The Head of Finance and Procurement introduced the report as set-out in the agenda papers.  She stated that the final revenue and capital outturn position for 2022/23 was a revenue underspend of £29k and capital expenditure of just under £7m.  The level of reserves at year-end was £15m and requested the rollover of capital budgets of £7.187m as set-out in appendix I of the report.  Whilst the Council was very close to budget, £1.6m had been taken from reserves to ensure a balanced budget which was not as much as had been forecast in earlier in-year monitoring reports.  The Head of Finance and Procurement said that the final figures showed an improvement on the 2022/23 forecast and the main areas of improvement were within: homelessness; parking income; and investment income. 

The Head of Finance and Procurement reported that delegation was sought for the Director of Resources to review the roll-over requirements with relevant budget managers and amend the capital programme where appropriate. 

The Head of Finance and Procurement spoke about the Finance Briefing held on 5 July 2023 and said that a link to the recording of the briefing would be forwarded to all Members.  

The Chair invited questions from Members, and points raised included:

·         Did not consider enough information was included in the report with regard to the underspends;

·         the report did not contain criteria on the rules and regulations in respect of agreeing underspends;

·         sought an amendment to recommendation (5) of the report that any rollovers came back to Policy and Resources Committee for sign-off;

·         swapping between revenue and capital budgets on an ad-hoc basis was not good practice;

·         referred to in Appendix 1 and asked whether some of the projects would be rolled-over so the projects could continue?;

·         concerned that Members were being asked to “nod through” retrospective spend;

·         suggested that answers to some of the questions raised at this meeting be included within the finance training;

·         confused and frustrated considering items where the decision had already been made.  Aware that other Council’s did not discuss items for noting they were merely circulated to Members;

·         the Constitution Working Group should consider whether it was necessary that items for noting were considered by the relevant committee or just circulated for information; and

·         needed to ensure that Policy and Resources Committee meetings were in-line with the relevant quarters to enable Members to consider the most up-to-date information.

In response, the Director of Resources clarified that roll-overs were not underspends, but represented reprofiling of the agreed capital budget.  In some cases the budget had been delivered but spent in revenue rather than capital and the delegation was just to reconcile that element.

The Director of Resources explained that it was not possible to spend capital funding on revenue unless permission was sought from the Secretary of State for transformation purposes only.  All the Council’s reserves were from revenue funding unless it was a capital receipt which fell within the capital financing regulations. 

The Director of Resources confirmed that roll-over requests were part of the outturn report and not retrospective spend.   She said that the Council’s constitution might need to be updated as roll-overs were for noting only and the Council had already agreed to spend that money when agreeing the capital programme.

Councillor Angela Harrison moved the following motion: That the Constitution Working Group looked at what information Members received in relation to budgets and when it was received.  This was seconded by Councillor Mike Whiting.  On being put to the vote the motion was agreed.

Resolved:

(1)      That the revenue underspend of £29k be noted.

(2)      That the level of reserves at 31 March 2023 as detailed in table 3 of the report be noted.

(3)      That the capital slippage of £7.187m and capital expenditure of £6,967k against the Revised Budget as detailed in table 4 and appendix I of the report be noted.

(4)      That the capital rollovers of £7.187m as detailed in appendix I of the report be approved.

(5)      That delegated authority be given to the Director of Resources to work with budget holders to review the rollover requirements and amend the capital programme as necessary, to make best use of capital funding streams and minimise the impact on the Council’s financial resources.

(6)      That the Constitution Working Group looked at what information Members received in relation to budgets and when it was received.