Finance and Performance outturn 2011/12

The Committee had before them a report which summarised the performance of the Council in the last quarter and over the last year against the key priorities set out in the 2011/12 Budget and Delivery Plans.  The provisional financial outturn for 2011/12 against approved estimates, together with actions taken and significant budget variations was also reported.

The Smarter Services Sutton programme had delivered savings of £9.9m in 2011/12.  It had an overall target of £29.5m of which £26.3 m had been identified and £16.2m approved as part of the decision making process.  Three reviews remained to be completed.  It was noted that there was ongoing monitoring to ensure that these savings were achieved.  It was also hoped that significant savings would result from the joint procurement of new waste disposal arrangements. However, it was anticipated that there could be a potential shortfall of £2m against the original savings target.  It was noted that Customer Satisfaction had been maintained at 91% since 2009 as measured by the borough wide survey. 

The provisional General Fund revenue budget outturn showed an underspend of £2.137m after taking into account requests to carry forward budgets to 2012/13.  Options to utilise this underspend were as follows:

·                     to provide for additional investment during 2012/13 to address issues arising from the Ofsted inspection - £500k

·                     to set aside a specific sum in an earmarked reserve to manage treasury management risks in the medium term

·                     make an additional contribution to the redundancy reserve

·                     to make a one off payment to the pension fund to reduce current liabilities which would result in annual savings of £450k in future years - £1,637k

Capital expenditure in the last year stood at £61.085m or 93% of the capital budget.  It was proposed that the 2012/13 capital budget be reduced by transferring the net unspent sums (£5.105m) and the budgeted receipt (£5.43m) from the old Stanley Park High School site from 2011/12 to 2012/13.  Details of the schemes to be carried forward directorate by directorate were reported.  Further improvements to the reporting and control over capital projects and changes would be implemented for 2012/13.

The achievements of each Directorate were reported.  A Peer Review challenge organised by the Local Government Association had been carried out and reported on in detail to the Executive in May 2012.  (Minute 435/12 refers).  The review had reflected on achievements, the challenges ahead and had identified areas for improvement from a council-wide perspective with a focus on the profile of economic renewal work and ensuring a council-wide understanding of the approach to commissioning. 

Attention was drawn to the recent Ofsted inspection on Safeguarding and Looked after Children.  The Inspectors had judged safeguarding services as inadequate.  A major programme of work was being carried out to address these concerns that had been reported to the Children, Family and Education Committee.  (Minute 578/12 refers)]. 

It was noted that the high cost of providing bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless families continued to be an area of concern. 

During the forthcoming year  ...  view the full minutes text for item 611