To review performance for Quarter 1 2021/22 and the final budget outturn for the year.

The acting deputy chief executive – chief finance officer introduced the report and explained that projections at the end of the first quarter showed a small overspend for 2021/22. The council had received a large number of grants to deal with costs arising from covid and these had been well spent to manage pressures.

Cabinet members discussed the report and noted that grant money would help to cover some of the shortfall on car parking income and that work was underway to understand the longer term patterns. They also heard that officers were working through systematically with teams to update the performance measures and that the number of ‘grey’ items would reduce in the next quarterly report.

Group leaders gave the views and queries from their groups. It was noted that:

·        As expected more households were struggling to pay their council tax and the impact of the end of the furlough system and increasing inflation would be monitored, however the arrangements put in place in the budget in February 2021 were helping and anyone struggling to pay was urged to make contact with the council at the earliest opportunity;

·        Data was available on the number of people still on furlough in the county and this would be shared;

·        The number of people shopping in the city centre appeared to be improving so the reduction in car parking income might reflect more people using active travel measures;

·        A significant backlog in planning cases had arisen during covid and it was planned to employ consultants to provide additional resource to clear this bulge;

·        The planning service was overdue for transformational change work, learning from examples in other councils, and it was hoped that some additional resource could be provided to improve the work of the service in the future.

It was resolved that:

a)       Cabinet review the performance and financial forecast for year 2021/22, as set out in appendices A – F, and identifies any additional actions to be considered to achieve future improvements.