Agenda item

That Cabinet noted:

•        The General Fund forecast outturn in line with the approved budget at Q1 2023/24/

•        The General Fund emerging net risk of £15.2m, noting that if overspends against the agreed budgets do emerge, Executive Directors will be required to develop and implement plans to mitigate overspends within 2023/24, in consultation (where required) with elected Members.

•        A forecast underspend of £1.7m within the HRA and that over or under spends that materialise on the HRA will be funded by a transfer to or from the HRA general reserve at the end of the financial year.

•        A forecast in-year deficit of £18.7m accumulating to a total £58.3m carried forward deficit in the DSG for 2023/24, and the requirement for the Council and the Schools Forum to work together to develop a clear mitigation plan which addresses the High Needs overspend.

•        A breakeven position on Public Health services.

•        The technical virements since original budget approval (see Tables 3a and 3b of Appendix A1)

•        A forecast £43.3m underspend (including £24.5m underspend for the allocated General fund and a £13.8m underspend on HRA) against the revised Capital Programme’s Budget

•        The treatment of the recently awarded Clean Air Zone £11m Stretch DfT Grant as capital rather than revenue funding.

•        The level of outstanding debt as at 31 May 2023 (see section 10 Table 9 in Appendix A1)

•        The opening balances on the General Fund and Earmarked Reserves (see section 2.6 in Appendix A1)

•        The redirection of reserves totalling £2.2m between Business Transformation, Key Line Of Business and Digital Transformation Reserves as part of and following approval at Extraordinary Cabinet 15 May 2023. (see section 2.66 in Appendix A1)

•        The performance on delivery of savings (as summarised in section 4 in Appendix A1)

•        The MTFP July Outlook Update which reports significant additional emerging risks currently projected to grow from £9.9m to £24.7m over the MTFP timeframe 2024/25-2028/29 (Appendix A10).

That Cabinet approved:

•        Revisions to the approved Capital Budget to incorporate the reprofiling of prior year unspent budget carry forward (see Appendix A9).