Issue - meetings

The Council resolved:-

(i)             to note the positive cash position that had been achieved for the General Fund and HRA to the end of Quarter 1 as detailed in Appendix 1;

(ii)           to note the Common Good financial performance to the end of Quarter 1 as detailed in Appendix 3, specifically the £2m reduction in cash balances due to investment volatility;

(iii)          to note that the General Fund full year forecast position, as detailed in Appendix 2, was expected to show a balanced position overall for 2022/23, based on the assumption that the Scottish Government would fund any increase to the current pay offer made by Cosla and through the other mitigations contained within the report, including the use of one-off funding streams;

(iv)          to note the initial information provided in the report about the fire at Altens East Waste and Recycling Centre and instruct the Chief Officer - Operations and Protective Services to report back to the next meeting of the City Growth and Resources Committee with details of the contractual, financial, and operational implications, including assurance about how the council has mitigated financial exposure;

(v)           to note that the HRA full year forecast position, as detailed in Appendix 2, was on target to achieve the approved budget, making a contribution to HRA reserves for 2022/23;

(vi)          to note that the Council relied on the Integration Joint Board (IJB) achieving a balanced budget, and that it retained reserves in the event of unplanned additional costs arising during the year;

(vii)        to note that the forecast for General Fund capital expenditure was that there would be lower spend than had been budgeted in 2022/23, and for Housing, capital expenditure would be in line with 11% slippage on the programme, as described in Appendix 2;

(viii)       to note that officers had completed the work required to reprofile the capital programmes, following instruction by the City Growth and Resources Committee on 21 June 2022 (Appendix 5);

(ix)          to note that almost all capital projects could be paused, delayed or ultimately cancelled though there would be implications related to such decisions;

(x)           to note that for reprofiling purposes there were projects/programmes within the approved Capital Programmes which had been excluded;

(xi)          to note the legal status of the contracts involved in delivery of the projects as this to an extent dictated the level of flexibility that the Council had in terms of reprofiling, pausing or cancelling projects;

(xii)        to note the General Fund Capital funded projects/programmes recommended for reprofiling shown in Appendix 5 - Table 1, which showed the current budget profile;

(xiii)       to instruct the Chief Officer - Finance to remove the Early Learning & Childcare - St Josephs and Garthdee Link Road projects from the General Fund Capital Programme;

(xiv)       to approve the reprofiled General Fund Capital funded projects/programmes as shown in Appendix 5 - Table 2. Noting the use of the existing contingency in the programme;

(xv)        in light of the best value consideration referred to in the report, to  ...  view the full decision text for item 7

With reference to Article 7 of the minute of meeting of the City Growth and Resources Committee of 3 August 2022, the Council had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided details of the financial position of the Council as at Quarter 1 (30 June 2022) and the full year forecast position for the financial position, which had been referred to the Council by five members of the committee in terms of Standing Order 34.1.

The report recommended:-

that the City Growth and Resources Committee -

(a)       note the positive cash position that has been achieved for the General Fund and HRA to the end of Quarter 1 as detailed in Appendix 1;

(b)       note the Common Good financial performance to the end of Quarter 1 as detailed in Appendix 3, specifically the £2m reduction in cash balances due to investment volatility;

(c)       note that the General Fund full year forecast position, as detailed in Appendix 2, is expected to show a balanced position overall for 2022/23, based on the assumption that the Scottish Government will fund any increase to the current pay offer made by Cosla and through the other mitigations contained within the report, including the use of one-off funding streams;

(d)       note the initial information provided in the report about the fire at Altens East Waste and Recycling Centre and instruct the Chief Officer - Operations and Protective Services to report back to the next meeting of the Committee with details of the contractual, financial, and operational implications, including assurance about how the council has mitigated financial exposure;

(e)       note that the HRA full year forecast position, as detailed in Appendix 2, is on target to achieve the approved budget, making a contribution to HRA reserves for 2022/23;

(f)        note that the Council relies on the Integration Joint Board (IJB) achieving a balanced budget, and that it retains reserves in the event of unplanned additional costs arising during the year;

(g)       note that the forecast for General Fund capital expenditure is that there will be lower spend than had been budgeted in 2022/23, and for Housing, capital expenditure will be in line with 11% slippage on the programme, as described in Appendix 2;

(h)       note that officers have completed the work required to reprofile the capital programmes, following instruction by the Committee on 21 June 2022 (Appendix 5), and that this has led to the following recommendations:-

(h1)  note that almost all capital projects can be paused, delayed or ultimately cancelled though there would be implications related to such decisions;

(h2)  note that for reprofiling purposes there are projects/programmes within the approved Capital Programmes which have been excluded;

(h3)  note the legal status of the contracts involved in delivery of the projects as this to an extent dictates the level of flexibility that the Council has in terms of reprofiling, pausing or cancelling projects;

(h4)  note the General Fund Capital funded projects/programmes recommended for reprofiling are shown in Appendix 5 - Table 1,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7