Hart Borough Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee Meeting

The minutes of 11 June 2024 were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

The Chair confirmed that two written answers had been provided to Members in relation to the previous meeting.

Apologies had been received from Councillor Thomas.

No declarations made.

No announcements.

None.

The Finance Manager presented the Revenue and Capital Outturn for the financial year 2023/24. The presentation included high-level numbers, and the accompanying appendix provided detailed explanations of significant variances.

Members noted:

- The net revenue outturn showed a surplus of £1.5m against a budget of £12.7m, while the capital expenditure was underspent by £0.25m against a budget of £3.5m.

- The forecast as of Q3 indicated a surplus of £0.9m. Further details were provided on where the additional income/underspends occurred.

- The actual variance by subjective was discussed in greater depth.

- Employee Costs: The largest part of the underspend was due to vacancies (£0.458m - £0.147m for agency = £0.3m), as well as a surplus of £0.1k due to lower than expected pay rises and £0.1k of surplus from pension liabilities due to better than expected performance of the pension scheme.

- Treasury: The realised average interest rate of approximately 5.25% was higher than the 2% interest rates initially expected, and the Treasury Management adopted by Cabinet in February 2023 maximised yield while maintaining security and liquidity.

- Supplies and Services: This area received increased officer focus to improve forecasting.

- Income: This included predominantly surplus income from waste and recycling. There was an increase in garden waste subscriptions as the fee for this service remained unchanged. Recycling rates were volatile and were budgeted for prudently.

Councillors discussed:

- Income from development and building control

- The distribution of vacancies across services

- The breakdown of income from waste services

- The future financial outlook concerning likely projected income

- Use of the identified UKSPF underspend

It was agreed that a written answer would be provided in relation to a query on whether the identified UKSPF underspend could be allocated to previously unsuccessful applicants.

The Finance Manager detailed the Carry Forward Requests. Permission was being requested to carry forward £160k to the Revenue budget and £32k to the Capital budget to complete the tasks detailed in the paper.

The Proposed Reserve Movements showed a £1.5m surplus that will go to reserves. It was proposed that some of these reserves (£950k) would be utilised to fund:

- £100k to fund efficiency reviews

- £50k to mitigate risks related to external audit changes and challenges

- £800k to be used as a contribution to climate change friendly boiler replacements. This was contingent on a successful grant application to secure government funding.

Members were informed about the contribution of active treasury management to the budget surplus, noting that investments have been secured into the current financial year.

Members also discussed:

- The use of reserves and accurately identifying future risks

- Future settlement from Central Government

Members expressed their gratitude to the Finance Manager and her team for their excellent reports.

The Finance Manager presented the Treasury Management Outturn for 2023/24, which followed the Treasury Management Strategy agreed upon by Cabinet in February 2023 and adhered to both the CIPFA and the Prudential Code. No new borrowing was undertaken, and existing borrowing had been repaid according to schedules. The management of cash in the bank followed three principles: security, liquidity, and yield + ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance). ESG was a new requirement for 2023/24.

Members noted the report and thanked the Finance Manager and her team for their work.

Members reviewed the Cabinet Work Programme and did not make any comments.

The Chair suggested several changes to the O&S Work Programme:

·         Move the UKSPF Mid-Year Monitoring Report to the September meeting.

·         Move the feedback from Service Panels to the September meeting.

·         Add an extra presentation of core grant recipients to the September meeting, making it a total of four presentations across the year.

Members agreed to the proposed changes. It was decided that an updated Work Programme would be sent to Members.

The Chair confirmed the date of the next meeting as 13 August 2024.