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.