Issue - meetings
Medium Term Financial Plan - Quarter 3 Performance Report
Meeting: 29/02/2024 - Cabinet (Item 73)
73 Medium Term Financial Plan Budget Monitoring Report April - December 2023 (Q 3) 
PDF 438 KB
Report of Councillor P R Kerry, Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Strategic Leadership & Finance.
Decision:
RESOLVED
That Cabinet noted the Quarter Three Budget Monitoring position as outlined in the report and detailed in Appendices 1-4 to the report.
REASONS FOR DECISION
To inform Cabinet of the financial position of the Council, following the third quarter’s budget monitoring exercise for the General Fund, the Housing Revenue Account and Capital Programme.
OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED BUT REJECTED
No other options were considered. The report provided monitoring information for Members on the financial position against the Council’s previously approved budget.
Please note that this was not a Key Decision and so can be implemented with immediate effect by officers.
Minutes:
The report to Cabinet updated Members on the Council’s General Fund, Housing Revenue Account and the Capital Programme for the third quarter of the 2023-24 financial year.
Cabinet heard how the General Fund was currently forecast to be underspent by £0.580M. The report explained the reasons for this. In particular, Members were informed about lower employment expenditure, due to staffing vacancies, lower than expected utility and fuel costs, as well as greater than expected income received from Planning Service and other fees. As a consequence of the underspend, Council should not now have to use of any of its Resilience Reserve in order to balance the budget. Members welcomed this.
Cabinet discussed how many local authorities were finding it difficult to fill vacancies. Members were reminded of how the Council was trying to address the problem and in particular, how the Talent Pipeline was being used to develop and retain staff and how the Council’s Agile Working Policy was helping to make the Council more attractive to new staff. Cabinet welcomed the progress which had been made.
RESOLVED
That Cabinet noted the Quarter Three Budget Monitoring position as outlined in the report and detailed in Appendices 1-4 to the report.
REASONS FOR DECISION
To inform Cabinet of the financial position of the Council, following the third quarter’s budget monitoring exercise for the General Fund, the Housing Revenue Account and Capital Programme.
OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED BUT REJECTED
No other options were considered. The report provided monitoring information for Members on the financial position against the Council’s previously approved budget.