(KEY DECISION)

Report No. 135/2018 was received from the Director for Resources.

Mr G Brown, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Planning, Environment, Property and Finance introduced the report, the purpose of which was to inform Cabinet and all Members of the full year forecast position as at Quarter 1 for 2018/19 and to highlight issues that may impact on the Medium Term Financial Plan to enable them to maintain sound financial management of the Council’s operations.

During discussion the following points were raised:

·         There had been a distinct lack of clarity by the Government on fairer funding and the Business Rate Retention Scheme and it was envisaged that it would not be until the end of the year (at the earliest) that the definitive position was known.

·         The over spend on direct payments had been due to an increase in the total number of packages. The increase in this area had however led to savings in the Adult Social Care Inclusion budget.

·         The environmental team was investigating ways in which it could reduce waste disposal costs, in particular, for paint disposal which was exorbitantly priced at the moment.

·         As China was not accepting waste there had been a ripple effect through the market with mixed paper and cardboard costs falling from £25 per tonne to £0. In addition transport costs still had to be borne.

·         Mr Wilby commended Mr Della Rocca, the Strategic Director for Resources and Mr Brown, the Cabinet Member for Finance for their diligence and financial management.

DECISIONS:

Cabinet,

1.    NOTED the 2018/19 revenue and capital outturn position as at Quarter 1.

2.    NOTED the approved changes to the original budget detailed in Appendix A of Report No.135/2018

3.    APPROVED the additional use of earmarked reserves of £115k as set out in Appendix A of Report No. 135/2018.

Reasons for Decisions

As the Council is required to make savings over the medium term, it is important to note that the Q1 position is positive, despite a number of significant variances