Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Corporate Director, Resources which presented the Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2017 (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Finance Manager for Resources and Transformation and Partnerships reported that due to the change in legislation accounts would need to be closed down by 31 May next year.  The Council had agreed to do a dry run this year and as such a lot of work had been undertaken by Council staff and External Audit to produce and sign off the accounts at the end off May 2017.  The accounts were now out for consultation and available on the website.  A further change in legislation now makes reference to a person with an interest in the accounts or a journalist can view the accounts.  An updated notice has been advertised on the website.

Members were informed that External Audit had also carried out a dry run and they would come back to committee on 31 July 2017 where the statement of accounts would be considered for approval.

Mr Robinson asked for an explanation of the valuation on Durham County Cricket Club.  He was advised that the deal was imminent and was therefore not signed when the accounts had been pulled together.  Mr Robinson further asked if the £4m loan value would be recorded.  He was advised that if the deal was agreed at the end of the week it would be put in the accounts as a disclosure.  Mr Robinson was assured that once the deal had been made a full explanation of the future shareholder position would be explained.

Councillor Shuttleworth asked if the deal should be included as a corporate risk and was informed that once final negotiations had been agreed a view would be taken as to whether to include as a risk.

Councillor Temple referred to the Income and Expenditure column on page 187 of the papers and asked how the Committee could track what had happened as Adult and Health Services showed a £15m increase and Regeneration and Local Services had fallen and therefore there was no comparability.  He was advised that an explanation of the comparability of the figures would be circulated including information to the Committee about the differences year on year.

Further to a question from Councillor Temple about unquoted equity of costs the Finance Manager said that he would report back about the difference of figures from 2015/16 to 2016/17.

Councillor Temple went on to ask about the earmarked reserves decreasing by £14m and the underspend of £11.8m.  He asked if the large payment of £10m was a one-off payment.  The Finance Manager explained that they would have budgeted for the pension fund.  He advised that the £11m draw down happened at the start of the year when the budget was approved in February.  The underspend at the end of the year was compared to quarter 3.

Referring to the schools reserve of £5m and the transfers to/from earmarked reserves table on page 228 of the papers, Councillor Temple said that he could not find this in the accounts.  He commented that the current expenditure was well within budget and some services have more income than what they had budgeted for.  The Corporate Director of Resources said that he would do a reconciliation and circulate for information.

The Corporate Director of Resources thanked staff for producing the accounts and for the diligent work with the tight timescales involved.  He was assured that the Head of Corporate Finance and Commercial Services, the Finance Manager and his team had carried out a fantastic job.

Resolved:

That the statement of accounts for the County Council for the financial year ended 31 March 2017 be approved.