Cyflwynwyd gan:Cyng / Cllr Ioan Thomas
Decision:
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.
Minutes:
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.
Awdur:Ffion Madog Evans
Supporting documents: