To submit the report of the Head of Finance.
Minutes:
Submitted - the report of the Head of Finance Department noting that in
accordance with the requirements of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011,
the Audit and Governance Committee was expected to scrutinise some financial
matters including budget monitoring reports, where appropriate.
The Cabinet Member
for Finance set out the context and elaborated on the content of the report
submitted to Cabinet on 16 January 2018.
He noted that,
overall, the third quarter review of the budgets reflected acceptable financial
control by a number of the Council's departments, however, a combination of
specific actions were recommended to the Education, Adults, Health and
Well-being, Children and Supporting Families and Highways and Municipal
Departments to ensure control of their budgets by 31 March 2018.
He drew attention
to the Cabinet's decision:
"To accept
the report on the third quarter review of the Revenue Budget (as at 31 December
2017) and consider the latest financial position of each department/service's
budget, and ask the Cabinet Members and the relevant heads of department to
take appropriate steps on matters under their leadership/management.
It was resolved to
harvest (£270k) from the underspend on Council Tax Reduction, (12k) one-off
underspend on bids and (£803k) from grants received and favourable conditions
on other Council budgets, and transfer them to the Financial Strategy Reserve
to assist with unavoidable one-off pressures on the Council’s budgets, with an
element of it returned to compensate for the possible impact of school taxis
overspend at year end."
During the ensuing
discussion, officers and the Cabinet Member responded to members' enquiries as
follows:
·
In the context of gross expenditure of over £5m, an overspend of £198,000 under the 'Catering and Cleaning'
heading in the Education Department was not a substantial sum. The Council had
resolved to find savings by raising the price of school meals to increase
income, and it was reflected in the figures that the income was less than what
had been projected rather than there being an overspend;
·
In terms of the overspend under the 'Transport'
heading in the Education Department:
Ø Discussions had
been held with the Education Department and the Environment Department in terms
of alternative solutions rather than using taxis to transport pupils to
schools. As the overspend was unavoidable, bridging finance would be
transferred to the Education Department at the end of the financial year;
Ø There was a
deficit in the income of post-16 transport ticket sales, as a consequence of
the ticket costs increases, some pupils/students had made alternative
arrangements. A member's observation as to whether there was a link between the
shortfall and a change to the Council's post-16 Transport policy to an uniform
ticket rate, would be sent to the Head of Education Department;
·
The member would have to contact the Head of
Highways and Municipal Department to obtain confirmation on where the recycling
material was sold. It was explained that there had been a significant drop in
the prices of recycling materials;
·
In relation to the overspend under the ‘Out of
County Placements’ heading within the Children and Families Department, the
Council was seeking local solutions but that some children with more severe
needs had been placed in specialist placements. It was a field that all north
Wales Councils were overspending on and experts in the field were considering
if joint special support could be provided.
RESOLVED to note the situation and the relevant risks in the context of the Council’s budgets and those of its departments.
Supporting documents: