Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Greenslade and Martins.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 February 2014 to be submitted and signed.  (All minutes are available on the Council’s website – www.watford.gov.uk/budgetscrutiny )

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 February 2014 were submitted and signed.

Report of Director of Finance

This report informs Budget Panel of the revenue and capital outturns for 2013/14.

The Panel received a report of the Director of Finance that provided details of the revenue and capital outturns for 2013/14.

The Director of Finance explained to the Panel the differences with the outturn report and the last Financial Digest available to Members.  She advised that the carry forward requests set out in Appendix 1E to the report would not have been included in the Digest as it would have been hoped to have completed the work in 2013/14.  The largest carry forward request was to cover the cost of the property review which was currently in progress.

Appendix 1D set out the variances in employee costs for the year.  The Director of Finance informed Members that the largest figure was in the Corporate Strategy and Client Service department.  The variance was due to the original budget incorporating the salary costs for those staff who were later transferred to Veolia.  She stressed that this would not have been the overall saving to the Council as there would be a similar figure elsewhere in the budget to cover the Council’s costs to Veolia for providing the outsourced services.

Appendix 1F provided a summary of the reserves from the original balance on 31 March 2013 to the balance as at 31 March 2014.  The Director of Finance stated that the final balance included the New Homes Bonus which had been transferred into its specific reserve, which was originally anticipated to be used to fund the capital programme, but due to a review of the Capital Programme in the year this was no longer required during the year.  It also included the National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR) Collection Fund Reserve which had been set up to retain the grant paid by the Government, under the new business rate regime, as the Council was in a safety net position.  Due to the way in which business rates were accounted for most of this would be released during 2014/15.

Councillor Derbyshire considered there to be a substantial surplus in the accounts.  He questioned whether the increase in reserves had been due to the transfer of a surplus in the income and expenditure account.

The Director of Finance advised that the full income and expenditure was set out in the Statement of Accounts.  The Council had an underspend of £1.972 million in 2013/14 and the details of the variances were highlighted in Appendix 1B of the report.  She added that the Statement of Accounts showed the incomes and expenditure of the Council and incorporated the technical accounting processes which had to be included.  The Explanatory Foreword provided an explanation of the financial information in the remainder of the report.

The Director of Finance informed the Panel that the Finance Digest provided a regular update on the Council’s net budget, including income from services but not government grants.  When reviewing the reserves there had been a small financial transfer to the overall reserves.  The New Homes Bonus and the NNDR Collection Fund were not included.  She reminded  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Panel is asked to consider the items it would like included for discussion throughout the year.

The Committee and Scrutiny Officer asked the Panel to consider items it might wish to have included on the work programme for the remainder of the year.  She also suggested that Members might wish to put forward training proposals for the programme. 

The Chair informed the Panel that he had attended a very informative finance training session organised by the Local Government Information Unit.  He said that he would thoroughly recommend the course.  He suggested the Panel might wish to scrutinise the economic impact in the area.  He was aware that other local authorities were entrepreneurial and generated income from outside the scope of the services they provided.  He suggested that Watford could look at other alternatives.

The Director of Finance stated that Watford already did quite a few different things, for example the arrangements with Intu and the scheme at the Health Campus development.  It was recognised that growth was key to future funding.  The Localism Act allowed local authorities to do anything it wanted to do.  The commercial arm of an authority was able to financially support the council in its statutory role. 

The Chair suggested that the Council’s Economic Development Officer be invited to provide the Panel with a presentation on the economic development of Watford.  The subject could cover the following areas –

·               Where are we?

·               Council strategies

·               Potential opportunities

The Chair noted that in other local authority areas, there were examples of a council renting out its art work and another one providing building control services to other local authorities.

RESOLVED –

1.      that Members inform the Chair, Director of Finance and Committee and Scrutiny Officer of any suggested items for the work programme.

2.      that the work programme be updated to include an item on the economic impact on Watford and the actions being taken by the Council. 

·               Tuesday 9 September 2014  

·               Tuesday 28 October 2014

·               Tuesday 2 December 2014

·               Tuesday 9 September 2014

·               Tuesday 28 October 2014

·               Tuesday 2 December 2014