Decision details

The report sets out the 2023/24 financial and performance position for the services reporting into the Climate Transition, Corporate and Environmental Services Policy Advisory Committee (CTCE PAC), Planning and Healthier Stronger Communities (PHSC PAC) and Housing and Community Cohesion (HACC PAC) as at 31st March 2024 (Quarter 4). The primary focus is on:

•  The 2023/24 Revenue and Capital budgets; and

•  The 2023/24 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that relate to the delivery of the Strategic Plan 2019-2045.

That

1.  The Revenue position as at the end of Quarter 4 for 2023/24, including the actions being taken or proposed to improve the position, where significant variances have been identified, be noted;

2.  The Capital position at the end of Quarter 4 for 2023/24 be noted;

3.  The Performance position as at Quarter 4 for 2023/24, including the actions being taken or proposed to improve the position, where significant issues have been identified, be noted;

4.  The UK Shared Prosperity Fund update, attached at Appendix 3 to the report be noted;

5.  The uncollectable Business Rates (NNDR) listed at Appendix 4 to the report be approved for write-off; and

6.  The Risk Update, attached at Appendix 5 to the report be noted.

The Medium-Term Financial Strategy for 2023/24 to 2027/28 - including the budget for 2023/24 - was approved by full Council on 22^nd February 2023. The report updates the Cabinet on how its services have performed for the financial year, up to and including Quarter 4 2023/24, with regard to revenue and capital expenditure against approved budgets.

The reduction in the number of Policy Advisory Committees from four to three in May 2024 and the new allocation of responsibilities between Committees is reflected in the report, such that performance is shown as though the new allocations had been in effect throughout the financial year 2023/24.

The report also includes an update to the Cabinet on progress against its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and an update covering corporate risks.

Attached at Appendix 1 to the report is a report setting out the revenue and capital spending position at the Quarter 4 stage. Attached at Appendix 2 to the report is a report setting out the position for the KPIs for the corresponding period. Attached at Appendix 3 to the report is an update on progress on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and attached at Appendix 4 to the report are the details of the uncollectable Business Rates (NNDR) being requested for approval to write off. Attached at Appendix 5 to the report is a report providing an update on corporate risks, in response to the former Policy & Resources Committee’s previous request for regular updates on this subject.

REVENUE AND CAPITAL BUDGETS

The tables below summarise the overall position as at 31 March 2024. Further details and an explanation of the significant variances are shown in Appendix 1 to the report.

This main elements in the underspend are a drawdown of the contingency budget (£1.871m), which has been deployed to offset overspends in services reporting to other committees such as Temporary Accommodation and lower levels of income in Planning.  There has also been additional interest and investment income (£0.929m) arising from slippage in the capital programme leading to higher cash balances, and higher than expected interest income on those balances.

It should be noted that a significant factor in achieving a balanced position for this year was that the contingency budget of £1.871m was available to mitigate the pressures elsewhere in the budget. That budget is not available for 2024/25 as its has been used to balance the budget.  There will still be a significant number of pressures to deal with, so careful management of budgets and the early identification of issues will be paramount throughout the year.

Revenue Budget

Capital Budget

At the Quarter 4 stage, the Council has incurred overall net capital expenditure of £29.440m, representing a significant level of slippage against the agreed budget allocation within the Capital Programme of £57.965m.

Within this, capital expenditure at the end of Quarter 4 for CTCE PAC was £2.477m against a total budget of £16.439m.

The slippage will be rolled forward to 2024/25.  This will increase the size of the capital programme, which will need to be reviewed to assess deliverability going forward.  This assessment is in part driven by the largest programme related to 1,000 homes which is at risk of being slowed down.

Note: The reports for the first three quarters of 2023/24 were based on the Policy Advisory Committees that were in place at the time. These are the new Committees that were agreed in May 2024.

The Policy Advisory Committees: Climate Transition, Corporate and Environmental Services on 8 July 2024; Planning and Healthier Stronger Communities on 9 July 2024 and; Housing and Community Cohesion on 23 July 2024 supported the recommendations as they related to their areas.

Performance

In the annual summary (Part B), all performance for 2023/24’s KPIs are shown.  The key headlines are :

·  The PI monitoring footfall in the Town Centre, which saw an increase of 1,476,095 unique visitors in Q4 2024 compared to Q4 2023.

·  The vacant units in the Town Centre also improved this year, dropping to 13.2% in January 2024, compared to 16.3% in April 2023.

·  Maidstone’s unemployment rate remains lower than the average in Kent and Great Britain.

·  Our youth unemployment rate (18-24yo) is consistent with the average across Kent (5.3% in March 2024).

·  planning applications - an approximately 70% success rate for appeals (despite many obstacles) which puts MBC as a high performer from a national perspective.

·  Maidstone Leisure Centre received over half a million visits in the last Financial Year, slightly above the target set by MBC.

·  Customer satisfaction with the Leisure Centre experience sits at 83%, above the 80% target set by MBC.

·  Utility costs at the Leisure Centre saw a 9% reduction in the first half of 2023 against a nominated based line of 2022 but have risen by 1% against that baseline in the second half of 2023; making an average overall reduction of 4.82% on the whole of 2023 against 2022.

·  The Hazlitt Theatre - theatre patronage, 73% of available tickets were sold to 63,500 customers across all shows in the year and of these 84% of visitors were satisfied or very satisfied.

Uncollectable Business Rates (NNDR)

Appendix 4 to the report details the Business Rates that have been through a recovery process and now deemed unrecoverable and we are seeking approval to write-off the debt by Cabinet.      

The process of debt recovery is in general,

·  we would issue a reminder notice 10 days after a charge is due.

·  A final notice would then be issued if the debt remained unpaid, usually a month after the reminder notice has been sent. This final notice withdraws the right to pay by instalment and warns that a court summons may be issued.

·  If the debt still remains unpaid we would issue a Magistrate’s court summons. The timing of this is dependent on the court dates we are given. A liability order would be granted at the Magistrate’s court for any outstanding debt. We would be prepared to accept a payment arrangement at any point up to this stage.

If the debt is not paid after the liability order has been granted, or a suitable arrangement agreed and adhered to, the debt would then be passed to Mid Kent Enforcement Service (bailiffs). If they are unable to collect the debt and the ratepayer is still trading, we would then need to consider other actions, such as commencing insolvency proceedings. In the attached cases this has not been possible as the ratepayers have already ceased trading and become insolvent/dissolved.

Option 2: To not approve write-off of the uncollectable Business Rates.

These options were not taken for the reasons set out above.

Option 3: Comment on the remaining parts of the report.

Comments provided during consideration of the report.