Issue - meetings

Councillor R C Evans Cabinet Member for Council Finance and Governance presented the report of the Director: Finance & HR (Chief Financial Officer) which provided details of the capital programme and use of balances which required formal approval by full Council.

RESOLVED – that the changes to the capital programme and use of balances detailed in Appendix 1 to the report be approved.

The Cabinet Member for Council Finance & Governance presented the report of the Director: Finance and Human Resources.

This was the second financial monitoring report since the beginning of the financial year. There had been additional demands and costs for services and the Council expected to be £0.5 million over budget, this was higher than the position reported in July 2021.

There were total pressures of £5.68 million, with a residual projection of £0.5 million overspend. This did not include any Covid-19 grant funding or the use of any contingency funds.

Variations from the approved budget were primarily in children’s safeguarding & family support and adult social care.

While there were plans from government for an additional £12 billion in funding for health and social care over the coming three years, there was no indication that councils would receive any of the funding.

The government spending review that would inform the Council’s 2022/23 budget and the medium term Service & Financial Planning Strategy was announced after the report being presented was finalised. The outcome of the review would not be known until later on in 2021. This made planning difficult.

Cabinet Members welcomed the report noting that social care continued to be a significant funding issue and called upon the government to do more to solve the issue.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrat/Independent Group noted the significant need for a resolution to social care funding.

The Leader of the Conservative Group sought clarification on the sustainability of borrowing in the long term.

In response to the query of the Leader of the Conservative Group, the Leader of the Council noted that borrowing spread the cost of major projects over the life span of projects and that this was standard practice that allowed other day-to-day operations to continue.

RESOLVED – that

a) The 2021/22 revenue budget position which continued to be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic be noted and recommended that Full Council approve the use of balances detailed in section 5.1

b) The position in relation to capital spend be noted and recommended that Full Council approve the changes to the capital programme detailed in Appendix 3

c) The collection rates for NNDR, council tax and sales ledger be noted.