Meeting documents

Mr Tett, Leader introduced the Q1 Budget Monitoring Report and highlighted the importance of overseeing the budget as they moved into the new unitary authority.

Mr Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources highlighted the following points:

• There was a net underspend of £100k at the end of the year which largely related to the Planning and Environment portfolio and is due to an increase in the agricultural estate rental income following a rent review.
• There was a forecast Capital variance of £1.9m which equated to 2% of annual overall capital budget.  This mainly related to two items, Education and Transportation.  The Education variance was an underspend rather than slippage and related to good project management of the new St Michael’s school in Aylesbury.  The Transportation slippage related to contingency costs included in the budget that had not yet been incurred.
• There had been progress on reducing outstanding debt from £18m to £11m and this had happened since the debt task and finish group had been formed. 
• Buckinghamshire County Council were in a strong position moving into the new authority.

Cabinet raised and discussed the following points:

• Mr Tett questioned why the rent review in agricultural estate had not been foreseen.  Mr Chapple stated that rents were constantly being reviewed and can take time to agree.
• Mr Whyte highlighted the issue of national challenges in recruiting permanent staff resulting in additional costs of agency staff.  Mr Whyte stated that they were working closely with HR colleagues to look to increase permanent staff.
• Mr Chilver highlighted the £300k variance on capital in Resources due to an IT project that was put on hold due to moving into the new unitary authority.
• Mr Chilver stated that any underspends would be put back into the corporate budget.
• Mr Tett highlighted the importance of keeping a close eye on budgets as any deviation would impact other services as councils moved into the new authority.

Cabinet thanked all staff involved across all services.

RESOLVED:  Cabinet NOTED the current forecast outturn for the 2019/20 financial year.