Issue - meetings

The Leader’s Portfolio

To consider report FIN/594 of the Head of Corporate Finance, which was referred to the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission on 21 November 2022.

RESOLVED

That the Cabinet

a)         agrees to note the projected outturn for the year 2022/2023 as summarised in report FIN/594.

b)         approves the renaming of, within the capital programme, the Solar PV installations to the Council's operational buildings”, budget to now called “Climate Change Initiatives” budget. 

Reasons for the Recommendations

To report to Members on the projected outturn for the year compared to the approved budget.

The Leader of the Council presented report FIN/594of the Head of Corporate Finance.  The report set out a summary of the Council’s actual revenue and capital spending for the quarters to September 2022 together with the main variations from the approved spending levels and impact on future budgets. It was noted that with regards to the General fund there was a projected variance of £900,000, leading to a transfer from reserves of £1,352,000. On the Capital programme, from a budget of £38m there was a projecting slippage of £1m into future years, whilst the HRA the deficit had increased from £174,000 at Quarter 1 to £218,000 at Quarter 2. 

The Leader also proposed a renaming of a budget within Capital budget, suggesting that the Solar PV installations to the Council's operational buildings, be retitled “Climate Change Initiatives” and that the £60k remains in the budget.

Councillor T Belben presented the Overview and Scrutiny Commission’s comments on the report to the Cabinet following consideration of the matter at its meeting on 21 November 2022 which included that the Commission supported the retitled of the “Climate Change Initiatives” budget.

Councillor Jhans spoke on the report in doing so confirmed his support for the renaming of the Capital budget to the Climate Change Initiatives budget. 

RESOLVED

That the Cabinet

a)         agrees to note the projected outturn for the year 2022/2023 as summarised in report FIN/594.

b)         approves the renaming of, within the capital programme, the Solar PV installations to the Council's operational buildings”, budget to now called “Climate Change Initiatives” budget. 

Reasons for the Recommendations

To report to Members on the projected outturn for the year compared to the approved budget.

To consider FIN/594 of the Head of Corporate Finance.

The Commission considered report FIN/594 of the Head of Corporate Finance. The report set out a summary of the Council’s actual revenue and capital spending for the quarters to September 2022 together with the main variations from the approved spending levels and impact on future budgets.

During the discussion with the Leader of the Council, Head of Corporate Finance and Chief Accountant, the following comments were made:

·         Acknowledgement that for quarter 2 there was a projected variance of £900,000 in the general fund which would lead to a transfer from reserves of £1,352,000.  Similarly, recognition that the deficit on the HRA had increased from £174,000 at quarter 1 to £218,000 at quarter 2.  Confirmation was provided as to the main variances between the two quarters.

·         Recognition that within the capital programme from a budget of £38m there was a projected slippage of £1m into future years across a number of schemes.

·         Clarity sought and obtained on the K2 Crawley income projection reduction.  It was acknowledged that recovery had been challenging and there was still progress to be made in order to have numbers return to pre-pandemic levels.

·         Confirmation was sought as to sub-contractors’ sick pay and any budgetary implications.

·         Explanation was provided on the usage of the Redhill Data Centre and the decommissioning timescale.

·         In the capital programme there was a budget of £60,000 for “Solar PV installations to the Council's operational buildings”.  It was noted that the Cabinet would be requested to rename this scheme to “Climate Change Initiatives” which would allow the Council to progress projects to meet the Council's Climate Change Agenda and Emergency Action Plan.  The Commission unanimously supported this.

RESOLVED

That the Commission noted the report and the additional recommendation documented, and requested that the views expressed during the debate, were fed back to the Cabinet through the Commission’s Comment sheet.