The Committee is asked to consider the Financial Management Report January 2017 – May 2017.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance and the Chief Financial Officer are invited to attend for this item.

APPENDIX I ADDED 5 JULY 2017

The Chairman welcomed the Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance and the Chief Financial Officer to the meeting, and invited them to introduce the report which would be considered by the Cabinet the following week.  The Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance drew attention to the Growth Revenue underspend on services and highlighted the larger than expected increase in Planning Fees income which was welcome additional revenue for 2016/17.  He considered that finances had been managed very well in 2016/17 and it was good news for SBC. 

The Chief Financial Officer advised that the Interim Head of Commissioning and Customer Contact was in attendance to answer any questions in his service area and drew Members’ attention to the late receipt of Appendix I Financial Outturn Report 2016/17.  The Chairman asked Members if they wished to defer discussion of the item in view of the late receipt of the report but Members declined.

A Member raised a number of issues of clarification of figures and other discrepancies within the report and the Chief Financial Officer agreed to go through the report in detail with the Member after the meeting, and circulate an update to Scrutiny Committee Members*

A Member stated that there had been a large excess of budget income over the last 4 or 5 years and a more accurate budget was required in the future.  He highlighted the additional costs to the Homelessness service caused by extra bed and breakfast requirements and the additional planning fee income.  The Chief Financial Officer advised that there had been a large spike in the number of residents that required bed and breakfast accommodation in January/February 2017 and Internal Audit had been commissioned to investigate the reasons for this.

There was a discussion around the £25k underspend on Member Grants and the Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance agreed to write to all Members in December of each year, suggesting ways of redistributing any left-over funds to causes highlighted by Members.

A Member asked if families housed in temporary accommodation were eligible for housing benefit?  The Chief Financial Officer agreed to report back with this information.

A Member asked why there had been a £10k saving from the Alexander Centre, Faversham?  The Chief Financial Officer advised that, under the transfer agreement, there was no liability and so this was a saving in next year’s budget.  The same Member referred to page 15 of Appendix I and asked whether £3,500 from the Verge Maintenance fund was enough to cover the additional planting in Swale?  The Interim Head of Commissioning and Customer Contact advised that a bigger budget for additional planting was available and £3,500 was the rollover amount from Verge Maintenance.  The Interim Head of Commissioning and Customer Contact referred to page 19 on Appendix I and advised that a mixture of ordinary litter bins and dog litter bins was provided and users could utilise either.

There was a discussion on spending on IT Improvements and a Member stressed the importance of receiving value for money.  The Chief Financial Officer advised that the website was being re-designed and in response to a question from a Member, advised that SKYPE for business was being funded from grant money, as part of the Transformation Project. The Head of Commissioning and Customer Contact advised that the aim was for the public to self-help on line.

In response to a Member, the Chief Financial Officer agreed to clarify whether the Sheerness Strategic Regeneration Framework included West Sheppey.

*POST MEETING NOTE:  Updated information and responses to questions was provided by the Chief Financial Officer and circulated to Members of the Scrutiny Committee the day after the meeting.

Resolved:

(1)       That the gross revenue underspend on services of £1,419,100 (including £1,272,000 additional income) be noted.

(2)       That the revenue service rollovers of £494,290, (including £241,390 due to roll forward of external funding, grants and use of additional income from 2016/17), and the setting up of new reserves as set out in Table 3 Appendix I be noted.

(3)       That the revenue service bids of £248,100 as set out in Table 4 Appendix I be noted.

(4)       That the delegation to the Chief Financial Officer to allocate uncommitted underspends to reserve funds be noted.

(5)       That the capital rollovers of £1,875,853 as detailed in Table 9 Appendix I be noted.