Issue - meetings

The Committee received the Forecast Outturn and the Pre-Audit annual return for year ended 2023/24.

It was explained that Corporate Joint Committees were obligated, under legislation, to produce annual accounts; however, due the size of the turnover of the organisation, which was below £2.5million, it meant that there were fewer reporting requirements, and a full statement of accounts was not needed.

Appendix A of the circulated report detailed the Forecast Outturn summary. It was noted that the four workstreams did not draw on as much budget last year as they were still developing at the time; there were also underspends in other areas which were highlighted in the report.

Officers explained that the current financial position of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee meant that as the workstreams develop further, there were reasonable provisions already in place for them to draw on; this will help to avoid a significant increase of the Local Authority levy, whilst still supporting the development of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee.

A discussion took place in regard to the Annual Return, which was detailed in Appendix B of the circulated report; this was a replication of the figures that were report in Appendix A, however it was detailed in the required Annual Return format. It was highlighted that the Annual Return required auditing and verification; firstly, through internal verification, which had been completed by Pembrokeshire Councils internal audit team. The next stage was for this to be sent onto Audit Wales for an overall verification; once completed they will issue an audit certificate and it will be brought to a future meeting. Officers mentioned that by internal audit starting the bulk of this work, it reduced the level of work required to be carried out by external audit and also helped financially. 

RESOLVED: That the receipt of the Forecast Outturn and the Pre-Audit annual return for year ended 2023/24, be approved.