Issue - decisions

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet noted the following::

a)    the Annual Performance Report for 2023/24; 

b)    the provisional outturn of the General Fund revenue and capital budgets for?2023/24; 

c)     the provisional outturn of the Housing Revenue Account and capital budgets for 2023/24; and 

d)    the year-end rephasings, as included within the provisional outturn figures. 

That the Cabinet request to Council approval of;

e)    the establishment of a new Corporate Priorities Reserves, with an initial contribution of £1.5 million in 2023/24 and note the transfer of £262,000 in 2023/24 to enhance the Treasury Management Reserve.

KEY DECISION:

Report to Cabinet and Council.

PORTFOLIO:

Leaders / all

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED/REJECTED:

As set out in the report

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST:

None

DISCUSSION:

The Leader introduced the report and explained that there had been significant challenges over the period of the last corporate plan 2020-2024. The report reflected the Council’s many achievements despite the challenges and responds to the commitment of the last corporate plan (spanning 2020-2024).

The Leader referred to the portfolio highlights contained within the report to demonstrate the Council’s achievements delivered in the final year of the previous corporate plan and the first year of the current administration.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Corporate Services explained that the service budget at Portfolio Holder level had come in tightly on budget, with a few variations outside of Portfolio service budgets. These variations included additional interest earnings of £2.132million, a one-off VAT refund of £668,000 and a business rates additional income of £701,000.

The Council had increased the revenue budget contribution to capital programme financing by £1.1million, the corporate priority reserve had been established with a transfer of £1.5million, the treasury management reserve had been topped up of £262,000 and the capital programme reserve, which funded projects like the Hardley Depot project, had seen a further allocation of £767,000.

The Portfolio Holder explained that there had been some rephasing to the budgets due to circumstances beyond the Council’s control, such as delays to projects, but that this was not to be unexpected due to the ambitious nature of the Council.

The Performance and Insight Manager outlined the report. It was explained that the report provided an overview of the Council’s performance over the last financial year, April 2023-2024, against the former corporate plan (2020-2024). The report set out the provisional outturn results for both the revenue and capital budgets.

The general fund budget outturn for the year confirmed the occurrence of three main variations sitting outside of the service budget portfolios, which included project and grant income, with some rephasing from the 2023-2024 financial year into the current year. The outturn spend of the Capital Programme delivery, within the housing revenue account, stood at 96% of the £27.6million original budget.

The report had been considered by the Resources and Transformation Overview & Scrutiny Panel in July where members were able to pass comment and ask questions.

A member of the Council asked whether the proposed Hampshire County Council (HCC) cuts to services would impact NFDC budgets. The Strategic Director of Corporate Resources and Transformation explained that the Council responded to HCC’s consultation and that their budget position would be considered and accounted for by the Council as part of its own budget setting and medium term planning. Detailed budget preparations had not yet commenced for 2025/26 but the Council was very conscious of HCC’s position and would have to be very cautious of taking on any additional budgetary liability.