Agenda item

Finance

The Finance headlines for the Third Quarter were:

Performance against Budget

·           The General Fund budget for 2017/18 was forecast to be underspent by £1,260,760 at the Quarter 3 stage. 

·           The underspend was required to be ring-fenced to support an additional drawdown against reserves in 2018/19 to account for the impact of business rates appeals and reliefs

Efficiency Programme

·           The overall efficiency target of £310,000 for 2017/18 was projected to be achieved at the third quarter stage – with £225,250 achieved to date. However, this was dependent on the progression of key efficiency programmes.

Housing Revenue Account

·            The Housing Revenue Account was forecast to be in surplus by £1,169,190 - £659,000 of which contributed to ongoing Financial Improvement Plan savings.

Capital Programme

·           The Capital Programme budget for 2017/18 was £6.1m including the carry forward of capital underspends from 2016/17.  The projected outturn was £4.2m which represented an underspend of £1.9m relating to the reprofiling of asset management plan schemes

·           The HRA Capital Programme for 2017/18 was £4.15 million, with spend forecast to be £0.34m underspent against budget at Quarter 3.

Treasury Management

·           Cash investments held at 31st December 2017 totalled £21.9 million.

·           Council borrowing at 31st December 2017 totalled £72.2 million.

·           The Council’s net interest receipts general fund budget was projected to be underspent by £17,000, with a £80,000 underspend on the HRA

Revenue Collection

·           85.2% of council tax was collected by 31st December 2017, compared to 85.6% for the same period last year.

·           81.9% of business rates was collected by 31st December 2017 compared with 83.0% for the same period last year

·           At the end of Quarter 3 the value of sundry debt over 60 days old was £266,422 which compares to £273,073 at 31st December 2016

Procurement

The Procurement headlines for the Third Quarter were:

·         22 procurement activities were completed (1 high value (greater than £172,000) – gas servicing and solid fuel service contract)

·         The procurement forward plan included 69 procurement activities scheduled for 2017/18 (either HPBC only or joint)

·         At the 31st December 2017, 67% of procurement activity undertaken was on the forward plan and the Council paid 96% of its invoices within 30 days

Performance

The Performance headlines for the Third Quarter were:

·         59% of the key performance indicators were on track

·         Of the 19 Priority Actions within the Corporate Plan, one was rated ‘amber’, one was awaiting a decision, the remainder being classified as ‘Green’; and

·         The Council received 64 complaints, 54 comments and 50 compliments in the Third Quarter. Repeat complaints and response times both on track