The Deputy Chief Executive/Director of Finance provided a summary of the position of the revenue accounts and General Fund balances as at 29 February 2012. The Statement includes the composition of the original 2011/2012 budget by Department including agreed savings and the ‘one year’ policy options; monitoring against the 2011/2012 budget including the financial implications of any changes agreed through Cabinet decisions; anticipated variances, changes not agreed by Cabinet, against the original budget and; comments that provided an explanation of variances and areas identified as requiring further attention.

The Director highlighted changes agreed by the Cabinet which affected the 2011/2012 financial position and he commented that the impact of those decisions was an overall increase in balances of £8.1m. The Statement presented an update of the revenue budget and General Fund balances as at 29 February 2012 and he indicated pressures and potential over/underspends that had been identified by Chief Officers. As at 29 February, the latest projections were for £18.4m in balances as at 31 March 2012 and this had been taken into consideration when setting the 2012/2013 budget.

Resolved – That the Financial Monitoring Statement be noted.