Agenda item

To submit the report of the Head of Finance.

The report was submitted by the Senior Finance Manager, who gave the context and elaborated on the contents of the report that had been submitted to Cabinet on 16 October 2018. She noted that the end of August review of the budgets indicated a mixed picture, however, specific actions were required for the Education Department, Children and Families Department together with the Highways and Municipal Departments to ensure control of their budgets by 31 March 2019.

Attention was drawn to the Cabinet's decision:

"To accept the report on the end of August 2018 review of the Revenue Budget and consider the latest financial situation regarding the budgets of each department/service.

·           To ask the Cabinet Members for Children, Education and Highways and Municipal services to ensure that the departments have a clear implementation plan to reduce the financial deficit and to discuss those plans with me so that I can be confident that they are reasonable.

·           Reimburse the Economy and Community Department £40k, which is the income loss resulting from the closure of the Arfon swimming pool over the summer.

·           Harvest (£1,904) of the net underspend on Corporate budgets, with (£40k) to be used to reimburse the Economy and Community Department for the income loss while the Arfon swimming pool was closed. With the remaining (£1,864) to be transferred to the Supporting the Financial Strategy Reserve to support the inevitable one-off pressure on the Council's budget.”

During the ensuing discussion, officers and the Cabinet Member for Finance responded to members' enquiries as follows:

·        That the Arfon swimming pool was closed for ten weeks over the summer to enable adaptations to be undertaken. In fairness to Byw'n Iach Cyf, who will be responsible for the healthy living centres from April 2019 onwards, the Economy and Community Department would be reimbursed for the income loss;

·        Agree with the members' observations, the overspend position in terms of transport in the Education Department was unacceptable. A meeting took place with the relevant officers together with the Chief Executive to discuss this issue and it also received attention at the Cabinet meeting on 16 October 2018. The overspend in the departments linked to the services that are associated with the most vulnerable people and in this case the overspend was for transporting children to Ysgol Hafod Lon. The department was asked to consider alternative ways of transporting pupils by perhaps paying parents rather than using a taxi with a requirement for an escort to be present;

·        That the Cabinet consider the overspend in terms of transport in the Education Department and challenge the Cabinet Member for Education and the officers. It was necessary to change the system and it would be very difficult to solve the overspend by supporting the existing system;

·        Encourage members to attend one of the four workshops at the start of December regarding savings and the financial position;

·        It was estimated that there would be £2.9 million income in terms of the Council Tax Premium Scheme at the end of the financial year, £200,000 had been committed in the budget to enforce the system. With a percentage of the remaining money committed to improve the situation in terms of housing for young people. The number of applications from house owners to register their houses as a business continued to increase. The Valuation Office did not have sufficient resources to challenge the applications appropriately. Welsh Government will continue to be lobbied to change the system and encourage other councils to lobby on the matter, Pembrokeshire County Council were lobbying, and the Isle of Anglesey Council had written to Mark Drakeford AM, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, requesting that he discusses the matter with HM Revenue and Customs;

·        That the Council lobbies the Welsh Government in the context of the need to change the system by presenting a requirement to receive permission via the planning system to change a house into a business, but the Government did not support this; 

·        Assure members that the Cabinet places the people of Gwynedd at the heart of all they do and that changes will be made to the ways services are provided in light of the financial challenge and by trying to ensure that no one suffers. Pressure would be brought to bear on Cardiff in terms of funding councils and the Leaders of North Wales Councils had recently met with Mark Drakeford AM to discuss the matter;

·        In terms of a member's concern that there was a reduction in the number of domiciliary care packages in the Adults, Health and Well-being Department, each case was considered individually and they way in which services are provided would be looked at;

·        That the Council provides internal domiciliary care and residential packages at a higher percentage than other councils in north Wales. Internal provision was essential in rural areas where private provision was not available. As part of the savings, consideration had been given to externalise the provision but when comparing costs it was found that there would be no difference regarding costs;

·        In the context of the reduction in the number of applications as part of the Council's Tax Reduction scheme, there was no robust explanation but there was a tendency to suggest that the economy was improving and seasonal jobs may mean that persons were above the threshold to receive benefits; 

·        That the Council sends an information pack regarding the Council Tax Reduction scheme to individuals and this was funded by Welsh Government.   

RESOLVED:

(i)     to note the situation and the relevant risks in the context of the Council’s budgets and its departments;

(ii)    to request that the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee consider scrutinising the overspend of the Education Department on pupil transport.