Agenda item

Cllr Lynden Stowe provided an update to Cabinet on the year-end forecast for the 2023/24County Council’s Revenue and Capital Budget and reported on the Council’s performance and risk during Quarter 1 of 2023/24.

Having considered all of the information, Cabinet noted the report and

RESOLVED to:

1. Note the forecast revenue year end position based on July 2023 forecasts for the 2023/24 financial year shows a balanced position.

2. Note delivery of £16.076 million of savings against a target of £21.101 million in 2023/24 or 76.18% of target.

3. Note the forecast capital year end position as at the end of June 2023, forecast made in July 2023, of £156.524 million against a current budget of £156.567 million.

4. Approve a transfer of £9.4 million to the Rates Retention Reserve as a result of additional un-ringfenced s31 grant.

5. Approve a transfer of £8.320 million to the Pay and Prices Reserves as a result of additional electricity income from the Energy from Waste facility.

6. Approve the £1.582 million increase to the capital programme as detailed in Section C.

7. Note Section D Treasury Management Prudential Indicators - a new requirement for 2023/24

8. Consider this report of the Council’s performance and risks and identifies any areas of concern requiring further analysis, assurance or action.

6.1      Cllr Lynden Stowe provided an update to Cabinet on the year-end forecast for the 2023/24County Council’s Revenue and Capital Budget and reported on the Council’s performance and risk during Quarter 1 of 2023/24.

6.2      The forecast revenue year-end position for quarter 1 of the 2023/24 financial year showed a balanced position. The largest variances were the £4.970 million forecast overspend in Children and Families, offset by favourable variances of £4.557 million in Economy, Environment & Infrastructure, and £1.507 million in Technical & Countywide budgets.?? The overspend in Children and Families continued to be primarily against the external placements budget, due to increasing numbers of children in care and the cost of placements due to limited market availability, both of which were national issues.

6.3      The council was forecasting delivery of £16.076 million of savings in 2023/24, against a target of £21.101 million in 2023/24 (76.18%).?£5.025 million savings were at risk, predominantly within Adult Social Care.? 

6.4      With regards to Capital, the forecast outturn position for 2023/24 was £156.524 million, against the budget of £156.567 million. The overall capital programme was recommended to increase by £1.582 million, as set out in section C of the report. 

6.5      The report showed that, despite a continued challenging context of increased demand for our services and the significant transformation or improvement work that was being undertaken across the organisation, the Council was achieving the goals it had set ourselves, and delivering the priorities set out in our Council Strategy. 

6.6      In Quarter 1, the Council had seen workforce pressures around turnover and vacancies ease in a number of areas of the organisation. This would support the right conditions for the ongoing delivery of objectives.  The majority of strategic priorities were on target, with delivery on track. For the small number of objectives rated as at risk or compromised, mitigating actions had been identified. Just over two-thirds of performance measures were performing well.

6.7      The report also highlighted areas of performance where the council wished to push for improvement. Road traffic incidents on the County’s roads remained high. Through the new Road Safety Strategy the Council wanted to make sure it was doing all it could to prevent avoidable accidents and bring down the number of people killed and injured on our roads. There were still challenges in the number of suspensions and exclusions in our schools and school attendance for our children in care.  In addition, due to significant demand for Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) assessments, the Council continued to face pressures in completing those in a timely way and had seen an increase in complaints upheld as a result.

Having considered all of the information, Cabinet noted the report and

RESOLVED to:

1. Note the forecast revenue year end position based on July 2023 forecasts for the 2023/24 financial year shows a balanced position.

2. Note delivery of £16.076 million of savings against a target of £21.101 million in 2023/24 or 76.18% of target.

3. Note the forecast capital year end position as at the end of June 2023, forecast made in July 2023, of £156.524 million against a current budget of £156.567 million.

4. Approve a transfer of £9.4 million to the Rates Retention Reserve as a result of additional un-ringfenced s31 grant.

5. Approve a transfer of £8.320 million to the Pay and Prices Reserves as a result of additional electricity income from the Energy from Waste facility.

6. Approve the £1.582 million increase to the capital programme as detailed in Section C.

7. Note Section D Treasury Management Prudential Indicators - a new requirement for 2023/24

8. Consider this report of the Council’s performance and risks and identify any areas of concern requiring further analysis, assurance or action.