Agenda item

To present the Joint-Committee’s pre-audited accounts for the financial year ended 31 March, 2016.

A report by Gwynedd Council’s Senior Finance Manager incorporating the following documentation was presented for the Joint-Committee’s approval:

•           The Revenue Income and Expenditure Account for 2015/16 as at Appendix A to the report including the major variances between the budget and actual expenditure in a budget outturn format.

•           The Statement of Accounts return for 2015/16 prior to audit as at Appendix B to the report duly certified by Gwynedd Council’s Head of Finance as the Statutory Finance Officer for the Joint-Committee.

The Senior Finance Manager reported that the Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations 2014 require all Joint-Committees to prepare year-end accounts. Where the turnover is less than £2.5m the joint-committee is deemed to be a “small joint-committee” and the accounts must be prepared on a statement of accounts return form provided by the Wales Audit Office. The accounts and return will be subject to an audit by Deloitte, Gwynedd Council’s external auditors appointed by the Auditor General for Wales. Should any amendments be necessary, then a revised version will be presented to the meeting of the Joint-Committee scheduled for 23 September, 2016.Following  audit and any required amendments, the Auditor General’s representative will certify the return prior to 30 September, 2016.

The Senior Education Accountant said that the Joint-Committee’s financial position had not changed greatly from that reported to the meeting in March, 2016 when it was projected that the Joint-Committee would have overspent its budget by £120k by the close of the 2015/16 financial year. That figure is now £144k (£89k joint overspend and £55k unidentified savings on behalf of Anglesey) including additional redundancy costs of approximately £22k. Having redistributed the reserves balance among Anglesey and Gwynedd, there is no financial capacity within the Joint-Committee to support  overspend in 2016/17 and any overspend that may occur during the year will have to be met by the two authorities.

There followed a discussion regarding the Joint-Committee’s financial position in the context of the move to establish a new ALN Partnership and whether a strategic decision has been made not to incur any overspend in the current financial year. Gwynedd Council’s Senior Inclusion Manager said that the Liaison Group has scrutinised the budget on a line by line basis including all aspects of costs and has found that the Joint-Committee overspends in relation to its specialist teachers team with more teachers on the establishment than is necessary. Given that some members of the team are engaged on permanent contracts the Joint-Committee should it wish to make reductions, would have to address the issue on the basis of excess across the team with the subsequent risk that expertise could be lost. Consideration is being given to perhaps funding the additional cost in the current financial year in order to obtain the level of service that is required.

The Senior Finance Manager advised that any intention to overspend should be made known and should be planned and quantified otherwise the two authorities will not have budgeted for it and will be faced with an additional unplanned cost.

It was resolved –

•           To receive and approve the Income and Expenditure Account for 2015/16 as set out in Appendix A to the report.

•           To receive and approve the 2015/16 Statement of Accounts return, subject to audit as set out in Appendix B to the report.