The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change presented the Capital Programme Update Quarter 1 2023-24 which included an update of the capital budgets and expenditure as at 30 June 2023, the revised

capital programme for 2023-24 to 2032-33 and the projected Prudential and Other Indicators for 2023-24. Appendix A showed the budgets and spend to 30 June 2023 for the individual schemes in 2023-24. Appendix B provided details of the revised capital programme for 2023-24 to 2032-33 and appendix C provided details of the projected Prudential and Other Indicators for 2023-24.

The Chief Officer explained that since March, the capital programme had changed, and it currently totalled £96.9 million. Most of the increase in that programme was the result of slippage from the last financial year into this year's programme. Table one of the report detailed how the capital programme was split between the different directorates. The detail of the funding of the programme was shown in table two of the report. The key changes were reported at paragraph 3.15 of the report. She confirmed that Council was operating in line with the approved indicators.

The Cabinet Member for Finances, Resources and Legal apologised for the budget briefing not going ahead as planned and he encouraged all members to try to attend the rescheduled briefing because of the challenges they were currently facing. He welcomed the additional money from Welsh Government but acknowledged revenue pressures and added that officers would be looking into this further. 

A Member asked how much of the capital programme was allocated to risk.

The Chief Officer replied that the capital programme was allocated on the basis of priorities and many of those priorities would be about risk for the Council. Risk was not identified within the capital programme however many of the individual schemes were about either upgrading, replacing or enhancing the assets that they had to make sure that they were fit for purpose.

The Member replied that he was referring to contingency and asked how much was build cost and how much was being held for contingency? 

The Chief Executive explained that within each project, there was a contingency element within the contract, usually an estimate of what might cover an unexpected cost during the course of any particular project. Within the capital programme, they would rarely max out the whole of the available balance on schemes and therefore there was some contingency available within the programme. Not all items in the capital programme would be taking place at the same time, so if things early in the capital programme required additional funding, there would be an impact on things that had been identified later in the programme. They had to manage that risk in that way as opposed to just identifying one sum for risk. They were very aware of risk at the moment as they were also facing unprecedented increases in capital spend. Their focus on the capital programme was greater than it had ever been, and they were proposing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 156