Agenda item

The Executive Director Corporate Services introduced an information report that updated on the financial position of the Council’s revenue account for the third quarter of the 2020/21 financial year to the end of December 2020.

It was noted that a £2.9m underspend had been projected and this was reflected in the revenue budget scrutinised earlier in the meeting.  Members asked about the progress on achieving the savings in 2020/21 as set out in Appendix C to the report.  A number were ‘red’ rated and the Committee asked what action was being taken to address the issues.  The Executive Director explained the nature of some of the savings, for example, it had been envisaged that the Council would receive an income from the new leisure contract in 2020/21 but this had been effected by the closure of leisure centres due to Covid-19.  Similarly the ability to achieve other savings had been impacted on by the pandemic and it had not always been possible to identify alternative savings from within the service.  Assurance was provided that where planned savings had not been achieved they had been reflected as unachieved savings in the 2021/22 budget.

An update was requested and provided on the financial position of Slough Children’s Services Trust.  The Trust had received some of the Covid-19 grant to help deal with in-year pressures caused by the pandemic and £2m worth of growth had been built into the 2021/22 budget during which time the transition to become a local authority controlled company was expected to have been completed.

At the conclusion of the discussion the report was noted.

Resolved –

(a)  That the reported underlying financial position of the Council for the year end 2020-21 be noted;

(b)  That the Council’s provisional reserve balances for the year end 2020-21 be noted;

(c)  That the budget transfer (virements) for 2020-21 set out in Section 9 as approved by Cabinet on 1st February 2021 be noted;

(d)  That write offs for the first quarter of 2020-21 as requested in Section 10 as approved by Cabinet on 1st February 2021 be noted;