Agenda item

To consider a report by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets (copy enclosed) detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed budget strategy.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)       note the budgets set for 2018/19 and progress against the agreed budget strategy, and

(b)       issues a statement to call on both UK and Welsh Governments to recognise the difficulties of delivering statutory services in the current financial climate and ask that they act to ensure that essential services are funded such that they are sustainable for this and future generations.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill presented the report detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed budget strategy.  He provided a summary of the Council’s financial position as follows –

·        the net revenue budget for 2018/19 was £194.418m (£189.252m in 2017/18)

·        an overspend of £0.774m was forecast for service and corporate budgets

·        detailed agreed savings and efficiencies worth £4.6m including those which had already been achieved with the assumption that all service efficiencies/savings would be delivered – any exceptions would be reported to Cabinet if required

·        highlighted current risks and variances relating to individual service areas, and

·        provided a general update on the Housing Revenue Account, Housing Capital Plan and the Capital Plan (including the Corporate Plan element).

Cabinet raised the following matters during debate –

·         School Transport – reference was made to the projected overspend in the school transport budget and to previous discussions as to whether the budget would be best placed in Highways and Environmental Services (HES) or Education and Children’s Services (ECS).  The reasoning behind the decision to place the budget in HES was reiterated given that ECS carried out the assessment process to determine eligibility of a child for school transport but the commissioning arrangement for those eligible for school transport was undertaken in HES because of the expertise and skills set required for negotiating the school contracts.  HES also provided a similar service for transport provision in other service areas including Community Support Services.  School transport was an acknowledged budget pressure which needed to be resolved wherever it was located and it was agreed that any further review or discussion in that regard should be undertaken with officers outside of the meeting

·         Council Funding – the Leader referred to the continuing service pressures facing local authorities and reported that the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) continued to lobby the Welsh Government with a view to investing in core services and provision of a longer term financial plan to aid future planning.  Whilst the Council was proud of its record in terms of investment in services such as education and social care and in transforming services and building resilience, the viability and sustainability of local services was under threat due to the prolonged and sustained cuts to local government funding.  The work carried out by the WLGA on behalf of local authorities in Wales was acknowledged but Cabinet felt there would also be merit in issuing a statement highlighting the financial difficulties and to call for adequate funding provision to ensure the future sustainability of essential services.  Reference was also made to the forthcoming UK Government spending review to determine the settlement for Wales following which the Welsh Government would determine the budget allocations for those devolved functions, including local government, at which point there may be further opportunity to influence budget decisions and lobby on behalf of residents

In responding to questions from non-Cabinet members regarding various overspends in service departments Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill advised that –

·         all services would be expected to balance their own budgets in-service where possible and the measures to address the overspend relating to the SC2 project had been detailed within the report – the SC2 project was part of the major Rhyl Waterfront and Waterpark project worth over £20m and in that context the overspend was comparatively small

·         an additional £750k had been allocated to Community Support Services for 2018/19 and together with £366k of the Sustainable Social Services Grant and the planned use of reserves, a break-even position had been projected

·         the projected overspend in Education and Children’s Services could not be addressed in-service and therefore corporate underspends would be used in the current financial year – an additional base budget allocation of £1.5m had been approved for 2019/20 to address those pressures going forward

·         confirmed the legacy tips pressure and Waste pressure relating to the transition to the new waste contracts were one off costs;  Councillor Brian Jones clarified that additional bin emptying in Rhyl had been carried out in response to issues raised by the public/members during the prolonged hot weather last summer.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)       note the budgets set for 2018/19 and progress against the agreed budget strategy, and

(b)       issues a statement to call on both UK and Welsh Governments to recognise the difficulties of delivering statutory services in the current financial climate and ask that they act to ensure that essential services are funded such that they are sustainable for this and future generations.