Issue - meetings

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

Noted and accepted:

1.     The Ambition Board's revenue out-turn report for 2023/24 (Appendix 1)
which includes using £561,454 from the North Wales Growth Deal grant to show a neutral position for the year.

2.     The Ambition Board’s reserves situation (Appendix 2).

3.     Capital End of Year Review on 31 March 2024 (Appendix 3).

The report was presented by the Host Authority's Head of Finance Department.

RESOLVED

Noted and accepted:

1.     The Ambition Board's revenue out-turn report for 2023/24 (Appendix 1)
which includes using £561,454 from the North Wales Growth Deal grant to show a neutral position for the year.

2.     The Ambition Board’s reserves position (Appendix 2).

3.     Capital End of Year Review on 31 March 2024 (Appendix 3).

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

To inform the Ambition Board of its financial position for both revenue and capital in 2023/24.

DISCUSSION

Members were guided through the report which provided an overview of the revenue and capital out-turn position for 2023/24. Reference was made to Appendix 1 drawing attention to the last column in the table which showed the overspend / underspend for each heading. ⁠It was noted that the final underspend on the Portfolio Management Office heading was £75,000 which was mainly due to staff turnover during the year. It was reported that the Support Services heading showed an underspend of £39,000.

It was noted that the final underspend on the CJC heading was £41,000 and was due to underspend on the External Legal Support, External Financial Fees and the Business Delivery Board headings. It was expressed that the final underspend on the Projects heading was £129,000. ⁠ It was explained that the expenditure under the Grants heading included schemes that were funded by certain grants from Welsh Government. It was added that the Transfers to Reserves section showed the partners' interest contributions for 2023/24.

Members were referred to the second page of Appendix 1 where the main income streams for 2023/24 were listed and the final net out-turn position for 2023/24 was shown, namely an underspend of £460,000. It was explained that this demonstrated an increase in the underspend from the £341,000 that had been forecast in the end of December review. It was noted that the underspend derived from the success of the Portfolio Management Office with its regional application to the Shared Prosperity Fund along with a reduction in spending on several headings in the budget. 

The Board was asked to approve a reduced amount of £561,000, compared with the original budget of £1,000,000 from the Growth Deal grant to be used to fund revenue expenditure in 2023/24 in order to leave a neutral position for the year.

Reference was made to Appendix 2 which showed the movements in the funds during the year and the balances on 31 March 2024.  It was noted that the total of the reserve fund on 31 March 2024 was £278,000 and that £67,000 had been allocated for the 2024/25 budget and a further £61,000 for the 2025/26 budget. It was reported that the balance of the projects fund on 31 March 2024 was £152,000 and the balance of the interest fund on 31 March 2024 was £4.7 million. It was noted there had been a significant increase here due to the interest received on the Growth Deal grant during the year.

To close, reference was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5