of the financial year.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.         Note the financial outturn and performance of the Council for the year 2015/16 and also the position on risks outstanding as at 31 March 2016;

2.         Agree the carry forward requests outlined at paragraphs 7 and detailed in Appendix 4 and recommend to Council the establishment of budgetary provision in respect of the new bids show in paragraphs 7 and Appendix 4;

3.         Agree the transfers to General Fund earmarked reserves detailed paragraph 7;

4.         Agree the transfers to Housing Revenue Account (HRA) earmarked reserves as detailed in paragraph 9;

5.         Agree the capital carry forwards as detailed in paragraph 13 Appendix 2.

The Head of Financial Services and Head of Business Improvementsubmitted a report which provided an update on Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of the financial year.

The Board Member, Corporate Strategy and Economic Development introduced the report, highlighting the General Fund underspend and the fact that the majority of Corporate performance targets had been delivered as planned.

In discussion the Board reflected on the continuing problems of staff recruitment and retention which impacted the Council’s own services and other employers in the city. The Board was pleased to note the achievement of the following performance targets:

·         64.9% Council spend with local businesses against a 50% target

·         an actual achievement of 637 Tonnes against a target of 454 Tonnes for the implementation of measures to reduce the City Council’s carbon footprint by 5% each year

The Head of Financial Services undertook to provide the Board with a written explanation for the reported overspend on the new Council website (C3053).

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.         Note the financial outturn and performance of the Council for the year 2015/16 and also the position on risks outstanding as at 31 March 2016;

2.         Agree the carry forward requests outlined at paragraphs 7 and detailed in Appendix 4 and recommend to Council the establishment of budgetary provision in respect of the new bids show in paragraphs 7 and Appendix 4;

3.         Agree the transfers to General Fund earmarked reserves detailed paragraph 7;

4.         Agree the transfers to Housing Revenue Account (HRA) earmarked reserves as detailed in paragraph 9;

5.         Agree the capital carry forwards as detailed in paragraph 13 Appendix 2.

The Head of Financial Services and Head of Business Improvement submitted a report to the City Executive Board on 17 March 2016 on the status of Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of Quarter 3, 31 December 2015 and which sought approval for an additional capital budget of £0.150 million for electrical works at Cowley Marsh Depot (paragraph 12 of the report).

The report is included in this agenda. Appendices are published in the City Executive Board agenda of 17 March 2016.

The relevant draft minute of the City Executive Board meeting is attached later in the agenda.

The Board Member will move the recommendations.

Recommendations

The City Executive Board recommends Council to approve an additional capital budget of £0.150 million for electrical works at Cowley Marsh Depot to be funded from the service’s projected underspend.

Council considered a report to the City Executive Board on 17 March 2016 on the status of Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of Quarter 3, 31 December 2015 and which sought approval for an additional capital budget of £0.150 million for electrical works at Cowley Marsh Depot (paragraph 12 of the report).

Council resolved to

approve an additional capital budget of £0.150 million for electrical works at Cowley Marsh Depot to be funded from the service’s projected underspend.

The Head of Financial Services and Head of Business Improvement have submitted a report which updates Members on Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of Quarter 3, 31 December 2015 and seeks approval for an additional capital budget of £0.150 million for electrical works at Cowley Marsh Depot.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.    Note the projected outturn position and the performance and associated risk information contained in the report; and

2.    Recommend Council to approve an additional capital budget of £0.150 million for electrical works at Cowley Marsh Depot to be funded from the service’s projected underspend.

The Head of Financial Services and Head of Business Improvement submitted a report on the status of Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of Quarter 3, 31 December 2015 and which sought approval for an additional capital budget of £0.150 million for electrical works at Cowley Marsh Depot.

The Executive Board Member, Finance, Corporate Asset Management and Public Health presented the report. He highlighted the favourable variance on car park income and commented on two main areas of concern: the continuing pressures of providing support to the homeless and the shortfall on the number of apprenticeships.

The Board acknowledged that the of the government changes to benefits had significant implications for the General Fund and HRA and that it should be recorded as such in the risk register.  The Board also noted with concern the forecast underspend on the Educational Attainment budget, which was exacerbated by the lack of staff resources available at the County Council to work with the City Council to develop expenditure plans.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.       Note the projected outturn position and the performance and associated risk information contained in the report; and

2.       Recommend Council to approve an additional capital budget of £0.150 million for electrical works at Cowley Marsh Depot to be funded from the service’s projected underspend.

Cllr Fooks left the meeting at the end of this item.

The Head of Financial Services and Head of Business Improvement have submitted a report which updates Members on Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of Quarter 2, 30 September 2015.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.         Note the projected outturn position and the performance and associated risk information contained in the report.

The Head of Financial Services and Head of Business Improvement submitted a report which detailed the Council’s projected outturn for finance and performance and the risks faced as at the end of Quarter 2, 30 September 2015.

The Head of Financial Services presented the report and highlighted the following points:

·         The General Fund estimated outturn was estimated to be a £0.136M overspend

·         The Housing Revenue Account was on target to spend to the latest budget

·         The shortfall on the apprenticeships target was in part due to the fact that 6 apprentices have now been appointed to full time roles and 2 apprentices did not complete their probation

·         The main area of risk remained the Housing Revenue Account Business Plan

He explained that the Capital programme outturn position showed a net underspend against budget as a result of the City Executive Board decision in September 2015 to defer some capital projects.  He referred the Board to the supplementary agenda which set out an additional recommendation to lift the temporary moratorium on capital schemes. 

In response to questions about the amber risks the Chief Executive informed the Board that:

·         Resilience of the ICT function -  the detailed project plan for the transfer of the service from the County Council to the new contractor was monitored closely in order to manage the risk

·         Partnership Funding reductions – will have a huge impact on the work the City Council does to tackle homelessness and has the potential to be very expensive for the City Council. The City Council will need to look at options for providing support through the grant allocation budget

·         Recruitment and Retention – officers have already taken some action to address this and are considering taking a more generic approach to recruitment for some posts in areas with multiple or frequent vacancies

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.     Note the projected outturn position and the performance and associated risk information contained in the report;

2.     Agree that, following the preparation of the Consultation Budget for 2016-17, officers should recommence the capital schemes in 2015/16, listed in Table 1, that were deferred at CEB in September.

Cllr Fooks left the meeting at the end of this item.

The Head of Financial Services and the Head of Business Improvement submitted a report to the City Executive Board (relevant sections attached) which updates Members on Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of Quarter 1, 30 June 2015.

This was considered at the City Executive Board meeting on 10 September and the relevant draft minute is attached later in the agenda.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

·         note the projected General Fund outturn of £0.385 million which will be funded from corporate contingencies, the break-even position on the Housing Revenue Account and projected Capital underspend and slippage of £0.921 million

·         note the performance and associated risk positions as set out in paragraphs 11-15;

·         approve a £0.300 million virement from the corporate policy contingency to the Culture service;

·         approve the recommendation to apply a temporary moratorium on General Fund and HRA capital expenditure in accordance with paragraphs 14 and 15.

The Board member will present the report and recommendations.

Recommendations

The City Executive Board recommends Council to:

1.    approve the inclusion of an additional budget of £115,289 for parks works in the Capital Programme to be financed from external grant funding.

Council had before it relevant sections of a report to the City Executive Board  which updated Members on Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of Quarter 1, 30 June 2015 and the recommendations of the City Executive Board meeting on 10 September 2015.

Council resolved to approve the inclusion of an additional budget of £115,289 for parks works in the Capital Programme to be financed from external grant funding.

The Head of Financial Services and the Head of Business Improvement have submitted a report which updates Members on Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of Quarter 1, 30 June 2015.

Officer Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.         Note the projected General Fund outturn of £0.385 million which will be funded from corporate contingencies, the break-even position on the Housing Revenue Account and projected Capital underspend and slippage of £0.921 million

2.         Note the performance and associated risk positions as set out in paragraphs 11-15;

3.         Approve a £0.300 million virement from the corporate policy contingency to the Culture service;

4.         Recommend to Council to resolve that additional budget of £115,289 for parks works be included in the Capital Programme to be financed from external grant funding; and

5.         Approve the recommendation to apply a temporary moratorium on General Fund and HRA capital expenditure in accordance with paragraphs 14 and 15.

The Head of Financial Services and the Head of Business Improvement submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) which detailed the Council’s projected outturn for finance and performance and the risks faced at the end of Quarter 1, 30 June 2015.

Councillor Turner, Board Member for Finance, Corporate Asset Management and Public Health presented the report.  He said that the overall position was satisfactory but drew attention to Recommendation 5 which was in response to the Chancellor’s July Budget Statement proposals which would significant ramifications for the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan and the Housing Revenue Account.  He said that the Council needed to be cautious at this stage and that it was hoped that there would be greater certainty about the situation at the time of the budget consultation.

The Board noted that the Scrutiny Finance Panel would be meeting to scrutinise the budget proposals and agreed that this should include the proposed deferment of some capital projects.

The Head of Financial Services undertook to provide a written response to Cllr Fooks’ query regarding the % estimated savings that relate to the total budget.

The Leader of the Council expressed concern about the following Financial Services performance indicators:

·         % of invoices paid on time – currently 85.2% of invoices paid on time against a target of 98%;

·         Time to process new benefit claims – currently at 15.66 days against a target of 14 days.

He acknowledged the hard work of the Financial Services staff but stressed that these were performance indicators for two very important Council functions which had a direct impact on residents and businesses. 

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.         Note the projected General Fund outturn of £0.385 million which will be funded from corporate contingencies, the break-even position on the Housing Revenue Account and projected Capital underspend and slippage of £0.921 million

2.         Note the performance and associated risk positions as set out in paragraphs 11-15;

3.         Approve a £0.300 million virement from the corporate policy contingency to the Culture service;

4.         Recommend to Council to resolve that additional budget of £115,289 for parks works be included in the Capital Programme to be financed from external grant funding; and

5.         Approve the recommendation to apply a temporary moratorium on General Fund and HRA capital expenditure in accordance with paragraphs 14 and 15.

Cllr Turner left the meeting at the end of this item.

The Scrutiny Officer tabled the report which detailed the outcomes at 30 June 2015 (Q1 2015/16) for a set of corporate indicators which the Committee had agreed to monitor.

The Committee raised the following queries:

·         BIT022: Level of efficiency savings – why was this a Green rating when it had 2 Red arrows for the year on year and year end trends?

·         BV016a: Percentage of employees with a disability – which external partners had taken part in the workshops?

·         LG002: Achieve the electoral registration rate target – did the Green rating take account of the known problems in early autumn in registering new university intake?  How did this rating relate to boundary changes? What was the methodology used?

·         PC027: Increase the number of people engaging with the Council’s social media accounts – why is the target lower this year?

·         NI192: Household waste recycled and composted (YTD) – further explanation on the data requested.

·         LP106: To increase participation at our leisure centres by target groups – why was this a Red rating and how does it relate to the evidence presented in the Leisure and Wellbeing Strategy?

·         BI002a: The number of training places and jobs created as a result of the Council’s investment and leadership – what were the reasons for this being an Amber rating?

The Scrutiny Officer undertook to circulate written responses to these questions.