Agenda item
FINANCE REPORT
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.
Decision:
RESOLVED that Cabinet –
(a) note the budgets
set for 2019/20 and progress against the agreed budget strategy, and
(b) approve the
recommended use of the Schools Maintenance Grant which has been awarded to the
Council by the Welsh Government, as recommended by the Strategic Investment
Group and detailed in Appendix 5, 6 & 7 to the report.
Minutes:
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 2019/20 was £198.538m (£194.418m in 2018/19)
·
an
overspend of £1.379m was forecast for service and corporate budgets
·
detailed
required savings and efficiencies of £5.672m including corporate savings
identified in 2018/19 (£0.5m), schools savings of 2% (£1.32m) and service
efficiencies and savings (£3.852m)
·
highlighted
current risks and variances relating to individual service areas, particularly
with regard to overspends in Community Support Services and Education and
Children’s Services despite an increase to the base budgets, and
·
provided a
general update on the Capital Plan, Housing Revenue Account and Housing Capital
Plan.
Cabinet was also asked to approve the use of
the Schools Maintenance Grant as recommended by the Strategic Investment Group.
Cabinet discussed the following matters in
further detail –
·
with
regard to school transport, legislative changes coming into force in the new
year required that non-concessionary transport had disabled access and, given
that concessions were already offered to children, serious concerns were raised
in terms of being able to meet that provision.
It was noted that the regional Transport Advisory Group would be writing
to the Minister for Economy and Transport highlighting those concerns and
Councillor Brian Jones also agreed to write to the Minister separately on
behalf of the Council in that regard
·
members
welcomed the Schools Maintenance Grant awarded to the Council by the Welsh
Government and changes which allowed funding to be directed to essential works
and areas of greatest need and Cabinet endorsed the approach that no funding be
allocated to schools within the 21st Century Band A programme or schools likely
to benefit under Band B and recommendations of the Strategic Investment Group
·
some
discussion focused on children’s social care, specifically placement costs, and
the Director: Communities reported upon a Welsh Government Working Group to
further consider that issue and commissioning of high quality providers – it
was recognised that placements costs differed in areas of the UK with more
populated areas having greater purchasing power. Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts confirmed
that the Council was doing all it could to address costs and he had confidence
in the current commissioning process. He
explained the difficulties of creating specialist provision locally given the
wealth of different needs and the priority was to commission placements to best
meet the needs of children which meant out of county placements in specialist
cases which incurred high placement costs
·
Councillor
Bobby Feeley highlighted the continuing pressures in Adult and Social Care with
the remaining service reserve being applied to help meet the current overspend
which would not be available in future years and she asked that more funding be
allocated to the service.
The relevant Cabinet Lead Members and officers
responded to various questions from non-Cabinet members as follows –
·
with
regard to school balances robust financial recovery plans were in place for
schools in deficit and close monitoring was undertaken; all schools in deficit
were progressing as expected against their recovery plans and an update would
be reported to the next Corporate Governance Committee. School balances were continually monitored
and there was a mechanism for schools to be called before Scrutiny or Corporate
Governance Committee if warranted
·
the Welsh
Government had announced they would be launching a revised free swimming
initiative which resulted in a 25% reduction in the level of funding received
by the Council in the current financial year and a 50% reduction from April
2020 – unfortunately that meant that the Council had to review its swimming
programme and reduce the amount of free swimming activity offered; a press
release in that regard would be issued shortly
·
a Brexit
Officer Group had been established and there was also a lead officer on Brexit
and a Brexit risk register and the issue was also discussed regularly by the
Senior Leadership Team in terms of mitigating any impact on the Council and its
operations. Specifically with regard to
school meals discussions had taken place with catering supply companies and
school meals service who would adjust the menu for the period necessary to
ensure all children received a nutritious meal at school
·
in terms
of tribunal costs arising from child placement appeals it was explained that
the Council may incur its own legal cost but it was rare that they would be
asked to pay others costs; whether or not any of those individual cases related
specifically to any specific action taken in the past it would be necessary to
review each individual case to ascertain the reasons for the case being brought
·
explained
changes to the foul drainage connection works required in respect of the new
site for Ysgol Llanfair given that the initial detail provided regarding access
to the highway as advised by Welsh Water was incorrect and therefore an
easement for the access to the foul drain was required – the matter had been
taken up directly with Welsh Water in light of the delay and cost incurred
·
the
proposals for Band B of the 21st Century Schools Programme were nearing
completion and would be submitted to a future Cabinet meeting.
RESOLVED that Cabinet –
(a) note the budgets set for 2019/20 and
progress against the agreed budget strategy, and
(b) approve the recommended use of the
Schools Maintenance Grant which has been awarded to the Council by the Welsh
Government, as recommended by the Strategic Investment Group and detailed in
Appendix 5, 6 & 7 to the report.
Supporting documents:
- CABINET FINANCE REPORT 240919, item 9. PDF 228 KB
- App 1 Revenue Budgets August, item 9. PDF 228 KB
- App 2 Service Savings Efficiencies, item 9. PDF 458 KB
- App 3 Capital Plan August, item 9. PDF 190 KB
- App 4 Major Capital Project Update, item 9. PDF 386 KB
- App 5 Business Case for SIG Schools Maintenance Grant, item 9. PDF 521 KB
- App 6 Schools Maintenance Priority List, item 9. PDF 420 KB
- App 7 Impact Assessment, item 9. PDF 94 KB