To consider the third budget monitoring report for 2018/2019 under the Authority’s agreed budget monitoring procedures which provides high-level information on capital and revenue expenditure and funding for the year compared to the latest position as reported to Council in December 2018.

To consider any recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

The Council noted the forecast position for Revenue Budget for 2018/19 based on quarter three information, as set out in the submitted report.

The Head of Finance to present the third budget monitoring report for 2018/2019 under the Authority’s agreed budget monitoring procedures which provides high-level information on capital and revenue expenditure and funding for the year compared to the latest position as reported to Council in December 2018.

The Elected Mayor to answer any of the Board’s questions.

The Board to consider making any recommendations to the Council.

The Board considered a report which provided a high level budget summary of the Council’s revenue and capital income and expenditure for the financial year 2018/2019.  As at the end of Quarter 3, it was predicted that the Council’s Revenue Budget would be overspent by £2.7 million before the application of identified one-off funding.

It was noted that this was a small improvement from the Quarter 2 position, however the overspend of £4.2 million in Children’s Services remained a real cause for concern.  A moratorium on all spend and recruitment which was not urgent or needed to meet statutory duties continued to be in place.

The Capital Plan budget included £94 million scheduled to be spent in 2018/2019, including £50 million on Investment Fund acquisitions and £13 million on regeneration projects.

Members of the Board raised a number of questions in relation to the current situation in Children’s Services and noted that a more detailed debate would take place at the next meeting of the Board.