Response 3981607

Response to request for information

Reference

3981607

Response date

17 April 2026

Request

I would like to request the following information for the most recent full financial year available:

1.    The three highest individual areas of expenditure that the council classifies as discretionary or non-statutory (i.e. services or spending not required by law), ranked by total annual spend.
2. For each of these three areas, please provide: 
   
   • The name or description of the service/project
   • The total amount spent in that financial year
   • A brief description of what the expenditure relates to
3. Please provide the total amount spent by the council on alcohol, including: 
   
   • Alcohol purchased for events, functions, or hospitality
   • Alcohol purchased using council funds, expenses, or procurement systems

If possible, please also provide a breakdown of this figure by category (e.g. events, civic hospitality, staff functions).

Response

The 2025/26 accounts have not yet been finalised. Below are therefore the total service costs from the 2024/25 audited accounts.

Top three areas of expenditure after statutory functions and excluding support functions is:

1. Crematorium (1130) £462,000 – income exceeds expenditure to give a net of £191,000 income – cost of running the crematorium less income from these services
2. Home Alarms (1137)  £242,000 – income exceeds expenditure to give a net of £6,000 income – staffing costs and cost of alarms and airtime from third party
3. Rushcliffe Country Park (1375) £225,000 – this is partially offset by income giving net expexpenditure of £142,000 – mainly staffing

During 2025/26 alcohol purchases are limited to the Celebrating Rushcliffe Awards which total £393.06 (unaudited). Please note this is a sponsored event with sponsorship exceeding the cost of the alcohol.