Agenda item

            The Committee considered the following report:

 

“1.0      Purpose of Report or Summary of Main Issues

 

1.1       The purpose of this report is to present to the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee the Statement of Accounts of the Council, including the Annual Governance Statement, for the period ending 31st March 2020.

 

1.2       The Statement of Accounts are an important element of the council’s overall corporate governance framework as they provide assurance to Members and ratepayers on the stewardship of the council’s finances and its financial position.

 

1.3       The Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31st March 2020 have been prepared in line with the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom 2019/20 based on International Financial Reporting Standards and the Department for Communities Accounts Direction, Circular LG 03/20 dated 17 February 2020.

 

1.4            I can confirm that the Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31st March 2020 has been prepared in the form directed by the Department for Communities and in my opinion the Statement of Accounts give a true and fair view of the income and expenditure and cash flows for the financial year and the financial position as at the end of the financial year.

 

2.0       Recommendations

 

2.1       The Committee is asked to

 

·        approve the Council’s Statement of Accounts and incorporated Annual Governance Statement for the year ended 31 March 2020; and

 

·        agree that the decision should not be subject to call-in (as indicated above) because it would cause an unreasonable delay which would be prejudicial to the Council’s and the public’s interests given that the statement of accounts must be published by 31st December, 2020.

 

3.0       Main Report

 

            Key Issues

           

            Audit Opinion

 

3.1       It is the Local government Auditors’ opinion that:

 

·        the financial statements give a true and fair view, in accordance with relevant legal and statutory requirements and the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom 2019-20, of the financial position of Belfast City Council as at 31 March 2020 and its income and expenditure for the year then ended; and

 

·        the statement of accounts have been properly prepared in accordance with the Local Government (Accounts and Audit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 and the Department for Communities directions issued thereunder; and

 

·        the part of the Remuneration Report to be audited has been properly prepared in accordance with the Department for Communities directions made under the Local Government (Accounts and Audit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015; and

 

·        the information given in the Narrative Report for the financial year ended 31 March 2020 is consistent with the financial statements.

           

            Reserves

 

3.2       General Fund

 

            The credit balance on the General Fund has increased to £28,692,673 (of which £15,791,541 relates to specified reserves).  The movement on the reserves balance is summarised in Table 1 below:

 

 

            Table 1: Summary of Reserves Position

 

Opening Balance	£25.8m
In year movement in reserves	£ 2.9m
Closing Balance	£28.7m
Specified Reserves at year end	£15.8m
Balance Available	£12.9m

 

 

3.3       Capital Fund            £19,369,748

 

            The Capital Fund is made up of:

 

·        Belfast Investment Fund (£723) -created to support key partnership projects to regenerate Belfast and help lever substantial funds from other sources.

 

·        Local Investment Fund (£1,171,489) to fund smaller local regeneration projects.

 

·        City Centre Investment Fund (£15,154,012) to support the Belfast City Centre Regeneration Investment Plans.

 

·        Social Outcomes Fund (£3,043,524) to support City Centre projects which might not generate a direct financial return but would enhance the overall City Centre offer and support the attraction of investment.

 

3.4       Neighbourhood Regeneration Fund       £8,000,000

 

            This fund, created in year from the Belfast Investment Fund, is to support neighbourhood regeneration and tourism projects in local neighbourhoods.

 

3.5       Leisure Mobilisation Fund       £887,800

 

            This fund is to support the Leisure Transformation Programme and will cover programme level costs including communications, engagement and procurement costs.

 

 

3.6       Capital Receipts Reserve £9,772,458 and Deferred Capital Receipts £342,300

 

            These are capital receipts which have originated primarily from the sale of assets and which have not yet been used to finance capital expenditure.

 

3.7       Other Fund Balances and Reserves    £298,224

 

            This relates to the Election Reserve (£3,300) which has been set up to smooth the cost of running council elections, the BWUH Subvention Fund (£135,499) to support national and international organisations in bringing their conferences to Belfast and the BWUH Sinking Fund (£159,425) to support planned maintenance and future capital works at the new exhibition centre.

 

3.8       Debt

 

            The overall level of trade debtors had increased this year from £2.5m at 31 March 2019 to £4.1m at 31 March 2020.  The main reason is an increase in public authority debt at year end.  An analysis of trade debtors, inclusive of VAT, for the last two years is shown below:

 

            Table 2 : Analysis of Trade Debtors

 

	31 March 2020	31 March 2019
Less than three months	£3,239,834	£2,131,221
Three to one year	£614,739	£128,050
More than one year	£218,298	£285,208
Total	£4,072,871	£2,544,479

 

3.9       Creditors

 

            The Department for Communities has set councils a target of paying invoices within 30 days.  During the year the council paid 67,810 invoices totalling £182,900,458.

 

            The average time taken to pay creditor invoices was 10 days for the year ended 31 March 2020.  The Council paid 50,885 invoices within 10 days, 63,385 invoices within 30 days, and 4,425 invoices outside of 30 days.  The council endeavours to process invoices as quickly as possible and has an improvement plan to support this process.

 

 

3.10      Annual Governance Statement (AGS)

 

            The Statement of Accounts include Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for the year 2019/20, which has been prepared in line with the Accounts Directive provided by the Department for Communities, NIAO guidance and is consistent with the principles of the CIPFA/SOLACE Framework ‘Delivering Good Governance in Local Government’.   Specifically the AGS sets out:

 

·        The scope of responsibility of the Council in relation to governance

·        the purpose of the governance framework

·        the governance framework in place

·        review of effectiveness of the governance framework

·        significant governance issues to be disclosed.

 

3.11      The AGS is approved by the Chair of the Strategic Policy and Resources, the Chief Executive and the Director of Finance and Resources. It is subject to review by the LGA (NIAO) as part of their annual audit.

 

3.12      Financial and Resource Implications

 

            None

 

3.13      Equality or Good Relations Implications/Rural Needs Assessment

 

            None.”

 

            After discussion, the Committee adopted the recommendations and granted approval for CLES, the national organisation for local economies, to undertake on an annual basis an analysis of the Council’s yearly spend.