Agenda item

To consider a report by the Director for Digital and Resources, copy attached as item 9

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 9, a copy of which had been circulated to all Members, a copy of which is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. The report before Members outlined the revenue financial monitoring position for the end of the 2019/20 financial year for Joint Strategic Committee, Adur District and Worthing Borough Councils. At the time of publication of this report, the Statements of Accounts were completed and with the audit scheduled to commence on 4th August 2020. Any adjustments that emerge as the audit proceeds will be reported to members later in the year

A Member asked the following question: The outturn report highlighted an £87,000 shortfall in expected income for Worthing crematorium. As she will be aware this comes at a time when we have experienced increased mortality due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a BBC report that Worthing has the highest cremation fees in the UK, and a major Competition & Markets Authority investigation into the high cost of funeral services in the UK which is due to report in 2021. The report on the impact of Covid-19 (Agenda Item 10) comments (page 72 of the Public reports pack) “Further work regarding the position of the crematorium will be undertaken over the next months”. Would the CFO please provide a verbal update on the financial performance of Bereavement Services, including the crematorium, in the current financial year to date and indicate, in the light of a possible second Covid-19 outbreak this Winter twice the size of the first one whether she has cause for concern regarding any financial aspects of the cremation service or its attendant pricing model? Members were told that the Coronvirus act limited the services that could be delivered by the bereavement services to funeral only services - consequently during this time we have experienced a fall off in memorial income as we were unable to offer these types of service (£100k shortfall). However, the service did see an increase in demand for funeral services, particularly for cremation only services in the early part of the financial year, undertaking cremations on behalf of other Crematoriums where there were significant service pressures. The additional provision was managed by staff volunteering to work at the crematorium over the weekend from across the organisation, although overtime was paid to these volunteers. Overall in the first quarter of the year, Worthing Borough Council had an overall upswing in the amount of income of £16k, although against this the costs of overtime and other associated additional costs (utilities, supplies and services) needs to be offset.  Consequently there has been no net gain from the emergency. The prices are regularly reviewed by the crematorium manager to ensure that the services remain competitive.

A Member asked the following question: Please explain what MRP is and why there was a re profiling and the big difference between the figures? Members were told that the Minimum Revenue Provision is a statutory set aside from the revenue budget to provide resources to repay debt. The calculation is based on the actual debt required to finance the capital programme and the main change from the budget to the actual in any given year will be due to the spend on the capital programme in the previous financial year - in this case 2018/19. There are two potential reasons why the MRP is different from the budget:Capital expenditure is reprofiled to a future year, Changes in the financing plans due to additional grants and capital receipts. In 2018/19 several large schemes were reprofiled to 2019/20 which reduced the Council’s need to borrow - and the need to set aside resources for the repayment of debt.

A Member asked the following question:  Please can you explain why no underspend was projected in Q3 and then we actually had a £68k underspend? Members were told that as a result of the LGA peer review, inflation provisions were held centrally and released only when the pressure materialises. Finance had been over cautious about reporting the potential underspend in 2019/20.

A Member sited the cost of £383k for agency staff in Waste and Cleansing and was told that agency staff were employed to cover sickness and leave and explained the impact of Covid and self isolation on those figures.

A Member asked for Housing Revenue Account projections going forward. Members were told that it was in deficit and would be so in the future, particularly due to a necessary drop in debt collection and a rise in the cost of maintenance.

A Member asked the following question: Were the unbudgeted extra bin costs over what you had set aside and do you see this continuing demand in 20/21? Members were told that the 2019/20 saw the roll out of alternative weekly collection. The Council experienced an upswing in the demand for larger bins as a result of the service change. However, changes of this type are unusual and so we would not expect to see this level of demand continue on for a significant period of time.

Resolved: That the report be noted