Issue - decisions

Matter for Decision

The Officer’s report presented a summary of the 2014/15 outturn position (actual income and expenditure) for services within the City Centre & Public Places Portfolio, compared to the current budget for the year. The position for revenue and capital was reported and variances from budgets highlighted, together with explanations. Requests to carry forward funding arising from certain budget underspends into 2015/16 were identified.

Decision of Executive Councillor for City Centre and Public Places

       i.          Agreed the carry forward requests, totalling £78,300 as detailed in Appendix C of the Officer’s report, be recommended to Council for approval.

     ii.          Agreed to seek approval from Council to fund re-phased net capital spending of £973,000 in respect of capital schemes.

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Senior Accountant.

In response to Members’ questions the Director of Environment said the following:

       i.          Some reasons for capital variance (ie the difference between outturn and final budgets) were set out in Appendix D of the Officer’s report.

     ii.          There had been some variance with environmental improvement projects due to the large number of small scale projects that needed to be delivered, this had caused a backlog. The situation had been exacerbated by staff turnover.

   iii.          There had been on-going capital variance over a period of years. A report was being taken to Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee 13 July 2015 setting out mitigation suggestions.

   iv.          Issues regarding s106 delivery (Appendix D) had been raised with the Executive Councillor for Planning Policy and Transport plus Opposition Spokesperson; they had now been resolved.

The Executive Councillor for City Centre and Public Places undertook to liaise with Councillors at a briefing with Officers if they had any specific queries regarding projects with capital budgets. The Committee welcomed this proposal. Councillor Baigent specifically asked for information regarding PR030e - 38258 Cavendish Rd (Mill Rd end) improvements to seating, paving and public art (S106), PR030h – 38255 Romsey 'town square' public realm improvements (S106) and PR030f – 38259 Bath House Play Area improvements (S106).

In response to Members’ questions the Senior Accountant said the following:

       i.          The project variance fund filled the gap between original budgeted figures and the actual final cost.

     ii.          The fund was set up to distribute capital so any unused monies were returned to the general fund. Officers had delegated authority to action this.

Councillor Reid asked for specific details in future Officer reports to explain budget variances between ‘original’ and ‘final’ budget figures. She also asked for a review of report figures/format in future so councillors could scrutinise non-technical reasons for variance. Councillor Sinnott suggested that the Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee would be a more appropriate forum to look at variances. The Executive Councillor for City Centre and Public Places said a number of variances had occurred due to rebasing issues (eg the Community, Arts and Recreation budget becoming the Communities budget), which were not expected to arise again in future. The Senior Accountant said the Head of Finance was looking at ways to amend the report to explain significant variances if they arose again in future. Should variances occur due to major savings/costs, these would be reported in the Mid-Year Financial Review or Budget Setting Report. There were none for the City Centre and Public Places Portfolio in 2014/15. Councillor Reid re-iterated her point that the variance process needed to be transparent in order for Opposition Councillors to scrutinise it. The Executive Councillor for City Centre and Public Places undertook to liaise with the Head of Finance regarding the format of reports.

The Committee unanimously resolved to endorse the recommendations.

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendations.

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.