Agenda item

(To receive a report which provides the Committee with an opportunity to scrutinise and comment on the draft Statement of Accounts.  The final Statement of Accounts for 2012/13 will be presented to the Audit Committee in September for approval)

Consideration was given to a report which contained the draft Statement of Accounts for Lincolnshire County Council for the financial year 2012/13.  The annual Statement of Accounts were prepared in line with the proper accounting practices required by section 21 (2) of the Local Government Act 2003 and set out in the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom 2012/13 and the Service Reporting Code of Practice (SeRCoP).

The Committee was guided through the draft Statement of Accounts and provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present and some of the points raised during discussion included:

·         Note 10 - Clarification was given in relation to the amount of the Council's reserves which were usable, as much of the reserve was allocated to various projects, included schools balances, health and wellbeing funding.  There was only about £30m of the reserve which could be used flexibly;

·         The reserves that were held for schools were handed over to the school when they became academies;

·         It was important to emphasise that the reserves were 'one off money' and they could only be spent once, and should not be used to fund ongoing issues;

·         If there was a scheme which required a compulsory purchase order (CPO) the funding required would come from the capital budget;

·         Note 12 – the movements were on pensions costs/assets and carrying the value of investment properties;

·         Note 33 - The change which would be seen in the next year would be inclusion of the public health funding which would be approximately £28m;

·         Note 33 – once there were two years of figures for Civil Parking Enforcement, it would only appear on the service plan.  It was only highlighted as the County Council had acquired the operation in 2012/13;

·         In relation to the Energy from waste facility, four waste transfer stations had been built and would be responsible for delivery of the waste to the EfW.  There was an obligation for the County Council to fill its quota for the EfW, and if it could not be met from residual waste, then it would need to be found from other sources;

·         Note 15 – the castle carried a historic cost, and was not subject to revaluations as a value could not accurately be put on it.  It was listed under 'other historic buildings', and £1.3m had been added to its value due to the work which had been carried out at the site;

·         In terms of academies, the school had responsibility for the buildings, but the Authority still owned the land, and the land value would transfer back to the County Council at the end of the 125 year lease.  If the school ceased to operate then the land and buildings would revert back to the County Council. At this point in time the asset would come back into the County Council's balance sheet and would be re-valued.  Whilst the buildings were being used by the academy they could be used however the school wished, but they would not be able to sell off the land;

·         If an school was PFI funded before it became an academy the liability was with the County Council, but it was the responsibility of the academy to pay the PFI credits;

·         There had been a reduction in value of short term investments, but the authority was using this to fund capital expenditure rather than external borrowing;

·         The value of the county farms estate was only amassing on the balance sheet, and the value would only be realised if the land was sold.  If the land was sold it would be classed as a capital receipt and could only be used on capital projects;

·         The authority had been very careful in the land which had been disposed of from the county farms estate as it was one of the best ways of investing money;

·         Cashflow Statement – Any cash movements in or out of the authority would be shown as cash flow;

The accounts for the Lincolnshire County Council Pension fund were also considered and it was noted that it was important for new members to join.  In relation to the investment manager expenses which seemed to have risen since the previous year, it was noted that this could be seen as a positive thing as a proportion of the expenses were performance linked.

It was noted that all audit work was on schedule to be completed on time, and the Statement of Accounts were available through the Council's website.

RESOLVED

            That the comments made in relation to the draft Statement of Accounts      be noted.