ERW Financial Statements and Annual Governance Statement & Financial Monitoring Report. Chief Finance Officer (ERW S151 Officer)

Transcription

1 ERW Financial Statements and Annual Governance Statement & Financial Monitoring Report Chief Finance Officer (ERW S151 Officer) 1

2 1. Introduction This report provides the Joint Committee with an opportunity to review the ERW Financial Statements and Annual Governance Statement before approval. It also provides an updated budget and funding position for ERW Financial Statements The revenue outturn (Central Team) was reported to the Joint Committee on 18 May The ERW Financial Statements were prepared and submitted to the Wales Audit Office (WAO) on the 30 th June 2015 in accordance with the Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations At the time of writing this report, the Wales Audit Office external audit of the financial statements is ongoing but their audit opinion is expected before the Joint Committee meeting on the 29 September The Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations 2014 deadline for approval of the financial statements is 30 September The draft ERW Financial Statements are attached at Appendix 1, with the final version along with the WAO ISA 260 report and opinion to be tabled at the meeting on 29 September Attached at Appendix 2 is the Head of Internal Audit Annual Assurance Opinion and attached at Appendix 3 is the ERW Annual Governance Statement. 3. Release of Staff The Joint Committee will recall that as part of my regular Financial Monitoring Reports, they were advised of the release of two former employees of SWAMWAC and RISIS during , at a cost of 76,245. This was reported in the ERW Financial Statements, so in order to provide effective governance and scrutiny, I felt it would be prudent to provide the Joint Committee with some additional details and obtain their formal approval. The release of one employee was agreed prior to the creation of ERW but the physical release and payment was made after its creation. The funding for this release was from the ERW Local Authority Reserve, the funds of which transferred to ERW from the former SWAMWAC and RISIS consortiums. The second employee release was agreed and occurred during the year and was again funded from the ERW Local Authority Reserve. Approval to release the employees was made by the Executive Board, so the Joint Committee are asked to formally give their approval. 2

3 Central Team Revenue Budget Update The Central Team revenue budget for was amended and approved by the Joint Committee at its meeting on 18 May There has only been one amendment to the budget since it was approved: ANNUAL EXPENDITURE (All figures are in 000 s) May 2015 Joint Committee Updated Position August 2015 Expenditure to August STAFFING COSTS Salaries Travel, Subsistence, Training & Development RUNNING COSTS Accommodation Stationery/Telephone/Printing/Copying/Equipment/IT Branding/Marketing Translation Conference Support / Programme Costs FACILITATION Infrastructure Agreements (Internal & External Audit) TOTAL ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE ANNUAL INCOME Local Authority Contributions Other Grants through Welsh Government - - Grant Funding Administration Local Authority Reserves TOTAL ESTIMATED INCOME NET EXPENDITURE The Translation costs for the new ERW website have far exceeded the estimated costs and budget. The ERW website is now fully bi-lingual and there are no significant additional costs projected. Due to the additional cost, the contribution from the Local Authority Reserve for will need to be increased from 100k to 120k. 5. Local Authority Reserve At 1 April 2015, the Local Authority Reserve was 348,000 and this will be available to support the Central Team budget over the coming years. This is 41,000 more than reported on 18 May 2015 due to the cessation of an anticipated liability. 3

4 ERW is also holding reserves of 64,000 to be used for Literacy and Numeracy in Schemes of work are underway to ensure this is fully utilised by the end of March Grants Update The grants awarded to ERW for are shown below. It should be noted that some are still subject to approval. Total Grant Awarded Current Grant Awarded Variance Education Improvement Grant - 39,978 39,978 School Effectiveness Grant 7,582 - (7,582) 14/19 Learning Pathways 2,797 - (2,797) Welsh In Education Grant 1,779 - (1,779) Band 4/5 Schools (170) Lead Practitioner & Emerging Schools (162) Lead Practitioner & Emerging Schools ALN 19 - (19) Higher Level Teaching Assistants 17 - (17) Pupil Deprivation Grant 17,648 21,009 3,361 Schools Challenge Cymru 790 2,692 1,902 Regional Collaboration Fund (162) GCSE/Milan Physical Literacy (230) Consortia Attendance (150) Welsh Baccalaureate 75 - (75) New Areas of Learning 75 - (75) Learning in Wales Digital CPD Grant Pupil Deprivation Capacity Building 50 - (50) GCSE Professional Learning Schools 45 - (45) Mentoring for Headteachers (18) Literacy, Numeracy & MFL Year 6 National Numeracy Tests Improving Standards & Provision in Science 180* 180 Modern Foreign Language Capacity Building 183* Capacity Building / Welsh Baccalaureate 50* 50 GSCE Year 9 Cross Curricula LNF Total of Grants Awarded to ERW 32,613 65,868 33,255 *- Denotes Bids under Construction 4

5 7. Education Improvement Grant (EIG) The first quarterly EIG claim form has been submitted by ERW on behalf of the region. As stated in the previous Financial Monitoring Report, all six local authorities were asked to provide internal audit assurance of compliance with the grant terms and conditions for each quarterly claim made. The required assurance for the first quarterly EIG claim was received prior to its submission. ERW are the only region that delegates its share of the grant to member authorities. The other three regions retain centrally their share of funding and as a consequence of this, they do not have to seek the level of assurance that ERW do. 8. National Model Unlike in , there has currently been no official guidance from Welsh Government relating to the National Model for Reports will be collated from member authorities in the Autumn 2015 to ensure compliance. Further work will have to be undertaken once further guidance has been set by Welsh Government for Recommendations To receive the ERW Financial Statements and the Wales Audit Office report and opinion (ISA 260 report), and approve the ERW Financial Statements To receive the Head of Internal Audit Annual Assurance Option and receive and approve the Annual Governance Statement To approve the release of the two former employees of SWAMWAC and RISIS during To approve the 20,000 increase to the Central Team revenue budget for , to be funded from the Local Authority Reserve. 5