Issue - meetings

Budget Monitoring Period 4 2023 - 2024

Meeting: 13/09/2023 - Overview & Scrutiny Committee (Item 44)

44 BUDGET MONITORING P4 2023/24 PDF 840 KB

BUDGET MONITORING P4 2023/24
Executive Summary	This report summarises the budget monitoring position for the revenue account, capital programme and reserves statement to the end of July 2023. The overall position at the end of July 2023 shows a £3,905,574 underspend for the current financial year on the revenue account, this is however currently expected to deliver a full year overspend of £25,000.
Options considered	Not applicable
Consultation(s)	Cabinet Member Section 151 officer Budget Managers
Recommendations	It is recommended that Cabinet: 1) Note the contents of the report and the current budget monitoring position. Recommend the following to Full Council: 2) That a new capital budget of £0.050m is added to the capital programme to fund repair works to the Marrams Footpath, with funding coming from the Council’s Capital Receipts. 3) That a new capital budget of £0.370m is added to the capital programme to demolish and rebuild the Public Conveniences at Albert Street, Holt with £0.120m to be funded from an insurance claim and £0.250m to be funded from the Council’s Capital Receipts. 4) That a new capital budget of £1.040m is added to the capital programme in respect of the Local Authority Housing Fund. 5) That the current Provision of Temporary Accommodation Budget is increased by £0.178m to £0.983m for 2023/24 following receipt of the Local Authority Housing Fund grant. 6) That a capital budget of £1.458m be added to the capital programme for the Rural England Prosperity Fund expenditure and £0.266m be added to the capital programme for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund expenditure as shown in paragraph 4.7 and note that this will be funded by external funding. 7) That a capital budget of £14.610m be added to the capital programme as shown in paragraph 4.8 and note that the project will be funded by external funding.
Reasons for recommendations	To update members on the current budget monitoring position for the Council.
Background papers	Finance system budget monitoring reports \\fs\Accounts\Budget Monitoring\BUDGET MONITORING\2023-24\Period 4\Report\Final Report & Appendicies\Budget Monitoring P4 2023-24.doc
Wards affected	All
Cabinet member(s)	Cllr Lucy Shires
Contact Officer	s151 Tina Stanley, Tina.stankley@north-norfolk.gov.uk

Links to key documents:
Corporate Plan:	Budgets set to support the Corporate Plan objectives.
Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)	Budget process in line with MTFS
Council Policies & Strategies	Service Budgets set in line with the council policies and strategies

Corporate Governance:
Is this a key decision	no
Has the public interest test been applied	Not an exempt item
Details of any previous decision(s) on this matter	N/A

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cllr L Shires – Portfolio Holder for Finance and Assets introduced the report and stated that the budget position could fluctuate significantly, but the projected full year overspend of £25k was expected to come from IT costs and returns from the cancelled Mammoth Marathon. She added that she welcomed comments on the format of the report to ensure Members fully understood the financial information provided.

Questions and Discussion

i. Cllr C Cushing noted that there had been a number of additions to the budget since February, and asked whether there was a systemic reason for this, and whether the Finance Team were able to cope with the significant changes. Cllr L Shires replied that on issues such as the Marram’s footpath expenditure, it was a matter of health and safety, though it was right to ask why the Council had not been more proactive in maintaining the footpath to avoid unexpected costs. It was noted that public conveniences in Holt had been hit by a car, and additional funding was required to repair and improve the facility. Cllr L Shires stated that many other budget additions were the result of external funding received, and would not negatively impact the Council’s finances.

ii. Cllr C Cushing stated that external audit sign-offs were known to be two years behind schedule, and in addition to EY’s limited resources there had also been resource limitations in the Finance Team, and sought assurance that the Team would be given adequate resource to meet requirements. He added that the report contained much more information than was required for a quarterly update, and suggested that it may help to make reports more concise going forward. Cllr L Shires replied that a fine balance had to be found on the level of information provided as it was sometimes helpful to include all information to be able to drill down into issues. She added that she did aim to make the reports as accessible as possible, and additional training could be arranged if required.

iii. The Chairman referred to the backlog in annual accounts sign-off and asked whether the financial starting position of each year could be considered sound, and not subject to change. He added that this represented a risk which had not been recognised in section nine of the report, and asked whether there was a reason for this. Cllr J Toye stated that this issue was discussed at GRAC where it had been acknowledged as a risk, but remained hopeful that the 20/21 accounts would be signed-off by the end of the week, with an expectation for the 21/22 accounts to be signed-off by March 2024. He added that despite the concerns, the Council was clear of many financial issues faced by other authorities. It was noted that several accounting disagreements on the annual accounts which had delayed sign-off related to recording practices rather than financial discrepancies, with a pension fund allocation the final issue that had to be agreed for sign-off. The Chairman acknowledged the ... view the full minutes text for item 44

Meeting: 04/09/2023 - Cabinet (Item 10.)

10. Budget Monitoring Period 4 2023 - 2024 PDF 802 KB

BUDGET MONITORING P4 2023/24
Executive Summary		This report summarises the budget monitoring position for the revenue account, capital programme and reserves statement to the end of July 2023. The overall position at the end of July 2023 shows a £3,905,574 underspend for the current financial year on the revenue account, this is however currently expected to deliver a full year overspend of £25,000.
Options considered		Not applicable
Consultation(s)		Cabinet Member Section 151 officer Budget Managers
Recommendations		It is recommended that Cabinet: 1) Note the contents of the report and the current budget monitoring position. Recommend the following to Full Council: 2) That a new capital budget of £0.050m is added to the capital programme to fund repair works to the Marrams Footpath, with funding coming from the Council’s Capital Receipts. 3) That a new capital budget of £0.370m is added to the capital programme to demolish and rebuild the Public Conveniences at Albert Street, Holt with £0.120m to be funded from an insurance claim and £0.250m to be funded from the Council’s Capital Receipts. 4) That a new capital budget of £1.040m is added to the capital programme in respect of the Local Authority Housing Fund. 5) That the current Provision of Temporary Accommodation Budget is increased by £0.178m to £0.983m for 2023/24 following receipt of the Local Authority Housing Fund grant. 6) That a capital budget of £1.458m be added to the capital programme for the Rural England Prosperity Fund expenditure and £0.266m be added to the capital programme for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund expenditure as shown in paragraph 4.7 and note that this will be funded by external funding. 7) That a capital budget of £14.610m be added to the capital programme as shown in paragraph 4.8 and note that the project will be funded by external funding.
Reasons for recommendations		To update members on the current budget monitoring position for the Council.
Background papers		Finance system budget monitoring reports \\fs\Accounts\Budget Monitoring\BUDGET MONITORING\2023-24\Period 4\Report\Final Report & Appendicies\Budget Monitoring P4 2023-24.doc
Wards affected	All
Cabinet member(s)	Cllr Lucy Shires
Contact Officer	s151 Tina Stanley, Tina.stankley@north-norfolk.gov.uk

Links to key documents:
Corporate Plan:	Budgets set to support the Corporate Plan objectives.
Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)	Budget process in line with MTFS
Council Policies & Strategies	Service Budgets set in line with the council policies and strategies,

Corporate Governance:
Is this a key decision		no
Has the public interest test been applied		Not an exempt item
Details of any previous decision(s) on this matter		N/A

Additional documents:

Decision:

Decision

RESOLVED

To recommend to Full Council:

1) That a new capital budget of £0.050m is added to the capital programme to fund repair works to the Marrams Footpath, with funding coming from the Council’s Capital Receipts.

2) That a new capital budget of £0.370m is added to the capital programme to demolish and rebuild the Public Conveniences at Albert Street, Holt with £0.120m to be funded from an insurance claim and £0.250m to be funded from the Council’s Capital Receipts.

3) That a new capital budget of £1.040m is added to the capital programme in respect of the Local Authority Housing Fund.

4) That the current Provision of Temporary Accommodation Budget is increased by £0.178m to £0.983m for 2023/24 following receipt of the Local Authority Housing Fund grant.

5) That a capital budget of £1.458m be added to the capital programme for the Rural England Prosperity Fund expenditure and £0.266m be added to the capital programme for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund expenditure as shown in paragraph 4.7 and note that this will be funded by external funding.

6) That a capital budget of £14.610m be added to the capital programme as shown in paragraph 4.8 and note that the project will be funded by external funding.

Reason for the decision:

To update members on the current budget monitoring position for the Council.