Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Teams Live

Contact: Lisa Richards 

Note: lisa.richards@powys.gov.uk 

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

To receive apologies for absence.

2.

Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations of interest.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

3.

Draft Medium-Term Financial Strategy 2022-2027 and Draft 2022-23 Budget and Capital Programme for 2022-2027 pdf icon PDF 218 KB

To consider briefings from the Scrutiny Chairs regarding their Committees’ consideration of the budget proposals and agree the issues to be reported to Cabinet and County Council.

 

(A revised Appendix C is attached giving the RAG status of each proposal)

Minutes:

The budget documents had been circulated at the last meeting.

 

The Head of Finance confirmed there had been no changes to the documents submitted and considered by the Panel at their last meeting.  Any alternative budgets had to be submitted by Monday 7th February 2022 for consideration.

 

The Head of Finance is required to assess the budget being proposed and to offer an opinion on the robustness of the proposals.  Part of this assessment considers the level of risk in the proposal, what is in place to mitigate the risks and whether the reserves in place are adequate.   There was a greater level of risk for the forthcoming year due to the following challenges

 

·         Delivery of savings – historically only 80% of efficiencies are achieved in any year

·         The future course of the pandemic is not clear – the Welsh Government Hardship fund has mitigated many of the costs incurred to date but this ceases at the end of March and the responsibility becomes the Authority’s

·         Inflation is rising and there is the potential that inflation will rise at a higher rate than envisaged when proposals were drafted.  The level of inflation could also influence any pay award.

·         There are greater risks associated with council tax collection rates and increased claims on the council tax reduction scheme

·         Reserves need to be maintained to offset any unexpected events

·         Indicative allocations for the next three years have been provided by the Welsh Government and the future financial sustainability of the Council must be considered

 

These challenges have been mitigated against through the robust budget setting process in place.  Risks need to be understood and a robust monitoring system is in place.  The Authority must also maximise any additional funding.  A budget management reserve is in place alongside other council reserves.  The entire budget proposal must be considered when assessing risk.

 

Discussion:

·         Clarification regarding the level of current and projected debt was sought.  The Head of Finance stated that debt was reported on the Balance sheet and was monitored continually through reports to managers.  Policies on debt and write off of debt were in place,  Provision for  bad debt was reflected in individual service budgets.  The Authority deals with a number of outside bodies and the Head of Finance agreed that further information on outstanding debt could be provided.

·         The level of inflation had been set at a general 2% but each service would have identified specific levels of inflation above this level within their own service pressures.  There is the potential for inflation to rise to 6% by March.  Bank base rate has already risen to 0.5% although the Head of Finance reported that cash held by the Authority remained relatively low, any new borrowing undertaken would be at the higher rate.

 

Scrutiny Committee reports

 

Health and Care Committee

 

·         The Committee had been given considerable detail at pre meetings and a formal meeting regarding £9.1M of pressures in Adult Services and £3.6M in Children’s Services

·         The biggest risk in both services  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.