Agenda item

To receive the 2022/23 Outturn Report – “TO FOLLOW”.

With the aid of a report prepared by the Director of Finance and Corporate Resources (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Committee were presented with the Council’s projected financial performance for 2022/23.

In introducing the report, the Managing Director (Interim) reported that the overall outturn for 2022/23 reflected an underspend of £476,000 when compared to the approved budget. This was attributable to macro-economic factors and global market challenges which impacted upon the Council’s holdings and interest on its treasury positions. Specific mention was made of the Council’s performance in respect of recyclable material, levels for which had exceeded the targets which had been set, together with savings achieved in the Council’s Strategic Planning Team.

In response to a question raised by Councillor A M Blackwell, the Managing Director (Interim) reported that the recyclable material market often fluctuated and that he was anticipating the Council to revert back to a less fortunate position in the future.

Councillor P Kadewere then questioned the performance of the Commercial Investment Strategy (CIS) where it was noted that a £765,000 return on property investments had been achieved. The Managing Director (Interim) reported that the Strategy would continue to be closely and actively monitored in the future. Arising from which, Councillor J A Gray then queried the recent leadership and staff changes which had occurred within the Strategic Property Team, when a refresh of the CIS was anticipated and the savings which had been achieved relating to staff costs within the Planning Team. The Managing Director (Interim) responded that the new Strategic Property Asset Manager came with experience of working within a commercial and local authority background and that the immediate priority would be to review some of the Council’s investments with a view to generating longer term returns. In respect of the refresh of the CIS, the Committee noted that core principles for this would be established over the summer period and that further developments would be expected in due course. Finally, it was confirmed that an underspend had been achieved within the Strategic Growth Team of the Council’s Planning function and not within the Development Management Service where an overspend had been reported. The Committee were assured that the latter service was doing their best to meet demand and that weekly meetings were being held with the Managing Director (Interim) together with the Chief Planning Officer and members of her team to review caseloads and resources for the Development Management Service.

Councillor A R Jennings then queried if there would be any impact upon the Council owing to the delays with completing the external audit and publishing the final set of accounts for 2021/22 by the prescribed deadline of 31st May 2023. The Committee were assured there would be no negative impact upon the Council and that an appropriate statement would be published on the Council’s website explaining the reasons and cause for the delay. Furthermore it was reported that the issue of external audit completion timeliness remained a national concern and one that the Council actively lobbied for amongst various groups and organisations. Councillor P J Hodgson-Jones then raised questions around audit scheduling and where the Council sat within this and the impact of property/asset valuations within the CIS. In response, it was reported that the Council was generally regarded by the external auditors as a low risk authority but that the CIS offered an enhanced risk which meant that some priority had to be accorded to scheduling the completion of the Council’s external audit sooner. Additionally, it was noted that the CIS had resulted in additional audit checks being undertaken in respect of valuations which had contributed towards the delay in finalising the 2021/22 accounts.

Whereupon, it was

RESOLVED

  that the financial performance for the financial year 2022/23, as detailed in Appendix 1 and summarised in paragraph 3.2 of the report now submitted be received and noted.