Issue - meetings

The Director of Finance and Support Services submitted a draft Statement of Accounts for 2014/15.  The Head of Strategic Finance explained the format of the statement of accounts which had been prepared in line with accounting standards.  Officers aimed to ensure that there was clarity in the Council’s performance and that the accounts were understandable to the public.  The Head of Strategic Finance explained the revenue and capital expenditure against budget.  He stated that the Council had not borrowed money to fund capital schemes.

In response to a query from Councillor R Deering regarding a deficit in the pension fund, and whether there was a plan to reduce the figure to zero, the Director of Finance and Support Services explained that the Council was a member of the Hertfordshire Pension Fund.  A deficit in the pension fund still remained and, after a tri-annual review, recommendations in the financial implications on bringing this back to balance over a period of 25 years were included in the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP).  She explained that revenue contributions each year were made to contribute to the deficit and in the past, one-off additional contributions had been made to cap these ongoing revenue contributions on advice from pension advisors.  Further advice was being sought on whether a further one-off payment from reserves could be recommended to Council if there was a financial case to do so.  The Director of Finance and Support Services explained that the Council had also set aside a reserve of £1million for this purpose.  She referred Members to further explanatory notes on the Pension Scheme within the report submitted.

The External Auditor explained that they would be reviewing this issue as part of the external audit.  She stated that there was a need to understand how much was based on actuarial assumptions. 

In response to a query from Councillor R Deering regarding old borrowing and high rates of interest, the Chairman explained that it would cost more to pay off the old debts.  The Director of Finance and Support Services stated that this was something that Officers kept under review and particularly within the context of the Treasury Management Strategy which Members would consider at a later meeting.

The Committee agreed the report, now submitted.

RESOLVED – that the report, now submitted be agreed.