To submit the report of the Head of Finance.
Minutes:
Submitted - the monitoring report of the Head of Finance Department and the Senior Finance
Manager on the latest financial situation which would be presented to the Cabinet
on 14 February.
The Cabinet Member for Resources set out the context and drew
attention to the recommendation
for the Cabinet:
·
To accept
the report on the third quarter review
of the Revenue Budget (situation on 31 December 2016) and consider the latest situation of each department/service's budget, and ask
the Cabinet Members and the
relevant heads of department to take appropriate steps on matters under
their leadership/management.
·
To transfer
(£115k) from the Regulatory
Department to the Council's
general balances to assist with the forthcoming changes so that the Council's
priorities can be delivered.
·
To harvest
(£250k) from the favourable
Council Tax collections, (£180k) from the Benefits underspend, (£600k) from the reserve budget, together with (£250k) of the underspend included within 'Other' to the Council's general balances. £1,055k of the sum (£756k 2017/18 and £299k
2018/19) was to be used to fund
committments in the field of Education which have already
been approved by the Cabinet on 13 December 2016.
During the ensuing
discussion, officers responded to members' enquiries as follows:
·
The Adults, Health and Well-being Department and
the Children and Supporting Families Department had huge budgets and that the
level of overspend was now at 0.1% of the budget. Legislative changes had
resulted in added pressure on the Adults, Health and Well-being Department, and
pressures of supporting children outside the county had led to overspending in
the Children and Supporting Families Department. Reference was made to the bids
submitted to the Cabinet on 14 February to respond to the Departments' needs.
The Children and Supporting Families Department was expected to take steps to
manage the budget by 31 March and assess the future situation;
·
Demand in the 'Post-16 Services' field within the
Children and Supporting Families Department varied; and with regard to
underspending, one expensive package could change the spending situation. An underspend did not mean that the service was not
delivering. Emphasis is placed on preventative services in order for
individuals to look after themselves;
·
The target income for school dinners already
reflected the price charged and that the change in the number of pupils had
affected the income;
·
Regarding efficiency savings in schools' budgets,
the Schools Budget Forum were consulted and the decision was made to postpone
the savings in the Secondary sector for a year as the value of the Secondary
demographic would fall by £383k in 2017/18, thus changing the course for the
following year. There was no rationale for making school staff redundancies (to
be funded centrally by the Council), and then re-employing. Gwynedd was among
the 2 or 3 councils with the highest expenditure in the primary sector, with
neighbouring councils planning to implement more cuts to school budgets by
2017/18.
·
Spending trends and budget amendments in the
Adults, Health and Well-being Department: the Department was taking the
opportunity to make transfers in response to the trends.
RESOLVED:
(i)
To note the
situation and the relevant risks in the context of the Council’s budgets and
its departments;
(ii)
Recommend that the
Cabinet accept the report and approve the recommendations.
Supporting documents: