Agenda item

To submit the report of the Head of Finance.

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.