Issue - meetings

To accept information from the report and receive any feedback.

To note and accept the Revenue Income and Expenditure Account for 2021-2022 submitted in Appendix 1 as the final financial position.

The report was presented by the Host Authority's Head of Finance Department and the following main points were noted:

-      Although a balanced budget had been set for the financial year, the situation at the end of the year showed an overspend of £230,128 for the financial year.

-      The report showed that there was an underspend in some areas such as employees and transport. The main reasons for this were that many members of the workforce had been seconded to work on specific projects, as well as the lack of travel during the lockdown periods.

-      There was an overspend on the GwE building as a result of a loss of income as people stopped renting rooms during the lockdown periods. This was also to be expected in the current financial year but the situation was expected to improve.

-      It was explained that a decision had been taken during the year to spend a proportion of the money saved in the GwE reserve fund. Underspending in recent years had led to the reserve fund increasing significantly to £563,530 at the start of the financial year. The use of this money, together with the underspend in specific areas, had funded expenditure against the Specific Projects heading. A deliberate decision had been made to spend this money to ensure that schools continued to receive support during the lockdown periods.

-      The committee was asked to approve a transfer from the GwE reserve to fund this expenditure. A balance of £437,503 would remain in the reserve fund.

In response to comments from the Chair, the following points were noted by the Managing Director of GwE:

-      Conversations would be held with the Management Board when appropriate to consider the working arrangements of the workforce in the future. It was hoped that the majority of the GwE workforce would work in the office and/or out in the schools.  Further discussions were needed on future working models.

RESOLVED

-      To note and accept the Revenue Income and Expenditure Account for 2021-2022 submitted in Appendix 1 as the final financial position.

-      To approve the financial transfer from the GwE reserve to fund an overspend of £230,128 in 2021-2022.