Decision details

Reserves, Provisions and Balances 2016-2017

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Decision status: For Determination

Is Key decision?: Yes

Is subject to call in?: Yes

Purpose:

Approve matters relating to the year-end position against reserves, provisions and balances

Decision:

1. That the transfers (to)/from specific reserves, provisions and general balances as

detailed in tables 2 and 3, Appendices A, B and C to the report be approved.

2. That expenditure from provisions for their purposes as set out in Appendix B to the report, up to the value held in each provision as at 31 March 2017, be approved.

3. That the continuation of delegation of authority to the Cabinet Member for

Resources, in consultation with the Director of Finance, to allocate funds from the Budget Contingency Reserve, the Regeneration Reserve, the Efficiency Reserve, the Transformation Reserve, the Development Reserve, the Regional Work Reserve, the Enterprise Zone Business Rates Reserve, the Business Rates Equalisation Reserve, the Treasury Management Equalisation Reserve and the Budget Strategy Reserve, be approved.

4. That the delegation of authority to the Cabinet Member for Resources, in consultation with the Director of Finance, to allocate funds from the Pension Deficit Recovery Reserve be approved.

5. That the creation of seven new reserves as detailed in paragraph 5.4 of the report be approved.

6. That the level of the Council’s specific reserves, provisions and general balances as at 31 March 2017 and the purposes for which they are being held, as detailed in Appendices A and B to the report, be noted.

7. That it be noted that relevance and adequacy of specific reserves and general balances will be reviewed as required by the Constitution during the 2018-2019 budget setting process.

8. That it be noted that allocation of funding from all specific reserves will be reported to Cabinet (Resources) Panel in the scheduled quarterly budget monitoring reports.

9. That it be noted that the Confident Capable Council Scrutiny Panel will scrutinise the use of reserves as part of the budget setting process as in previous years.

10. That it be noted that the Director of Finance considers that the overall level of all reserves, provisions and balances is sufficient to meet the likely level of obligations to be met from reserves, provisions and general balances in the short term.

11. That it be noted that the positive General Fund outturn position during 2016-2017, and the resulting adjustments to reserves, will help to support the Council’s short term financial position, enabling one-off investment to support transformation of the Council. However, it does not address the challenging financial position that the Council finds itself in over the medium term; namely identifying an additional £20.5 million of budget reduction and income generation proposals over the two-year period to 2019-2020. Cabinet will be presented with a report at this meeting detailing the progress towards identifying £14.8 million of budget reduction and income generation proposals for 2018-19.

12. That the figures quoted in the report are still subject to statutory audit by Grant Thornton UK LLP as part of the 2016-2017 accounts closedown process.

Report author: Claire Nye

Publication date: 20/07/2017

Date of decision: 19/07/2017

Decided at meeting: 19/07/2017 - Cabinet

Effective from: 26/07/2017

Accompanying Documents: