Report of the Assistant Director Resources/Treasurer

The Panel considered the report of the Assistant Director Resources/Treasurer (ADR/T) updating Members on the Revenue and Capital Budget 202021 and Capital Programme 2020/21 to 2024/25 provisional outturn.  This was the sixth report to Members for this financial year and there was the potential for the position to change as closedown continued and until the external audit of accounts was completed.

The ADR/T explained that the provisional outturn was a net Revenue underspend of £386,000, the major contributors to this underspends had been outlined in the report.  The underspend was a favourable variation of £96,000 from the position identified in the last report to the Panel and primarily reflected underspends and re-profiling of IT Strategy projects and charges for Finance related services being lower than expected. 

Most in-year pressures had been dealt with either through use of contingency or service underspends.  Performance against the Savings programme was detailed within the report.

The overall 5 year Capital Programme had been revised at the February 2021 meeting of the Fire Authority and the provisional outturn was a balanced budget.  The Capital programme would be updated in light of the actual outturn 2020/21 and any outstanding adjustments relating to the IRMP.  The current year Capital Budget had been revised resulting a net variation of £263,000 of which £364,000 was slippage into 2021/22 and a net £101,000 in year overspend relating to RPE Project which had been funded by additional drawdown on capital reserves.  Slippage was due to a range of activities including the Service response to the Covid 19 pandemic.

There was a significant variation in revised drawdown from reserves between that reported at Month 11 and the provisional outturn, mainly due to reduced expenditure and re-profiling of projects e.g. ITG Strategy Reserve and transfers of remaining Grants to Earmarked Reserves.

There had been a reduction in the interest receivable on the Authority’s cash investments due to the Bank of England lowering its’ base rates to invigorate the economy due to the impact of Covid-19.

The Panel thanked the ADR/T for such a comprehensive and informative report and felt that on the whole its contents were positive and of some reassurance.  There was a query as to whether underspends could be used to support projects such as climate change initiatives.  It was confirmed that as these particular underspends had largely been linked to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and a bid had been made for these to be carried forward in order to allow them to be spent as originally planned.

RESOLVED:   The Panel agreed to note:

(i)          the provisional 2020/21 Revenue Budget outturn;

(ii)         the provisional Capital Programme outturn;

(iii)       the net drawdown from reserves during the year;

(iv)       the savings delivered in 2020/21;

(v)        cash balances invested at year end and borrowing repaid;

(vi)       the overspend in excess of 10% on the RPE project and the explanation for this.

The Panel agreed to approve:

(vii)      the Capital slippage of £364,000 into 2021/22;

(viii)     the funding of the Capital Overspend on RPE project of £135,000; and

(ix)       the use of the provisional Revenue outturn of £386,000 underspend (as set out in section 9).