Issue - meetings

To submit a report by the Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

It was resolved to note the progress of expenditure and receipts against the capital budget 2017/18 at Quarter 2.

The report of the Head of Function (Resources) and Section 151 Officer setting out the financial performance of the capital budget for the second quarter of the 2017/18 financial year was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Finance reported that in March, 2017 the Council approved a Capital Programme for non-housing services of £27.630m for 2017/18 and a capital programme of £12.873m for the HRA. In addition, in June 2017, the Council approved capital slippage of £4.677m to be brought forward from 2016/17, and there was also slippage carried forward from the 21st Century Schools Programme of £1.758m. Since the budget setting process, there have been additional schemes added onto the programme, most of which are grant funded, which amounted to £1.873m. The Authority has further received Capitalisation Direction for Equal Pay totalling £2.566m which brings the total capital budget for 2017/18 to £51.377m. As shown in Table 4.1 of the report, the forecast underspend on the Capital Programme for 2017/18 is £17.861m with £15.515m of this being potential slippage into the 2018/19 Capital Programme due mainly to underspends on the Holyhead and Llangefni Strategic Infrastructure projects and the new Highway to Wylfa Newydd project.

The Head of Function (Resources) and Section 151 Officer said that most of the slippage will be available in 2018/19 for those projects which are underspent. There is however a small risk linked to the capital grant for the new school in the Rhosyr area of which £1.9m is required to be spent before 31 March, 2018. At present it is anticipated that £2.7m will be spent. However, should there be any delay to the programme as a result of poor weather conditions, then there is a possibility that the £1.9m expenditure target might not be met meaning that the grant would be lost. To the end of Quarter 2, £0.384m has been claimed against the grant and every effort is being made to ensure that expenditure reaches £1.9m before the end of the financial year.

The Executive noted that much of the Capital Programme is made up of capital grant schemes e.g. the Llangefni Link Road project which is mostly externally funded with the Council undertaking the work on behalf of Welsh Government.

It was resolved to note the progress of expenditure and receipts against the capital budget 2017/18 at Quarter 2.