Issue - meetings

Dewi A.Morgan (Host Authority Head of Finance - Statutory Finance Officer) and Sian Pugh (Host Authority Assistant Head of Finance) to present the report.

1.    To note and accept the NWEAB’s revenue out-turn report for 2022/23 (Appendix 1 to the report), the NWEAB's reserves (Appendix 2) and the Capital End of Year Review as at 31 March 2023 (Appendix 3).

2.    To approve for the £148,000 revenue underspend for 2022/23 to be transferred to the 2023/24 budget, with £18,000 of it added to the Business Delivery Board heading and £130,000 added to the Projects heading.

The context was set out by Dewi A. Morgan (Host Authority Head of Finance – Statutory Finance Officer) and Sian Pugh (Host Authority Assistant Head of Finance) elaborated on the content of the report.

RESOLVED

1.      To note and accept the NWEAB’s revenue out-turn report for 2022/23 (Appendix 1 to the report), the NWEAB's reserves (Appendix 2) and the Capital End of Year Review as at 31 March 2023 (Appendix 3).

2.      To approve for the £148,000 revenue underspend for 2022/23 to be transferred to the 2023/24 budget, with £18,000 of it added to the Business Delivery Board heading and £130,000 added to the Projects heading.

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

To inform the NWEAB of its financial position for both revenue and capital in 2022/23.

DISCUSSION

In response to a question, it was explained that £18,000 needed to be added to the Business Delivery Board heading (recommendation 2) because the Board's work of tendering a contract had slipped to the first part of 2023/24.

It was further explained:-

·         That the Portfolio Management Office had advertised for a partner to collaborate on a specific brief on behalf of the Business Delivery Board and an advisory team from the business sector. 

·         That the brief outlined a process for engaging with a partner which could create a baseline report for us and look at the North Wales economy and the sectors that are here, assessing the strengths and opportunities within that sector.

·         That the initial brief had been very challenging for the partners.  It was sought the encourage as much profit as possible, but unfortunately no response was received to the tender.

·         That another provider had contacted very recently and had asked to submit a tender, and that provider was asked to develop an offer over the following three weeks.

·         That the baseline report would be of assistance to respond to the requirement to provide an investment strategy in order to show how the Growth Deal would leverage more than £722m which would be needed to deliver the £1bn Growth Deal in its entirety over the period.

In response to a further question, it was explained that the amount of £722m was based on how much investment would have to be leveraged from the private sector, which combined with the previous commitment of both governments to provide £240m over the period, and that an additional amount had been earmarked to come in as additional funding from the public sector as well.