Agenda item

RESOLVED that 1) the monitoring position of the General Fund at the end of the second quarter as detailed on Appendix 1 to the report, (a net favourable variance of £1.579m against the profiled budget), and the key issues highlighted within the report be noted,

2) the position on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), the Capital Programme and Treasury Management at the end of the second quarter (Appendices 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 to the report), be noted.

Executive considered a detailed report which provided an update on the financial position of the Council following the second quarter’s budget monitoring exercise for

the General Fund, the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), Capital Programme and Treasury Management activity.

As advised in the budget monitoring report for quarter 1, a number of Council services were transferred into Dragonfly from 1st of April 2023. These services were identifiable on appendices 2 and 4 to the report.

The Council would make payments to Dragonfly for the provision of these services in line with service level agreements which were in the final stages of preparation. A service level agreement was also being prepared for Dragonfly who would make payment to the Council for the support services they received, such as legal, payroll, HR, and finance.

Until these agreements were finalised, and the charging mechanisms put in place, the Council was operating with some budgets still on the Council’s financial management system as well as being on the financial management system of Dragonfly. Budget managers were fully aware of this arrangement, and it had been made clear to them that they needed to ensure the budgets were only spent once during these few months of transition. For this reason, the BDC Dragonfly cost centres were showing favourable variances of £0.496m General Fund and £1.027m Housing Revenue Account. This would all be reconciled and finalised as part of the revised budget process.

Moved by Councillor Clive Moesby and seconded by Councillor Duncan McGregor

RESOLVED that 1) the monitoring position of the General Fund at the end of the second quarter as detailed on Appendix 1 to the report, (a net favourable variance of £1.579m against the profiled budget), and the key issues highlighted within the report, be noted,

2) the position on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), the Capital Programme and Treasury Management at the end of the second quarter (at Appendices 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6), be noted.

Reasons for Recommendation

The report summarised the financial position of the Council following the second quarter’s budget monitoring exercise for the General Fund, the Housing Revenue Account, Capital Programme and Treasury Management activity. The Medium-Term Financial Strategy approved in July 2023, stated that it was the Council’s intention to monitor the budgets of the services transferred into Dragonfly Developments as part of the budget monitoring process.

Alternative Options and Reasons for Rejection

The Budget Monitoring report for 2023/24 was primarily a factual report which detailed progress against previously approved budgets. Accordingly, there were no alternative options to consider.