Purpose

To report on the
Council’s resources currently held as reserves and provisions
as at 31 March 2024, taking account of the outturn position for
2023-2024.

Content

1.     
That the transfers to/from provisions as detailed in
Table 5 of the report be approved.
 
2.     
That the contributions to/from earmarked reserves
(not previously approved) as detailed in section 7 of the report be
approved.
 
3.     
That expenditure from provisions for their purposes
as set out in Appendix 2 and 3 to the report, up to the value held
in each provision as at 31 March 2024 be
approved.
 
4.     
That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member
for Resources in consultation with the Director of Finance and the
relevant Director/Deputy Director to allocate funds from reserves
as detailed in Appendix 1.
 
5.     
That the level of the Council’s reserves and
provisions as at 31 March 2024 and the
purposes for which they are being held, as detailed in Appendix 1,
2, and 3 to the report be noted.
 

6.     
That it be noted that the recommendations detailed
in the report are in line with the Reserves Strategy approved by
Council on 28 February 2024.
 
7.     
That it be noted that allocation of funding from all
earmarked reserves would be reported to Councillors in future
reports.
 
8.     
That it be noted that
the Resources and Equality Scrutiny Panel would scrutinise the use
of reserves as part of the budget setting process as in previous
years.
 
9.     
That it be noted that the Interim Director of
Finance considers that the overall level of all reserves and
provisions are sufficient to meet the likely level of obligations
to be met from reserves and provisions in the short
term.
 
10.  
That it be noted that the figures quoted in the
report are still subject to statutory audit by Grant Thornton as
part of the 2023-2024 accounts closedown process.
 
11.  
That it be noted that the Performance and Budget
Outturn 2023-2024 report is on this same agenda assumes the use of
reserves as outlined in this report.  If
the reserves approvals as outlined in section 7 of the report were
not approved, then this would impact on the outturn position
outlined in the Performance and Budget Outturn Report.