Agenda item

            The Committee considered the Quarterly Financial Report for the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee.  The Director of Finance and Resources drew the Committee’s attention to the key issues which were as follows:

            Financial Outturn 2011/12

            The year-end financial position for the council was an under-spend of £1.87 million.  As in Quarter 3, the key elements of the under-spend related to savings in employee costs through unfilled posts and restructuring, significant reductions in landfill costs through reduced tonnages and gate fee costs.  Those reduced costs/savings were somewhat offset by the tri-annual review of the Gas Pension Fund, which indicated a shortfall of £829,000.  The year-end position also reflected the claw back by the Land and Property Services agency of £259,000.  As reported also to the Committee in Quarter 3, the slippage in the Capital Programme had resulted in an under-spend in the financing budget.  That under?spend had, as agreed by the Committee, been applied to redeem existing loans in order to support the sustainability of the Investment Programme.  Consequently, the capital financing budget was balanced for the year.

            The Director pointed out that efficiency savings of £2.38 million and budget reductions of £1.70 million in landfill dispersal costs had been included in the 2012/13 estimates and that would assist in addressing many of the areas where under-spends had occurred in the current year.

            Reserves Position

            The general reserves at the end of 2011/12 sat at £11.36 million after accounting for specified reserves of £2.55 million and transferring £2.50 million to the capital fund to be used for local investment projects.  That compared favourably with the position at the commencement of the year when the balance had been £10.43 million.  The Committee had agreed previously that an acceptable level of general reserves was £10 million.  At this stage, it was proposed that general reserves remained at £11.36 million, which would provide additional protection against any further reductions in the rate base and economic conditions generally.

            Other Financial Indicators

            The average number of creditors paid within 30 days was 63%, which was down from 66% at the end of 2010/11.  A working group had been establishment and would commence a programme of work in June in order to meet the new target identified in the Investment Package of 90% paid within 28 days by 2014/15.

            The Director indicated that the overall Council debt had risen to £5.7 million compared to last year’s position of £3.96 million.  The increase in debt had arisen due to the fact that in the last week of the financial year £2.1 million of invoices had been raised compared to £739,000 for the same period in the previous year.  By the beginning of May, 2012, the level of debt had realigned itself to £3.71 million.  Adjusting for the end of year anomaly, the average percentage of debt under 90 days old was 51%, which was down from 54% from Quarter 4 2010/11.

            The Committee noted the information which had been provided and approved the transfer of £2.5 million to the Local Investment Fund in order to bring the balance of the fund to the agreed level of £5 million.