Agenda item

Dafydd L Edwards to present the Statement of Accounts, in the ‘statutory’ format, duly certified, but subject to audit

DECISION

The Statement of GwE Accounts (subject to audit) for 2018/19 were received and noted.

DISCUSSION

The report was presented, noting that Section 12 of the Public Audit Act (Wales) 2004 notes that a Joint Committee consisting of more than one authority is a Local Government body, and that Section 13 of the same Act stipulates that a Joint Committee must keep accounts that will be subject to an audit by independent auditors.  It was noted that the Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations 2018 note, where overturn is greater than £2.5 million, that a statement of accounts must be prepared in accordance with the CIPFA code for Joint Committees. It was emphasised that a simple and concise "out-turn" report had been presented in May, which is more useful for internal purposes, whilst the Statement of Accounts is more suitable for governance purposes. It was added that the statement would be subject to an audit by Deloitte, and it was outlined that an 'ISA 260' report would be produced and presented to the Joint Committee on 11 September 2019.

Some aspects of the statement were highlighted, including the Pension fund. It was noted that the Balance Sheet contains an assessment by the Fund’s Actuary, Hymans, of the Joint Committee’s share of the Pension Fund liability. It was noted that liability has increased in 2018/19.

It was noted that there is a major change in terms of Short-Term Debtors for this year, mainly due to money from a number of grants having arrived during, rather than after, the end of the financial year.

Comments arising from the discussion

¾    It was questioned why Property expenditure had increased so much this year, in comparison to last year. It was noted that GwE had relocated to a slightly more expensive building in Mold, however that more training could be conducted at the new building, enabling GwE to attract income. It was noted that the issue had already been highlighted when setting the budget for 2019-20 at the Join Committee in February 2019.

¾    It was questioned why the number of staff paid in excess of £60,000 had increased, in comparison to last year. It was noted that the threshold of £60,000 had remained unchanged for years, despite salaries having increased with salary inflation. 

¾    It was questioned why grants had reduced in comparison to last year. It was noted that one-off grants had been received in 2017/18, and that there had been a cut in the Education Improvement Grant in 2018/19.

¾    Grants were discussed noting that a number of grants had now been set within the Regional Consortia School Improvement Grant.

¾    Under the heading 'EIG - Match Funding', it was asked why there was zero contribution from Wrexham - it was noted that this is a technical issue, as it is an assessment by individual councils as to what elements of their match funding are defined as devolved or non-devolved. It was noted that the devolved element does not appear in GwE's accounts, and that a match funding gross contribution is relative given the devolved element and non-devolved element. It was proposed that a paper highlighting the issue be presented at the next Join Committee if desired, however the proposal was rejected.