Agenda item

Decision:

The report set out the overview of the financial Revenue and Capital outturn position for Buckinghamshire Council for the financial year 2021/22 as at quarter 2.  The Appendix provided further detail for each Portfolio and information about performance relating to overdue debts and late payments of commercial debt.

 

RESOLVED –

 

That the current forecast outturn for the financial year 2021/22, and the associated risks and opportunities, be noted.

Minutes:

Cabinet received a report that set out the Revenue and Capital position for Buckinghamshire Council for the financial year 2021-22, at the end of Q2.  An appendix provided further detail for each Portfolio and information about performance relating to overdue debts and late payments of commercial debt.

 

At the end of the Q2, an overall nil variance was forecast for the revenue budget 2021-22 after allowing for £4.8m of corporate mitigations.  This was a favourable movement of £0.5m since Q1. The nil variance comprised:

(i)                  £4.9m adverse variance on Portfolio Covid related spend (£6.7m adverse August).

(ii)                £0.1m favourable variation on Portfolio BAU (£0.9m adverse August).

(iii)              £2.8m favourable variation on Corporate Contingencies (£4.0m August).

(iv)              £0.9m favourable variation relating to Covid Sales Fees and Charges compensation scheme.

(v)                £1.1m favourable variation on Corporate Budgets, principally capital financing costs.

 

Figure 1 (Cabinet report) detailed high level information for each Portfolio. 

 

The total Portfolio net revenue forecast variance was £4.8m adverse (1.1% of the total Portfolio budget).  Significant risks to the Revenue forecasts had been identified, a proportion of which were likely to materialise. These and any new pressures could potentially be covered by a number of contingencies that were not yet fully committed and could be used, if required.  Appendix 1 provided further detail on the revenue forecast outturn by Portfolio.

 

Figure 2 showed performance, by Portfolio and against savings targets, for the £13.2m of savings that had been incorporated into the 2021-22 revenue budgets.

 

Figure 3 provided information on the Contain Outbreak Management Fund (COMF), funding provided to local authorities to help reduce the spread of coronavirus and support local public health. Buckinghamshire was expected to benefit from £15.9m of funding spread over three financial years.  The approved spend was for £6.125m in each of 2020-21 and 2021-22.

 

Capital Budget Outturn

Capital slippage had increased between Q1 and Q2 from 1.6% (£3.0m) to 7.9% (£14.8m). Whilst this was currently below the corporate target of 10% there was an expectation that slippage may increase further in future months because there were reduced opportunities to catch up on delays as the year progressed.  Details were provide of a number of specific circumstances that had impact on the progress of capital projects.  Further details for each portfolio were found in Appendix 1.

 

During discussion the Leader asked about forecast savings of £12.6k as opposed to the target of £13.2k and how achievable these savings were. The Service Director – Corporate Finance reported that everything was being done to achieve the targeted savings. In response to another question regarding presumptions around income, particularly in view of the pandemic, the Service Director reported that he believed that their assumptions were robust but the pressures arose with demand for social care which was unpredictable. The Leader also made reference to capital slippage and the Cabinet Member reported that some of these delays had been caused by supply chains and the pandemic.

 

RESOLVED –

 

That the current forecast outturn for the financial year 2021/22, and the associated risks and opportunities, be noted.

Supporting documents: