Issue - meetings

That the Committee noted the position and confirmed that  there were no issues which it wanted to have reported verbally to Cabinet, other than to report that a letter was to be sent to the Welsh Government expressing the Committee’s concern at grants being made available in late March.

The Corporate Finance Manager presented the report to provide Members with the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2017/18 (Outturn) Report and the Capital Programme Monitoring 2017/18 (Outturn) Report.

The Corporate Finance Manager reported on the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2017/18 (Outturn) position which was appended to the report.  He referred to the Council Fund overall position and the final outturn position by portfolio (subject to audit).   He advised that the overall fund position was that spend was £2.107m lower than budget.  The Corporate Finance Manager advised that the reasons for the variances were summarised within appendix 2 of the report, with key significant portfolio variances explained in paragraphs 1.04 to 1.09.  The Corporate Finance Manager also reported   on the main considerations and referred to the achievement of planned in-year efficiencies, the Council Fund, reserves and balances, requests for carry forward of funding and the Housing Revenue Account.

            Councillor Haydn Bateman drew attention to page 41 of the report and sought clarification around the budget strategy – general reserves.  He also sought information on when the public conveniences in New Street, Mold were to close

The Corporate Finance Manager responded to the further questions raised by Members around  the figures provided for people and resources in paragraph 1.02 of the report, and the requests for the carry forward of funding.

Councillor Richard Jones proposed that a letter  be sent to the Welsh Government (WG) to express the Committee’s concern at grants being made available in late March.  The Chief Executive  commented on the national case and  drew attention to the workshop which was to be held on 23 July.  He suggested that Members might wish to wait until the workshop had been held before writing to the WG.

            Councillor Patrick Heesom supported the challenging work undertaken by Councillor Richard Jones concerning budgetary matters. 

            The Corporate Finance Manager reported on the Capital Programme Monitoring 2017/18 (Outturn) report which was attached as appendix B to the report.  He provided background information and explained that table 1 in paragraph 1.03 of the report set out how the Programme had changed during 2017/18.  He also reported on the changes during this period which had resulted in a net increase in the Programme total of £2.863m  as detailed in table 2 of the report.  The Corporate Finance Manager reported on the capital expenditure compared to budget, the carry forward to 2018/19, and funding of 2017/18 approved schemes, as detailed in the report.

Councillor Haydn Bateman referred to the Planning & Environment Capital Budget monitoring page and asked for information on where the Flour Mill was located.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee noted the position and confirmed that  there were no issues which it wanted to have reported verbally to Cabinet, other than to report that a letter was to be sent to the Welsh Government expressing the Committee’s concern at grants being made available in late March.