Agenda item

Report of Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer.

Cabinet lead members: Councillors Gill Mattock and Troy Tester.

(1) That performance against indicators and actions from the 2016-20 corporate plan agreed.

(2) General fund, housing revenue account and collection fund financial performance for quarter ended September 2016 agreed.

(3) Transfer from earmarked reserve (para 3.5.of report) approved.

(4) Capital programme approved.

(5) Treasury management performance agreed.

52.1 Councillor Freebody addressed the cabinet.  He restated his view, made at a previous meeting of the cabinet, that the 66% progress figure shown for the Sovereign Harbour community centre project was misleading, given that a start had yet to be made on site.  He commended the council for putting action plans in place to mitigate the impact of increasing levels of homelessness.  He questioned why the performance figures for telephone answering and call abandonment had not improved.  The chairman said he believed that the government’s welfare and housing policies were contributing to the worsening problem of homelessness and that he would welcome Councillor Freebody’s support in asking the local member of parliament to seek changes in government policy.  He acknowledged the issue around telephone call performance , drew attention to the recruitment of additional staff and commented that a large majority of calls were dealt with at first point of contact.

52.2 Cabinet considered the report of the chief executive and chief finance officer reviewing the council’s performance against corporate plan priority indicators and action targets, financial performance of general fund revenue expenditure, housing revenue account and capital programme and treasury management activities for the second quarter of 2016/17.  Appendix 1 gave detailed information on non-financial performance indicators and highlighted those giving cause for concern.  Councillor Mattock highlighted the figure of 689 dwelling units where planning permission had been granted but development had yet to commence.   She said that there was a need nationally for pressure to be placed on developers to build.  Councillor Shuttleworth referred to current housing initiatives including the contribution being made through the activities of the council’s Eastbourne Housing Investment Company, the joint bid to government by Sussex councils for homeless prevention funding and the rough sleepers’ initiative.  He echoed the chairman’s call for a change in government policy to address homelessness.

52.3 General fund performance for the year to September showed a variance of £122,000 on net expenditure which was a movement of £173,000 compared to the position reported at the end of the first quarter in June. Service expenditure had a variance of £22,000 mainly as a result of:-

·         Municipal Mutual Insurance scheme of arrangement levy £47,000.

·         Bed and breakfast accommodation £40,000.

·         Airbourne £66,000.

·         Customer First savings (£74,000).

·         Catering increase in net income (£50,000).

The contingency fund currently stood at £125,800; which was available to fund inflationary increases and any future unforeseen one-off areas of expenditure during the year.  This might however be required to fund any under-achievement in the joint transformation programme savings target for the year if financial benefits from the programme were delayed.  The projected outturn showed a variance of £296,000.  This was within 2% of the net budget and was within an acceptable tolerance level.  However management continued to manage this position to ensure that this final outturn position was maintained.  Approval was sought for transfer of £8,000 from reserves for Hampden Park sports centre court resurfacing in required in 2016/17.

52.4 Housing revenue account performance was currently above target by £115,000; this was mainly due to the new properties let at affordable rents not included in the budget(£37,000), a reduction required for the provision for bad debts (£54,000), and the slow take up of the under occupation scheme (£33,000).  Other small variances were being carefully monitored.

52.5 The detailed capital programme was shown in appendix 3.  Actual expenditure was low compared to the budget, due to delays in the start dates of various major projects.  Expenditure was expected to increase as schemes progressed, however spending patterns would be reviewed at quarter 3 and re-profiled into the 2017/18 year where appropriate.  The capital programme had been amended from that approved by cabinet in September to reflect new approved schemes, re-profiling of acquisition of land and buildings and removal of Princes Park which had now been included in the coastal communities schemes.

52.6 Council tax collection was currently showing a £977,000 surplus, a variance of 1.25%.  This was due to a combination of factors including better performance against the collection allowance within the council tax base and a reduction in the council tax reduction scheme caseload.

The business rates deficit of £433,000 was as a result of the number of outstanding business rate for outstanding appeals.  The total number of appeals outstanding as at 30 September 2016 was 291 with a total rateable value of £23.5m.  The deficit represented 1.66% of the total debit for the year.

52.7 The detailed mid-year review report had been submitted to the council’s audit and governance committee on 30 November 2016 in compliance with CIPFA’s code of practice for treasury management.  A summary of the main points from the current economic background, interest rate forecasts, investment and borrowing performance was given in the report.

52.8 Resolved (key decision): (1) That performance against national and local performance indicators and actions from the 2016-20 corporate plan be agreed.

(2) That the general fund, housing revenue account and collection fund financial performance for the quarter ended September 2016, as set out in sections 3, 4 and 6 of the report, be agreed.

(3) That the transfer from earmarked reserve, as set out in paragraph 3.5.of the report, be approved.

(4) That the capital programme, as set out in appendix 3 to the report, be approved.

(5) That the treasury management performance, as set out in section 7 of the report, be agreed.