Issue - meetings

This report summarises the Council’s financial performance for 2016/17, seeks approval to the Annual Governance Statement for 2016/17 and notes the carry forward of capital provision for schemes where costs will be incurred in 2017/18.

The Committee:

(1)          Received the report on financial performance for 2016/17;

(2)          Agreed the Annual Governance Statement as attached as an Annexe to the report;

(3)          Noted the carry forward of provision of £5,314,000 for capital schemes to be added to the 2017/18 capital programme.

A report was presented to the Committee which summarised the Council’s financial performance for 2016/17 and which sought approval to the Annual Governance Statement for 2016/17.  In particular, the Committee was asked to note the carry forward of capital provision for schemes where costs would be incurred in 2017/18.

The Committee was informed that, as at the date of the meeting, the surplus on the General Fund for 2016/17 was £163K and the report highlighted the most significant favourable factors which had contributed to this surplus.  These included: income from recently acquired commercial properties previously not budgeted for (£169K), good treasury management returns (£104K) and significant reductions in homelessness costs (£165K) achieved by increasing the supply of temporary accommodation and reducing bed and breakfast costs.

It was further noted that part of the additional income from the recovery of housing benefits had been used to increase the bad debt provision for housing benefit overpayments.  At the moment, payments could be deducted at source but it was not certain what liabilities would be transferred to Central Government under Universal Credit.  This was a national not a local issue and whilst it was acknowledged that this was not ideal, it was considered prudent to make this provision in the current circumstances.

It was noted that overall in 2016/17 the Council had maintained a prudent level of balances on revenue and capital reserves totalling around £21m but that the Council was also able to call on other cash balances for the purposes of investment (Minute 7 refers).

Having noted the excellent job done by innovative officers in producing a balanced budget against a difficult financial backdrop, the Committee:

(1)          Received the report on financial performance for 2016/17;

(2)          Agreed the Annual Governance Statement as attached as an Annexe to the report;

(3)          Noted the carry forward of provision of £5,314,000 for capital schemes to be added to the 2017/18 capital programme.