Agenda item

(To receive a report from Michelle Grady (Assistant Director – Strategic Finance), which invites the Board to consider a report on the Review of Financial Performance 2018/19, which is being presented to the Executive on 9 July 2019. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to a report by the Assistant Director – Strategic Finance, which invited the Board to consider a report on the review of Financial Performance 2018/19, which was due to be presented to the Executive on 09 July 2019.

The Assistant Director – Strategic Finance:

·         Highlighted the Council's financial performance in 2018/19;

·         identified and explained the variances from the Council’s revenue and capital budgets;

·         reported the use made of flexible capital receipts to fund revenue expenditure on transformation during the years up to and including 2018/19;

·         made proposals on the carry forward of over and under spends into the current financial year 2019/20;

·         reported the Prudential and Financial Performance Indicators for 2018/19; and

·         proposed an updated Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy for 2019/20.

The Board supported the recommendations set out in the Executive report and agreed the following comments to be passed on to the Executive for consideration:

School Budgets

·         In response to a query about the £21M underspend relating to School budgets, it was confirmed that there was no limit on how much or for how long schools could carry forward their underspend.

·         As schools funding was based on pupil numbers, it was subject to variations each year so schools prudently kept some of their funding back to address this. However, finance officers did monitor school budgets and could intervene when necessary.

Flood and Risk Management

·         In relation to the £97,000 underspend on flood and risk management, it was queried whether it could be used to address the flooding issues in Wainfleet. It was reported that the funding would be used to match fund proposals from other agencies such as the Environment Agency. 

Children's Centres

·         In relation to the £161,000 underspend in children's centres, concern was raised as to why the money was not being used to facilitate extra services or equipment.

·         It was highlighted that Children's Services utilised a number of grants and therefore it was difficult to commit to a service for a year and then have to remove it altogether if the Council was unable to fund it long term. It was also questioned whether children's centres could be utilised as a day centre for adults with Special Educational Needs.

School Improvement

·         Support was given to the use of the Children's Services bid to use its 1% underspend on the City of Lincoln Project, as detailed in Appendix B, to enable schools and academies in Lincoln to work collaboratively together to improve teaching and help children.

Adult Social Care

·         Given the financial pressures which Adult Social Care will face in future following the cessation of the Better Care Fund, the Board recommended that a volatility reserve should be set up for Adult Social Care.

Children's Services

·         It was suggested that an Invest to Save approach to funding early intervention services was needed to ensure better outcomes overall for children and young people.

Adoption

·         It was questioned whether a lack of funding was contributing to adoptions taking 362 days on average and how the Council compared to other local authorities. Officers agreed to raise this query with the service area.

General Comment on Underspends

·         The Board agreed that it was good news that the Council had these extra underspends, but a debate was needed on where to look to save the money or spend it to support certain areas.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Board support the recommendations to the Executive, as set out in the report;

2.    That the comments made, as set out above, be passed on to the Executive in relation to this item.