Issue - meetings

The issue concerning underspends in the Traffic and Road Safety Service because vacancies had not been filled was raised. This was cross referenced to the capital programme report which mentioned over £600k slippage in the Capital Programme and design work. It was asked if the fact that vacancies had not been filled had caused  a delay to certain projects in the Capital Programme.

The Assistant Director for Traffic and Parking responded that LIP (Local Implementation Plan) related work had been affected by uncertainty because of a lack of funding from TfL. This was a legacy from May 2020 when TfL experienced a funding crisis. So any delays in the Capital Programme were not caused by vacancies, but rather by a lack of funding from TfL. It was also the case that because of the pandemic, funding that was available had to be allocated to Covid related projects.

A Member referenced page 105 of the agenda where there seemed to be an indication that the ‘run rate’ was increasing in certain areas like waste services. He commented that it would be useful to know why this was the case.

The Head of Finance (ECS) responded and explained that Covid impacts were now within the monitoring process, but it may be more helpful going forward to make a clearer distinction between what was ‘business as usual’ and what had been impacted by Covid.

RESOLVED that the Budget Monitoring report be noted.