Agenda Item No: 15

 

THE VALE OF GLAMORGAN COUNCIL

 

CABINET MEETING: 17TH JANUARY 2007

 

REPORT OF THE CORPORATE MANAGEMENT TEAM

 

REVENUE MONITORING FOR THE PERIOD 1STAPRIL 2006 TO 3OTH NOVEMBER 2006

 

Purpose of Report

           

  1.     To advise  Cabinet  of  the  progress of  revenue expenditure for the period 1st April, 2006 to 30th November, 2006

   

 Background

 

2.            Cabinet on the 22nd November 2006 (minute no C2764 and C2765) approved the Amended Revenue Budget and Housing Revenue Account for 2006/07. The Budget information is subdivided by cabinet members’ portfolio within each Directorate. Reports monitoring expenditure are brought to this Committee on a regular basis.

 

Revenue Budget

 

3.       The   projected  out   turn for  the 2006/07 Revenue  Budget  is  shown  in comparison with the Amended Revenue Budget at Appendix ‘1’.The current forecast is for a deficit of £4,383,000 on the General Fund and a balanced budget on the Housing Revenue Account.

 

4.        Learning and Development – A saving of £120,000 on Education and Schools arising from a lower than expected inflation increase on renewed large contracts such as school transport together with staff vacancies within the Education Department has been used to offset the overspending on Lifelong Learning, Job Shop Extra (£10,000) and the Training and Heritage Skills Centre (£110,000).

 

5.        Directorate  of  Community  Services  – The current forecast for this Directorate is for a balanced budget on  the Housing Revenue Account and a deficit of £4,716,000 on General Fund Services.

 

6.        Children’s Services – The service is currently showing a projected deficit of £1,481,000 on current expenditure, it is primarily due to the cost of child placements, with a further £665,000 expenditure on this area as a result of a lower than anticipated available balance on the Social Services Reserve.

 

7.         Community Care and Health – There is a projected overspend of £2,558,000 a reduction of £288,000 on the previously reported figure. The reduction reflects savings in community care commitments and improved income collection.

 

 

 

 

8.         Catering – The projected adverse variance of £130,000 on Catering is mainly due to a reduction in the number of meals being provided and increased costs in meeting Assembly requirements on nutritional standards. Every effort is being made to further reduce this deficit by the year end.

 

9.        Private Sector Housing – The underspending on Private Sector Housing/Community Safety (£118,000) is mainly attributable to an increase in subsidy income and savings on staff salaries.

 

10.      Directorate of Environmental and Economic Regeneration – Included in the figures is an anticipated deficit on Leisure Management (£150,000) due to significant increases in utilities costs, on Parks Maintenance due to the increase in prices charged by external contractors for grass cutting and verge maintenance (£120,000) and the additional costs of grounds staff re the Centenary Celebrations at Dyffryn Gardens (£50,000) and on Building Maintenance (Trading Unit) (£150,000) attributed to pricing policies, These deficits are to be offset from  underspendings within the Directorate.

     

11.  Policy – the underspending of £333,000 is mainly attributable to additional external interest earned.

  

Resource Implications (Financial and Employment)

 

12.    The net overspend of £4.716m on Community Services will have to be met from the General Fund balance.  However, at the 31st March 2007 this balance is predicted to stand at £5m. This is after the use of £2.250m approved by Council to balance the 2006/07 budget. Consequently a substantial amount of the overspend will have to be found by un-earmarking specific reserves.

 

Legal Implications (to include Human Rights Implications)

 

13.       There are no legal implications.

 

Crime and Disorder Implications

 

14.      There are no crime and disorder implications.

 

Equal Opportunities Implications (to include Welsh Language issues)

 

15.      There are no equal opportunity implications.

 

Corporate Service Objectives (to include stakeholder consultation and voluntary sector implication)

 

16.   Effective  monitoring assists in the provision of accurate and timely information to officers and members and in particular allows services to better manage their resources.

 

Policy Framework and Budget

 

17.     This report is for executive decision.

 

Consultation (including Ward Member Consultation)

 

18.   Each  Scrutiny  Committee will receive a monitoring report on their respective areas. This report does not require Ward Member consultation.

 

Appropriate Scrutiny Committee

 

19.      All.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

 

(i)                 That the position with regard to the Authority’s 2006/07 Revenue Budget be noted.

 

Reasons for Recommendations

 

(ii)       That the members are aware of the projected revenue outturn for 2006/07.

 

              Background Papers   None        Contact Officer: Robert Ingram (Principal Accountant) (01446 709252)

 

             The Directors of Learning and Development, Community Services and Environment and Economic Regeneration and Legal and Regulatory Services have been consulted on the contents of this report.                     

 

              SIAN DAVIES DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, ICT AND PROPERTY