Cyflwynwyd gan:Cyng/Cllr Ioan Thomas
Decision:
Resolved
to:
·
Accept the report on the end of November 2019 review of the Revenue
Budget and consider the latest financial situation regarding the budgets of
each department/service.
·
Note that there is a significant overspend by the Adults, Health and
Well-being Department this year, and as complex details need to be clarified in
this picture in Adults care, the Chief Executive has already called a meeting
of the relevant officers and commissioned work in order to gain a better
understanding and a clear response programme. To attempt to meet the overspend
in future, an additional resource is allocated as part of the bidding system
for the 2020/21 budget.
·
To note that the Children's Budget Taskforce has been commissioned by
the Chief Executive to address serious financial matters within the Children
and Families Department so that it is possible to get to the root of the
Department's overspend, with the intention of submitting a report to the
Cabinet that will detail on the response plan. To attempt to meet the overspend
in future, an additional resource is allocated as part of the bidding system
for the 2020/21 budget.
·
On Corporate budgets, that:
¾ (£198k) of additional
tax yield on the Council's Tax Premium is added to the £2.7 million that has
already been allocated in 2019/20 to be considered for the Housing Strategy.
¾ (£75k) relating to
capital costs allocated to a capital programme fund.
¾ (£500k) of Corporate
underspend is allocated to fund a lack of grants in the field of sustainable
social services.
¾ (£312k) to be spent to
fund one-off bids that have been submitted by the Departments for expenditure
in 2020/21.
¾ The remainder (£502k) would go towards the Council’s general balances
Minutes:
Presented by
Cllr Ioan Thomas
DECISION
Resolved
to:
·
Accept the report on the end of November 2019 review of the Revenue
Budget, and consider the latest financial situation regarding the budgets of
each department/service.
·
Note that there is significant overspend by the Adults, Health and
Well-being Department this year, as complex details need to be clarified in
Adult care, the Chief Executive has already called a meeting of the relevant
officers and commissioned work to obtain a better understanding and a clear
response programme. To try and address the overspend in future, an additional
resource has been allocated as part of the bidding process for the 2020/21
budget.
·
Note that a Children's Budget Taskforce has been commissioned by the
Chief Executive to address the complex financial issues of the Children and
Families Department in order to get to the root of the overspend, with the
intention of presenting a report to the Cabinet which will detail the response
plan. To try and address the overspend in future, an additional resource has
been allocated as part of the bidding process for the 2020/21 budget.
·
On Corporate budgets, that:
¾
(£198k) yield on Council Tax Premium added to the £2.7 million that has
already been allocated in 2019/20 is considered for the Housing Strategy.
¾
(£75k) relating to capital costs be allocated to the capital programme
fund.
¾
(£500k) of Corporate underspend be allocated to fund the lack of grant
in the area of sustainable social services.
¾
(£312k) be used to fund one-off bids that have been presented by the
Departments for the purpose of 2020/21 expenditure.
¾
the balance of (£502k) goes to the
Council's general balances.
DISCUSSION
The report was presented, noting that the report highlighted
some signs of difficulties with achieving savings. The member expressed that
there were some departments that would overspend, and these were discussed
individually.
Adults, Health and Well-being Department – the latest
forecasts suggested over £1.8 million of overspend by the department. The
overspend was partly alleviated to £658k following the receipt of a grant and
use of one-off funding.
Children and Supporting Families Department – it was noted
that the level of overspend in the department had intensified further to £3.2
million with £2.6 million forecast to be overspent on placements, where the
majority of the overspend resulted from out-of-county placements. It was added
that a Budget Taskforce had been established to address financial issues in the
department, and it was noted that this situation was not uncommon throughout
Wales.
Highways Department – overspend continued in the area of
waste collection and disposal, adding that transitional costs before moving to
new arrangements had led to the overspend.
Attention was drawn to Corporate underspend with favourable
forecasts of additional Council Tax yield and Council Tax Premium yield, but
despite this there was a continued trend of back-dating transfers from Council
Tax to Non-domestic Rates. It was also emphasised that the number claiming
Council Tax reductions was at its lowest for the fourth year in succession. It
was added that there was a net underspend on Corporate budgets, which meant
that the pressure on a number of budgets was not as intense as originally
predicted.
The Chief Executive provided a summary of the work that was
being undertaken to investigate the overspend in Children and Supporting
Families and the Adults Department. To reach a conclusion and identify
alternative opportunities in the Children's field would take longer than what
was anticipated for the Adults field, but the Head of Finance was making
appropriate provision in drawing up the 2020/21 budget.
He reported further that we was not overly concerned about overspend in the Highways Department at present, as there was already a plan in place to ensure that the waste system operated as efficiently as possible in order to bring this overspend under control.
Awdur:Ffion Madog Evans
Supporting documents: