Agenda item

The Committee considered the Statement of Accounts 2021/22 for

Carmarthenshire County Council, which had been prepared in accordance with the Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations 2014 (as amended 2018).  It was reported that as a result of the ongoing impact of Covid-19, Welsh Government had issued guidance which allowed flexibility for completing the 2021/22 financial statements; accordingly, the statutory deadline for completion of the 2021/22 audited accounts was 30 November 2022.

Reference was made the ongoing national review of the accounting treatment and disclosures required for Infrastructure Assets.  The Committee was advised that in the absence of any imminent resolution, Welsh Government was seeking to introduce a statutory override of the code, however the accounts could not be certified until the statutory override was in place.  Accordingly, to enable the effective conclusion of the Statement of Accounts 2021/22 as soon as practicable following certification by the Auditor General, the Committee’s approval was sought for delegated authority to be given to the Director of Corporate Services and the Chair of Governance and Audit Committee for any subsequent amendments that needed to be made in relation to the treatment of Infrastructure Assets.  An assurance was provided that the final statement of accounts would be circulated to Committee Members and a report on the final position would be submitted to the Committee once the matter had been concluded.

The Committee was provided with an overview of the salient points contained within the Statement of Accounts which summarised the financial position of the Authority for the year ended 31 March 2022, and which included the amendments agreed with Audit Wales as part of their audit. 

Reference was made to the Council Fund and the changes to the balances in general or earmarked reserves for the year and, similarly, the change had been made to the Housing Revenue Account balance. 

The Director of Corporate Services detailed the movements which had been made to and from earmarked reserves in respect of transfers pertaining to the Major Development Fund, Modernising Education Programme (MEP) Capital Funding and the City Deal/ Pentre Awel Reserve.  Accordingly, the Committee was requested to retrospectively approve those movements and endorse the creation of the Urdd National Eisteddfod Reserve, Carmarthen Hwb, Waste Strategy, Decarbonisation, Levelling Up Match Funding, Inflationary Risks, Revenue Support Grant, Cost of Living Discretionary Scheme, Targeted Regeneration Investment and Residential Home Room Refurbishment reserves.

The Director of Corporate Services conveyed his gratitude to the Head of Financial Services and his team for their sterling efforts in the production of the Statement of Accounts.

The issues/observations raised by the Committee were addressed as follows:-

The Committee’s attention was referred to the short-term debtors and creditors set out at sections 6.16 and 6.19 of the report respectively.  In response to a request, Officers agreed to circulate a breakdown of the ‘other’ category within the short-term debtors category to the Committee, and which would be based upon a threshold level of over £500k.

Reference was made to the recommendations from the Annual Governance Statement whereby it was noted that the responses within the status section appeared vague and was not necessarily reflective of the current position.  The Head of Revenues and Financial Compliance provided an assurance that the document would be reviewed to provide a more robust narrative in future.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that: