Meeting documents

Mr Tett introduced the item, commenting that it had been a challenging year financially due to substantial pressures from Adult Social Care and Children’s Services.  There had been underspend in other areas to offset this, resulting in a slight underspend in the overall budget for the year.  Mr Tett commended the achievements and efforts made by members of Buckinghamshire County Council, and invited Mr J Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources and Mr R Ambrose, Director of Finance & Procurement to present the report in which the following points were highlighted:

• The headline figure of the revenue outturn position for 2018/19 showed an overall underspend of £227,000. This comprised of a portfolio overspend of £6.75 million, offset by an underspend of £7 million in non- portfolio costs. 
• The highest overspend portfolios included Education and Skills, Health and Wellbeing and Children’s Services. 
• There had been a significant underspend of £1.6 million in the Planning and Environment portfolio. 
• The overall slippage of Capital was £23.1 million, which was a slight increase from the previous year.
• Within capital slippage there were three main items from the Leader’s portfolio, which included major infrastructure schemes funded by the local enterprise partnership. These were multi- year schemes, included in the capital budget to secure the grant. 
• Some schemes had also beenput on hold following the unitary decision such as the Bucks Study Centre and ICT capital spend. 
• The two highest areas of capital spend were school places and highways. 
• Debt had fallen from £19 million to £18 million within the last financial year. 
• A corporate approach had been taken with the budget this financial year.  Mitigating actions had been taken in areas that were overspending. 
• The current reserves were £26.4 million and would increase to just over £30 million.
• Mr Tett highlighted a misconception that the charges implemented at the household recycling centres were due to debt, and clarified that borrowed money was invested to provide an income to protect front line services. 

Following the report Cabinet raised and discussed the following points:

• Mr Appleyard highlighted that the overspend in Education and Skills was largely due to an overspend in school transport.  This was due to delays in planned changes to the scheme, but the budget would be back on track in the next financial year. 
• Mr Whyte praised finance teams within Children’s Services for the effective identification and management of overspends mid-year.  Since mid-year the overspends had been managed well and had not increased despite the increase in Looked After Children (LAC.)
• The Children’s Homes were starting to have a positive financial impact, with two opening in Wycombe this financial year.  In house foster carers had increased by 34 in the financial year resulting in better value for the County Council and a positive outcome for the children.  The in house foster carers had meant the service had avoided a potential £2.8 million overspend.

• Mr Chapple highlighted that the underspend in Planning and Environment helped to manage the overall budget, and would not be carried forward into the next financial year.  
• The Household Recycling Centres had implemented charges due to contractual pressures and budget management. 
• Mr Tett highlighted that the overspent areas were not unique to Buckinghamshire County Council and reflected national issues.
• The financial reserves would be rebuilt in the next financial year, placing the unitary council in a strong financial position. 
• Buckinghamshire County Council had a strong investment portfolio, bringing in investment income through diverse property investments. 

RESOLVED: Cabinet NOTED the report.