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 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.

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 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 (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.