Issue - meetings

Report to follow/be tabled. 

Cabinet NOTED the projected expenditure position and the monitoring of prudential indicators, and REFERRED the report to the next meeting of the Resources and Staffing Portfolio Holder for more detailed consideration.

The Resources and Staffing Portfolio Holder reminded Cabinet that they had agreed to receive this report late each quarter so that the figures were the most up-to-date available, rather than waiting to receive it the following month.  He confirmed that there had been a £327,000 underspend in 2005/06 and anticipated a £1,356,000 shortfall in capital receipts.

Members queried whether the underspend could be used to help fund the concessionary bus fares scheme or whether this would create the impression that the Council had money to subsidise other authorities despite service and staffing cuts, and could prevent the government from funding the scheme properly.  The Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Holder had distributed to all members figures from a neutral third party source which claimed to show that grants to the Cambridgeshire authorities were distributed unequally, but other authorities had disputed the figures.  He had written to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister detailing how the District Council had been severely underfunded and was in need of government assistance to make the scheme a success, and proposed that the £327,000 be used to fund the scheme.  Cabinet acknowledged that this was a partnership scheme and was reluctant to commit to a decision before receiving confirmation of the funding already received by all Cambridgeshire authorities, and noted that there were other Council service areas which could also benefit a wide section of the population with this money: the issue had to be considered in a wider context and Cabinet noted that a review of the concessionary fares scheme was on the Scrutiny and Overview Committee’s agenda programme.

The favourable predicated out-turn on the Housing Revenue Account and reduced net deficit in the Direct Labour Organisation were praised.

Cabinet NOTED the projected expenditure position and the monitoring of prudential indicators, and REFERRED the report to the next meeting of the Resources and Staffing Portfolio Holder for more detailed consideration.