The Head of Financial Services and Head of Business Improvement have submitted a report to update Members on Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of the financial year.

Recommendation: That Cabinet resolves to:

1.    Note the financial outturn and performance of the Council for the year 2019/20 and also the position on risks outstanding as at 31st March 2020;

2.    Agree the carry forward requests in respect of the General Fund of £77,182 as shown in paragraph 7 and on Appendix D;

3.    Agree the transfer to the Capital Financing and NNDR Retention reserve of £2.693 million detailed in paragraph 2 a;

4.    Agree the carry forward requests in respect of the HRA of £722,000 as shown in paragraph 18; and

5.    Agree the transfer to the HRA Contributions to HRA Projects Reserve of £4.809 million detailed in paragraph 2 (c).

The Head of Financial Services and Head of Business Improvement had submitted a report to update Members on Finance, Risk and Performance as at the end of the 2019/20 financial year.

Councillor Ed Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance & Asset Management, introduced the report most of which covered a period before the effects of Covid-19 had been  felt. Nevertheless the effects had, inevitably, been felt towards the end of the financial year, notably in relation to the end of year spends for both capital and revenue. The money which it had been possible to save by the end of the financial year was being put towards the Council’s response to Covid-19. Carry forward requests into the present financial year were, necessarily, relatively few.  The adverse variance on the general fund was largely contributed to by the reduced expectation in relation to the Oxford Direct Services dividend. A favourable variance in relation to commercial property income was welcome but unlikely to be sustained in the foreseeable future. In relation to the capital programme, a considerable amount of work had been done during the year to reschedule projects in relation to which there had been over optimism about their progress. Covid-19 had had a detrimental effect on the programme later in the year. Cllr Turner was in regular discussion with officers about the programme given the importance of its precision in a straitened financial environment.

Bill Lewis,  Financial  Accounting Manager,  emphasised that while the report showed an overall  positive variance, this was unlikely to be repeated in the near future as the Council managed a challenging financial environment.

Cabinet resolved to:

1.       Note the financial outturn and performance of the Council for the year 2019/20 and also the position on risks outstanding as at 31st March 2020;

2.       Agree the carry forward requests in respect of the General Fund of £77,182 as shown in paragraph 7 and on Appendix D;

3.       Agree the transfer to the Capital Financing and NNDR Retention reserve of £2.693 million detailed in paragraph 2 a;

4.       Agree the carry forward requests in respect of the HRA of £722,000 as shown in paragraph 18; and

5.       Agree the transfer to the HRA Contributions to HRA Projects Reserve of £4.809 million detailed in paragraph 2 (c).