Agenda item

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a Report of the Chamberlain which provided updates regarding the top risks within the Departmental Risk Register.

The Chamberlain provided a brief overview. He confirmed that the IT risk around Resilience had been merged with that of Business Continuity.

The Chairman added that, more broadly, the recent bi-lateral meetings (between Chief Officers, Members and the Chamberlain’s team) had proved fruitful, he asked that, in preparation for the November meeting of the Court of Common Council, the Clerk distribute a note from the Chamberlain that outlined the Corporation’s in-year (2020/21) financial position. In summary, the damage wrought by the pandemic had amounted to a hit of £36m across all three Funds, and, whilst we may yet receive £12m in compensation from central government for income losses and expenditure incurred,  this would still leave a substantial net negative impact of circa £23.4m.

The Chamberlain stressed that, in terms of two specific areas of risk; i) the Barbican Centre, which had been particularly impacted by the Covid restrictions since March, was making good progress on finding savings; ii) the scale of the hit to the Corporation’s commercial rental income was becoming clearer and would be play a significant part of budget planning for 2021/22.

The Chamberlain added that departmental Chief Officers were working constructively with his team to scope out the 12% savings target for next year. Whilst a lot of hard work lay ahead, achieving this target would be a key component in our efforts to stabilise the Corporation’s medium-term financial outlook. Reports would come back to the Committee over the coming months that would provide Members with updates on these budget discussions.

The Chamberlain added that the Government’s Spending Review was due on 25 November, this would present the headline numbers; the more granular detail and the Corporation’s allocation would become apparent in December. It was anticipated that the Settlement was unlikely to contain much good news.

The Deputy Chairman added that Members should be conscious that whilst the initial work around the 2021/22 budget had been positive, unknowns may still creep into the plans, given bad debts will take some time to flow through. The full cost of Covid could not yet be determined and the repercussions will take years to bear out.

RESOLVED – That the Committee notes the report.