The committee received a report of the Section Head – Financial Planning and Analysis with an update on the Council’s 2021/22 budgets as a result of the continuation of Covid 19. The officer introduced the report and the key points including:

·       The medium term financial strategy in January took account of the ongoing impacts of Covid 19 into the current financial year.

·       There had been additional expenditure of £0.402 million since January 2021 including one-off support to the leisure operator. 

·       The council had received £0.417 million in emergency funding for the first quarter of this year.

·       There had been a loss of income of £1.5 million as no management fee had been received from the leisure operator and a loss of £0.5 million in commercial rent.

·       A drop in the council tax base had been anticipated during the budget setting process, however both council tax and business rate collections were on target for this stage in the year.

·       The council acted as a conduit for various government grants to local businesses and had been proactively approaching eligible businesses to encourage take-up.

The committee discussed the report and when the finances might be restored to normal levels. It was noted that the q1 budget monitoring report would give an update. It was not yet clear if the government support would be extended to reflect the probable additional month of restrictions.

Noting the £17 million of government grants that had been available through the council, the committee asked what the take up had been amongst eligible businesses. There had been significant take up but any remaining funding would be returned to the government. It was agreed that it was much more preferable to ensure the funding reached businesses.

Action – Section Head – Financial Planning and Analysisto report back the amount of funding remaining including in relation to the local discretionary grant. 

The Portfolio Holder reported that in 2020/21 7930 grants were paid out to local businesses totalling £28 million. He offered to circulate the full breakdown to the committee.  There had been some frustration about the take up given the numbers of businesses unable to operate.

Action – Portfolio Holder for Resources to circulate the data.

Referring to the climate emergency, it was highlighted that commodities had become more expensive and greater costs were often incurred by businesses seeking to operate in environmentally-friendly ways. These costs were often recouped in the longer term but it was something that the council should bear in mind.

RESOLVED –

that the Finance Scrutiny Committee notes the report.