Agenda item

To consider a report by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets (copy enclosed) detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed budget strategy.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)       note the budgets set for 2018/19 and progress against the agreed budget strategy, and

(b)       approve the writing off of an historic debt amounting to £26,481.43.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill presented the report detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed budget strategy.  He provided a summary of the Council’s financial position as follows –

·        the net revenue budget for 2018/19 was £194.418m (£189.252m in 2017/18)

·        an overspend of £0.811m was forecast for service and corporate budgets

·        detailed agreed savings and efficiencies worth £4.6m including those which had already been achieved with the assumption that all service efficiencies/savings would be delivered – any exceptions would be reported to Cabinet if required

·        highlighted current risks and variances relating to individual service areas, and

·        provided a general update on the Housing Revenue Account, Housing Capital Plan and the Capital Plan (including the Corporate Plan element).

Cabinet was also asked to approve the writing off of an historic debt amounting to £26k relating to an over claimed grant and works to a property dating back to 2011.

The following matters were raised during debate –

·         Glasdir Site – the cost of snagging works (as part of the original contract) was usually borne by the contractor and the majority of those works identified had been completed over the summer with some small works remaining and some extra issues requested – clarity had been provided on the issues which would need to be funded by the school.  Plans to improve walking and cycling routes to the schools had been identified and would be financed by Welsh Government

·         Out of County Placements – discussion focused on the ongoing pressures across the region and it was confirmed that Welsh Government had established a Group to further consider the issue.  A report had been produced by ADSS Cymru and WLGA which highlighted cost implications and the future sustainability of Children’s Services, including placement costs.  Members considered the challenges facing the authority in meeting the complex needs of individuals in line with its statutory duties and noted that some specific needs could only be met by very high cost specialist provision outside of the county.  The authority was required to meet those costs and case numbers could not easily be predicted

·         School Balances – the position had stabilised as predicted in the last financial year and the projection was for an increase in the deficit balance overall.  The position was carefully monitored and officers worked with schools to ensure robust recovery plans were in place; the responsibilities of the Governing Bodies in schools financial management were also highlighted

·         there had been a reduction in the Education Improvement Grant from the Welsh Government for which exit costs of £15k had been predicted – in cases where grant funding ceased the work subject of that grant funding also ceased but some consequential costs, such as redundancy, had to be met by the Council

·         Highways – the impact of the reduction in the amount of work and re-imbursement coming from the North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agency was highlighted and Councillor Brian Jones advised that the amount would be adjusted accordingly

·         Agreed Savings – in terms of the service efficiencies agreed for 2018/19 whilst some of those savings would have some potential level of impact on services it was considered they would not have a significant impact on service delivery – all savings green or yellow could be achieved without detriment to front line services – the Head of Finance agreed to check whether the deletion of a Service Manager Post (Ref CSS E001) had been included in the costs for restructuring the Provider Services Management Team (ref CSS E002).

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)       note the budgets set for 2018/19 and progress against the agreed budget strategy, and

(b)       approve the writing off of an historic debt amounting to £26,481.43.