Agenda item

To submit the report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer setting out the financial performance of the Council’s services at the end of Quarter 1 of the 2019/20 financial year was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Finance reported that based on the financial information available for the first three months of the financial year to the end of June, 2019, the overall projected financial position for the whole of 2019/20 including Corporate Finance and the Council tax fund is an overspend of £1.60m (1.18% of the Council’s net budget for 2019/20) largely due to similar pressures experienced in 2018/19 specifically in relation to School Transport and to Adults’ Services. The “One” Transport system was implemented in 2018/19 and this together with a re-tendering exercise has reduced the overall overspend on school transport by around £230k from what it otherwise would have been. For Adults’ Services, the transition from Children’s Services of a complex high cost placement has contributed to the forecast £599k overspend in Learning Disabilities. The Portfolio Member said that it is difficult to make accurate forecasts this early in the financial year but past experiences have shown that the end of year position tends to be better than the first quarter estimate.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer advised that although the report shows at Appendix 1 that schools’ expenditure is in line with the delegated schools’ budget it does not indicate what the overall impact will be on schools’ balances. It is anticipated that schools’ balances will continue to reduce, and that by the end of the current financial year they will be significantly lower than the £600k level at which they stood at the end of 2018/19. 

In response to a question about the repercussions of the Saudi Arabia oil attacks for energy prices and the potential impact on the Council’s revenue budget, the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer clarified that the Council has several long-term contracts whereby the price is fixed for a number of years so if the price if oil increases in the short-term and then reduces again, the effects on the Council will not be significant. However, if the price of oil remains high when the Council comes to renegotiate its contracts then the Council is likely to feel the effects at that time.

It was resolved –

•           To note the position set out in appendices A and B of the report in respect of the Authority’s financial performance to date and expected outturn for 2019/20.

•           To note the summary of contingency budgets for 2019/20 detailed in Appendix C to the report.

•           To note the position of the invest to save programme in Appendix CH to the report and to approve the use of any remaining balance on the capital/development of the new automated planning and charges system to fund scanning and digitisation of historic files.

•           To note the position of the efficiency savings for 2019/20 set out in Appendix D to the report.

•           To note the monitoring of agency and consultancy costs for 2019/20 as set out in Appendices DD, E and F.

•           To approve the new fees and charges for the Anglesey Business Centre noted in Appendix FF to the report.