Agenda item

LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW

(Papers relied on to write the report, which do not contain exempt information and which are not published elsewhere)

Cllr E Seward, Portfolio Holder for Finance & Assets, introduced this item. He said that it would be going to Overview & Scrutiny committee for consideration and then onto Full Council for approval.

Cllr Seward said that the common theme for all of the financial reports coming before this meeting of Cabinet, was that the Council had sound finances which were well managed and the Council was well placed to absorb the costs caused by the ongoing inflationary spiral, without having to cut frontline services. He explained that the Outturn report set out the detail of the Council’s finances between March 2021 and March 2022. He reminded members that when the Budget for this period was set in February 2021, it was a particularly challenging time as it was in the middle of the Covid Pandemic and there was significant financial uncertainty. He was therefore pleased to report that the Outturn report for 2021/22 showed an underspend of £615,740. He said this reflected the Council’s strong financial position – with a good level of reserves, secured long-term investments, no long term borrowing and an upgraded financial strength from silver to a gold ranking. Cllr Seward said that more importantly, this strong financial position had enabled the Council had been able to start or continue with its key priorities, with no increase to Council tax or car parking charges. The substantial income from the Business Rates Pool ensured that the Council could continue to spend on economic growth and regeneration projects.

Cllr Seward concluded by saying that, during a time when many other councils were struggling to maintain service as they faced the challenges of rising inflation and spiralling costs, NNDC was not having to make cuts and he was confident it would be able to weather the financial storm ahead. He thanked the Finance Team for their hard work.

The Chairman invited members to speak:

Cllr C Cushing referred to page 28 of the report and the volatility in the estimates which he said was concerning. He drew members’ attention to section 2.7 - Employee Costs and asked how much the original estimate for pension costs was and how much they had been increased by and whether they would be carried forwards into the current year projections. The Interim S151 officer replied that the large number of variances was due to the challenges posed by the Covid pandemic. There were several Government grants that had been received throughout the year that had not been expected and it had been difficult to anticipate demand on some income streams such as car parking. Regarding employee costs, she said that the majority of the variance reflected was actually an accounting adjustment and was reversed out and was not a true cash variance. In terms of actual cash pension costs, these were reflected in the budget and there was minimal variance.

The Chairman referred to the increase in recycling credit income and asked whether this reflected improved recycling performance. The Director for Communities replied that he would need to provide a written response. The Portfolio Holder for Environment, Cllr N Lloyd said that some time ago the Council changed the way that it dealt with waste recycling facility share of the budget and requested a share of a gate fee for recycled goods. The market for recycled goods had risen considerably in the past year and that had benefitted the Council. This effectively meant that more income had been received due to a change in the price received for recycled products rather than an increase in recycling rates.

Cllr W Fredericks asked about demand for recycling products. The Director for Communities replied that the volatility in the recycling market meant it was difficult to provide a clear response. He reassured members that overall it balanced out and the Council achieved the maximum income that it could, however, recycling rates could be improved and residents should be reminded about this.

It was proposed by Cllr E Seward, seconded by Cllr T Adams and

RESOLVED to recommend the following to Council:

a)  The provisional outturn position for the General Fund revenue account for 2021/22;

b)  The transfers to and from reserves as detailed within the report (and appendix  c) along with the corresponding updates to the 2022/23 budget;

c) Allocate the surplus of £615,740 to the General Reserve;

d)  The financing of the 2021/22 capital programme as detailed within the report and at Appendix D;

e) The balance on the General Reserve of £2.33 million;

f)  The updated capital programme for 2022/23 to 2025/26 and scheme financing as outlined within the report and detailed at Appendix E;

g) The roll-forward requests as outlined in Appendix G are approved.

Reason for the decision:

To approve the outturn position on the revenue and capital accounts used to produce the statutory accounts for 2021/22.