Agenda item

DECISION

 

Resolved to:

1.1   Note the final financial position of the Council’s departments for 2018/19.

1.2   To approve the amounts to be carried forward (the “Revised Over/ (Under) Spend” column of the summary in Appendix 1), namely -

DEPARTMENT	£’000
Adults, Health and Well-being	15
Children and Families	100
Education	100
Economy and Community	28
Highways and Municipal	100
Environment	(100)
Gwynedd Consultancy	(59)
Corporate Management Team and Legal	(76)
Finance	(59)
Corporate Support	(61)

1.3   To approve the following recommendations and financial transfers (as outlined in Appendix 2) -

·         The Children and Families Department to receive a one-off partial financial assistance of £1,544k to restrict the level of overspend that will be carried over by the department, to support them to move on to face the challenges of 2019/20.

·         The Education Department to receive one-off partial financial assistance of £16k to limit the overspend that will be carried forward by the department to £100k.

·         Compensate the Economy and Community Department £157k, the sum of the overspend due to the slippage of establishing ‘Cwmni Byw’n Iach’ to run the leisure centres, which limits the overspend that will be carried forward by the department to £28k.

·         The Highways and Municipal Department to receive a one-off partial financial assistance of £518k, which limits the overspend that will be carried forward by the Department to £100k, to support them to face the challenges of 2019/20.

·         In accordance with the financial regulations it is recommended that the usual practice is adhered to in order to allow the Environment Department to keep (£100k) of their underspend, and to move (£392k) which is the sum above (£100k), to be used to support the departments that have overspent in 2018/19.

·         On Corporate budgets, transfer:

- (£19k) related to the Council Tax Premium to a specific reserve to be considered for the Housing Strategy.

- (£551k) relating to capital costs to a capital programme fund.

- (£738k) on maintenance to a maintenance reserve.

·         Use (£1,843k) of the net underspend on the Corporate budget to support the departments that have overspent in 2018/19.

·         The remainder of the Corporate underspend (£173k) to go to the Council’s general balances.

 

1.4  To approve the virements from the specific reserves and provisions as outlined in Appendix 3 following a review of reserves and provisions, namely:

·                     Harvest (£3.931m) from reserves and (£69k) from provisions.

·                     Assign £3m to the transformation fund for the Council Plan.

·                     Transfer £1m to the Council’s General Balances.

·                     Assign for a one-year period, £262k from the Supporting the Financial Strategy Reserve to bridge the funding source relating to liabilities of the Pension Fund.

 

The item was submitted by Cllr Ioan Thomas   

 

RESOLVED

 

1.1   To note the final financial position of the Council’s departments for 2018/19.

1.2   To approve the amounts to be carried forward (the “Revised Over/ (Under) Spend” column of the summary in Appendix 1), namely -

 

DEPARTMENT	£’000
Adults, Health and Well-being	15
Children and Families	100
Education	100
Economy and Community	28
Highways and Municipal	100
Environment	(100)
Gwynedd Consultancy	(59)
Corporate Management Team and Legal	(76)
Finance	(59)
Corporate Support	(61)

 

1.3   To approve the following recommendations and virements (as outlined in Appendix 2) 

·         The Children and Families Department to receive a one-off partial financial assistance of £1,544k to restrict the level of overspend that will be carried over by the department, to support them to move on to face the challenges of 2019/20.

·         The Education Department to receive a one-off partial financial assistance of £16k to limit the overspend that will be carried forward by the department to £100k.

·         Compensate the Economy and Community Department £157k, the sum of the overspend due to the slippage of establishing ‘Byw’n Iach’ to run the leisure centres, which limits the overspend that will be carried forward by the department to £28k.

·         The Highways and Municipal Department to receive a one-off partial financial assistance of £518k, which limits the overspend that will be carried forward by the Department to £100k, to support them to face the challenges of 2019/20.

·         In accordance with the Financial Regulations, it is recommended that the usual practice is adhered to in order to allow the Environment Department to keep (£100k) of their underspend, and to move (£392k) which is the sum above (£100k), to be used to support the departments that have overspent in 2018/19.

·         On Corporate budgets, transfer:

- (£19k) related to the Council Tax Premium to a specific reserve to be considered for the Housing Strategy.

- (£551k) relating to capital costs to a capital programme fund.

- (£738k) on maintenance to a maintenance reserve.

·         Use (£1,843k) of the net underspend on the Corporate budget to support the departments that have overspent in 2018/19.

·         The remainder of the Corporate underspend (£173k) to the Council’s general balances.

 

1.4   To approve the virements from the specific reserves and provisions as outlined in Appendix 3 following a review of reserves and provisions, namely:

·                     Harvest (£3.931m) from reserves and (£69k) from provisions.

·                     Assign £3m to the Transformation Fund for the Council Plan.

·                     Transfer £1m in to the Council’s General Balances.

·                     Assign for a one-year period, £262k from the Supporting the Financial Strategy Reserve to bridge the funding source relating to liabilities of the Pension Fund.

 

DISCUSSION

 

The report was submitted, noting that the report elaborated on the Council's expenditure for 2018/19.  Cllr Peredur Jenkins was thanked for his commitment to secure the Council's financial position over the past years. It was expressed that the Council's financial management had been effective over the year, despite the requirement to realise savings.

 

It was expressed that the report noted the final position of all departments, and attention was drawn to the main matters. It was noted that half the departments had been able to keep within their budgets. Attention was drawn to an improvement in the situation of the Adults, Health and Well-being Department by the end of the year as a result of receiving and re-directing late grants.  Nevertheless, it was emphasised that there was an overspend of almost £1m in the Provider service and it was noted that the Cabinet Member and Head of Adults Department needed to look further into this overspend.

 

It was noted that an increase had been seen in the Children and Supporting Families Department across a number of headings which meant that by the end of the year, the net overspend had increased to £1.6m. It was explained that out-of-county placements were responsible for a vast amount of the overspend and a meeting had been arranged between the relevant Cabinet Members, the Chief Executive and other officers in order to address the matter in full. It was recommended for the Cabinet to restrict the level of overspend to carry forward to £100k.

 

Attention was drawn to the Education Department, noting that since the last review that there had been a substantial improvement to the financial situation as a result of receiving and re-directing the grant. Nevertheless, it was expressed that an overspend continued in the Transport field, which had been the subject of a review to manage the overspend, however, reference was made to the need for further work. It was recommended that the overspend was restricted to £100k in order to assist the department in 2019/20.

 

In the Economy and Community Department, a high percentage of the overspend was noted as a result of a slippage in the timetable for establishing Byw'n Iach, and it was recommended that the department be compensated £157k, namely the value of the slippage. Also, it was recommended for the Cabinet to provide one-off financial assistance to ease the overspend of £0.5m in the Waste field in the Highways Department. 

 

It was expressed that the underspend of some departments could be used by effective management of the budgets, in order to finance the total expenditure in accordance with the proposal for 2018/19, by using £1.51m from funds to finance one-off bids in 2018/19 and not make use of the Council's general balances. It was noted that the Council had managed to harvest over £4m of resources, with £3m earmarked for the priorities of the Council Plan. All the staff were thanked for their work in ensuring that the work of closing the accounts and producing the statement was done in a much shorter period compared to previous years.

 

Observations arising from the discussion

-        The Cabinet Member for Children and Supporting Families noted that he had faith in the service and in the level of safety of looked after children. It was added that overspend was often a discussion topic in the Department and Nationally as it was a problem that could be seen nationwide. It was expressed that the department had received an additional resource that would carry out a Ffordd Gwynedd review in the department to ensure that their systems were completely effective. It was noted that the next steps following the Ffordd Gwynedd review would be to raise the question as to whether the budget was fit for purpose.

-        Attention was drawn to the fact that there could be two possibilities following the report of the Children Department; either the financial management was poor or an overspend was unavoidable. It was reiterated that the overspend was nothing new to the officers and consequently it was shown that the financial management was good.  Nevertheless, it was noted that there was a need to ensure that the department worked as efficient as possible and so the importance of meeting the officers was underlined in order to ensure that no stone was left unturned.

-        It was noted that over £800,000 had been added to the budget of the Children and Supporting Families Department by 2019/20, in response to the increase in demand, and further discussion would be held on realising the historical savings schemes of the Department.

-        It was expressed that the slippage with establishing Byw'n Iach accounted for the bulk of the overspend of the Economy and Community Department, however, it was expressed that the overspend in Storiel needed to be addressed urgently. 

-        It was explained that the Education Department had anticipated an overspend of over £700k but that the department, by means of grants, had managed to reduce it to £116k. It was reiterated that further work needed to be done in the context of transport.  It was explained that school balances continued to be high, but that this was partly as a result of receiving Government grants late in the year.

-        It was noted in the Highways and Municipal Department that some income targets were possibly high, but the department was monitoring this. It was added that there would be a change in the Waste Service which would reduce the overspend, within the year.

-        It was expressed that the overspend of the Adults Department had reduced following the late receipt of a grant, however, it was explained that the department needed to continue to consider the matter, in order to ensure that they dealt with any chance of an overspend.

-        Attention was drawn to cuts that were happening to services as a result to a reduction in the Government settlement and that we had conveyed the message to the Government continuously that this reduction was causing worry to the residents of Gwynedd.