Agenda item

2nd Quarter Financial, Procurement & Performance Review 2021/22

Minutes:

Head of Finance – Keith Pointon – presented members with the Council’s overall Performance, Financial and Procurement position at the end of the 2nd Quarter 2021/22 (30 September 2021) with headlines as follows:-

 

Subject

Headline

Reference

Finance

The Finance headlines for the Second Quarter were:

Performance against Budget

·        At the Second Quarter stage the General Fund projected outturn for 2021/22 was an underspend of £1,719,820 including £1.5m in Section 31 grants, which would need to be placed into reserves at year-end for distribution via the Collection Fund in future years.

Efficiency Programme

·        At Quarter Two £633,000 in savings had been taken against the 2021/22 general fund efficiency target of £830,430. It was anticipated that there would be a £167,000 shortfall in the year.

Capital Programme

·        The revised Capital Programme budget for 2021/22 was £4.83 million including the carry forward of capital underspends from 2020/21.  The projected outturn for the year at Quarter Two was £4.71million; an underspend of £0.12million.

Treasury Management

·        Cash investments held at 30 September 2021 totalled £21.7 million. The Ascent loan and debenture currently stood at £19 million;

·        Council borrowing at 30 September 2021 totalled £12 million (relating to the Ascent loan);

·        The Council’s net interest income receipts for the year was forecast to  exceed the  budget by £4,000 at the Quarter Two stage.

Revenue Collection

·        55.88% of Council Tax was collected by 30 September 2021 compared to 55.60% for the same period last year (56.34% in 2019/20);

·        44.95% of Business Rates was collected by 30 September 2021 compared to 50.32% for the same period last year (55.57% in 2019/20);

·        At the end of the Second Quarterdebt that was over 60 days old was £53,157 which compared with £101,700 at 30 September 2020.

 

Appendix A

Procurement

The Procurement headlines for the Second Quarter were:

·       18 procurement activities were completed;

·       The Procurement forward plan included 36 procurement activities for completion in 2021/22 (either SMDC only or joint);

·       At the 30 September 2021, 51% of procurement activity undertaken was on the forward plan.

 

Appendix B

Performance

The Performance headlines for the Second Quarter were:

·       80% of the key performance indicators on track (34% were better than the previous year);

·       The Council received 36 complaints, 102 comments and 28 compliments;

·       Priority Actions - 15 green, 2 amber, 1 completed, 15 grey.

 

Appendix C

 

Member enquiries were as follows (responses in brackets):-

 

·       Where in the report were consultancy fees shown? (consultancy costs would be reflected in overall services costs – they were not separately identified in these monitoring reports);

·       Was there a safety net for struggling businesses to pay their outstanding Business Rates? (Arrangements were available for businesses to renegotiate payment profiles  within the current financial year.);

·       Were Business Rate Discounts for Nurseries restricted to those within the 3 main towns? (No, the discount was available district-wide.);

·       Would the £230k underspend on Leisure Services be re-invested in Leisure? (This had resulted partly in SMDC not having to financially support Parkwood as much as was originally planned. A decision would be taken at the end of the year where the money would be allocated.);

·       Was there any budget for the tree-planting scheme? (This was contained in the ‘Communities’ budget, for delivery by AES. Regular meetings were being held regarding resources available / required.);

·       Was the Business Rates Collection Rate likely to catch up to the previous year level by the end of the financial year and were other authorities in the same position? (Payment deferrals relating to Covid had created a different profile to collection rates, compared with previous years. The rate was likely to recover by year end. Other authorities had indicated they were in a similar  position.);

·       The Sports & Physical Activity Strategy (Priority Action) had not yet been issued but showed as “within the next month” from September? (An Information Digest was to be issued imminently.);

·       Did the Council have any further powers to stop people blocking the Wharf Road Masterplan?

·       Annex A contained completed procurement activities which had not been seen by members. Was there no need for member involvement? (The Procedure Rules on procurement contained a Delegations process with value thresholds below which member involvement was not necessary and the procurement plan was reported to Members.);

·       What was the procurement procedure followed to arrive at the award to Nottinghamshire County Council for the Energy Consultancy – Public Buildings? (A detailed response would be issued directly as soon as possible.);

·       Under “Influencing Actions – Buse services”, 3 buses would not be enough to cover all moorlands villages. (The Chair was able to confirm that 4 ‘hubs’ were being created for launch in January 2022 so that residents would be able to ring for a home pick up. There had been a delay due to a land ownership-related legal query. Member concerns would be fed back to SCC.).

 

RESOLVED – That the Panel NOTE  the second Quarter 2021/22 financial, procurement and performance position detailed in Appendices A, B and C and summarised at 3.3 of the covering report.

 

Supporting documents: