To
submit the report of the Head of Finance.
Minutes:
The
report of the Head of Finance Department was submitted, noting that in
accordance with the requirements of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011,
that the Audit Committee was expected to scrutinise budget monitoring reports
when appropriate.
The Senior Finance Manager set the context and
elaborated on the content of the report that had been submitted to the Cabinet
on 24 November 2015. He presented the following decisions for the attention of
the committee to scrutinise -
“1. To accept
the report on the second quarter review of the Revenue Budget (position as at
30 September 2015) and consider the latest financial situation regarding the
budgets of each department/service, asking the Cabinet Members and relevant
heads of department to take appropriate steps regarding the matters under their
leadership/management.
2. To note the
various reviews noted in the report and the steps to be taken by departments to
manage their budgets.
3. To give
consideration to, and approve specifically, the amendments and transfers that were recommended in relation to the Education, Economy
and Community, and Regulatory Departments, and Corporate Budgets.”
The
Cabinet Member for Resources noted that Cabinet Members had been reminded of
their responsibilities in terms of reviewing budgets. He referred to the
Adults, Health and Well-being Department’s financial position and the
likelihood that it would need bridging resources for this year due to the
unlikelihood of realising the full savings during the financial year. He noted
that clear steps would be taken to deal with the situation in order to keep it
under control and that the Cabinet’s decision to put resources to one side
enabled the Cabinet to respond to the financial position in terms of the
Department by the end of the financial year.
During
the ensuing discussion, officers responded to members’ enquiries as follows:
·
In terms of
‘Redundancy and Early Retirement’ in the Education Department, that school
governing bodies permitted early retirement with costs falling on the Education
Department. It was noted that the situation would be reviewed in terms of
pension release by re-examining the individual’s right in terms of amount, the
school’s position to contribute towards the payment and the future method of
payment in order to respond to the overspend;
·
The Education
Department had anticipated the overspend situation and had earmarked underspend
in a reserve fund to finance the expenditure;
·
It was the
decision of the Governing Bodies to re-employ retired teachers as supply
teachers with the teacher’s experience being taken into consideration;
·
Redundancy was a
one-off cost and that annual revenue savings would be examined as part of the
schools organisation plan;
·
In terms of
Gwynedd Consultancy’s overspend, that action had been taken to modernise and
that the Department was attempting to attract work and maximise achievement
within current staffing resources. It was added that an annual review was
undertaken in terms of the Department’s income and their intention to use a
reserved resource to mitigate the situation should the picture continue until
the end of the financial year.
A
member noted that there was a historical annual overspend in terms of the older
people’s service and that a demographic trend resulted in more demand for
services, therefore, there was a need to seriously consider the financial requirements.
In
response, the Cabinet Member for Resources noted that the Adults, Health and
Well-being Department had taken clear steps to address the situation with two
new appointments recently made to drive the savings programme forward. The
Senior Finance Manager added that the budget for the 2016-17 financial year would be carefully considered by assessing the
demographic impact and the Department was expected to operate within that
budget.
RESOLVED to note the situation
and the relevant risks in the context of the Council’s budgets and those of its
departments.
Supporting documents: