Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director Finance.

Agreed:

RECOMMENDED that Council notes and approves (where applicable):-

(1)  the General Fund forecast financial position for the 2023 financial year;

(2)  the supplementary budgets and budget transfers as detailed in paragraph 8.11 and Appendix 3;

(3)  the outstanding Sundry Debt position as at September 2023;

(4)  the creditors payments performance; and

(5)  the One Exeter programme update.

Reason for Decision: As set out in the report.

The Executive received the report which advised Members of the overall financial position of the General Fund Revenue Budgets for the 2023/24 financial year after six months and sought approval of the additional expenditure required during the financial year.

Members were advised that there had been a significant underperformance in key income budgets, which is being offset by higher investment interest being received, leisure income and a high number of vacant posts and would need to be addressed when setting the budget for the next financial year. There was a £20,000 supplementary budget request for the debt recovery team to strengthen the debt recovery process.

Councillor Moore, as an opposition group leader, spoke on this item and enquired:-

·         Whether the £276,940 overspend figure outlined in 8.3 of the report for the impact of Exeter City Living (ECL) being scaled back was for the year or to date?

·         Whether the Leader would be asking the Council to spend the approved bus station demolition money to cover the ECL funding gap? and

·         In regards to strengthening the debt collection and that the HRA team is undertaking some of the debt collection activities in relation to rent, did that mean that an additional amount was going to be required under the HRA to pay for that service there?

Councillor M. Mitchell, as an opposition group leader, spoke on this item and enquired on the pattern on the under-spend across departments was in relation to staffing and how much of the actual underspend across the Council related to having no staff and the money not being used? He also enquired in relation to these figures, whether there was a system in place for agency staff for the in-year targets?

Councillor Jobson, as an opposition group leader, spoke on this item and also enquired on the staffing recruitment patterns for leisure and sport and use of agency staff.

During the discussion the following points were made:

·         not all of the under-spend was related to staffing and some related to the income, such as the Matford Centre. It was important to recognise that staff were working very hard and having to adopt a more commercial way of working; and

·         it was important to recognise that the Council had an unrealistic income target for trade waste and good work had been done in generating some big new contracts.

In response to questions raised the Leader and Director Finance advised:-

·         financial information would be made available to show a breakdown analysis of vacancies against the use of agency staff;

·         there was a challenge in providing the analysis as some agency staff were required to ensure frontline services operated effectively, and a need to cover vacant posts;

·         leisure and sport staffing was a question to the relevant Portfolio Holder at Scrutiny Committee;

·         the £276,940 overspend figure was a projection for the year; and

·         the Leader wouldn’t be asking the Council to spend the approved bus station demolition money to cover the ECL funding gap.

RECOMMENDED that Council notes and approves (where applicable):-

(1)  the General Fund forecast financial position for the 2023 financial year;

(2)  the supplementary budgets and budget transfers as detailed in paragraph 8.11 and Appendix 3;

(3)  the outstanding Sundry Debt position as at September 2023;

(4)  the creditors payments performance; and

(5)  the One Exeter programme update.