The Interim Head of Finance submitted a report that was presented by the Chief Executive in her absence, the purpose of which, was to provide Cabinet with an update on the Council’s financial position as at 30 June 2018.

The report gave some background information, and following this it showed in paragraph 4.1.1 the Council’s net revenue budget and projected outturn for 2018-19 in Table 1. This reflected that as at 30 June 2018, the Council had an under spend of £1.298m which was similar to the status regarding Quarter 1 this time last year.

The next part of the report detailed certain Budget Virements/Technical Adjustments, with one of the latter being an allocation of £3.007m funding to Directorates to meet the costs of the nationally agreed pay award.

The Chief Executive then confirmed that given the large scale reductions on Council wide budgets in 2018-19 (42.6% of overall Council budget reductions) there is a risk that there may not be sufficient funding available within these budgets for any major price inflation increases, particularly as inflation rates remain relatively higher than previous years (CPI was 2.4% in May 2018 compared to 0.5% in March 2016 and 2.3% in March 2017), so the budget will need to be monitored closely during the remainder of the year.

He then made reference to the paragraph entitled ‘Monitoring of Budget Reduction Proposals’ and Prior Year Budget Reductions, and Table 2 in paragraph 4.2.2 of the report entitled Outstanding Prior Year Budget Reductions. This showed that of the £2.604m outstanding reductions, £1.192m is likely to be achieved in 2018-19 leaving a shortfall of £1.412m, with some proposals still not likely to be achieved, that included Learner Transport amongst others. There was an added shortfall relating to the Social Services and Wellbeing Directorate, which was currently being monitored through a Financial Plan.

The Chief Executive continued his submission, by then referring to Budget Reductions for 2018-19, together with a comparison of the RAG position against Quarter 1 in 2017-18. He added that the most significant budget reduction proposals unlikely to be achieved were associated with the Learner Transport Policy, Reductions to the budget for Public Conveniences and the Removal of Subsidised Bus Services.

He then outlined a summary of the financial position for each main service area, further details of which could be found in Appendix 3 to the report, with comments on the most significant variances shown on a Directorate by Directorate basis, in paragraphs 4.3.1 to 4.3.5 of the report.

The Chief Executive then concluded his submission, by giving a resume of Council Wide budgets and Capital Programme monitoring, with Appendix 4 of the report providing details of the individual schemes within the Capital Programme, showing the budget available in 2018-19 compared to the projected spend.

The Deputy Leader thanked the Chief Executive for his submission, and noted the financial pressures being experienced in the Social Services and Wellbeing Directorate. He asked the Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing how these were currently being managed.

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing responded by stating that the Directorate were being challenged financially by individuals with Learning Disability who had very complex and challenging behaviour, and she and key Officers in her Directorate were presently conducting a review of service delivery pressures due to the high demand associated with the support of people with this condition. This also involved reviewing the Day Service structure and re-examining different of packages of care that were available in the support of these needs. This included ongoing discussions with health over the provision of combined packages where appropriate.

In respect of Looked After Children (LAC), she was pleased to confirm that there were less now than there were this time last year, and more use was looking to be made of In-House rather than Independent Foster Carers which were far more expensive.

Other local authorities were also being benchmarked, in order to establish what practises they were adopting to combat the high expense committed to the ongoing support of both individuals with Learning Disabilities and LAC.

The Cabinet Member for Social Services and Early Help reminded Members that the Annual Report in respect of Social Services was on the agenda for Council tomorrow, and this would highlight the challenges that lie ahead in respect of the service, and how best to meet these. Continued hard decisions would need to be made he felt, in order to achieve the savings the Directorate would be required to make moving forward.

The Leader echoed the above statement, adding that there would be a reduction in funding to local authorities from Welsh Government next year, and this would inevitably lead to unpopular decisions having to be made. He commended the reduction in Independent Foster Carers by 20% in the last year which had in turn realised the Council some savings. He added that BCBC’s numbers of LAC were also stabilising whilst those in other neighbouring authorities were generally increasing. He was also pleased to see that Officers were working hard to keep children safe and wherever it was possible, with their immediate families.

In terms of the Capital Programme, he was happy with the investment being committed to the Eastern Promenade (£400k), the Water Sports centre and Harbour improvements (£2.5m), and  Safe Routes to School provision (nearly £1m). He sought confirmation however, that all these schemes had now had the approval of full Council.

The Chief Executive confirmed that some of the above had been approved by Council and that others would be within the immediate future.

RESOLVED:                  That Cabinet noted the projected revenue and capital outturn position for 2018-19.