Agenda item

Joint Report of the Chamberlain and the Natural Environment Director.

The Committee received a report that compared the revenue outturn for services overseen by the Committee in 2023/24 with the final budget for the year. Overall, there was an underspend of £50,000 for the services overseen by the Committee compared with the final budget for the year.

During the discussion, the following points were noted:

a)    The Chairman indicated the formatting of the reports remained unsatisfactory to facilitate good charity governance and scrutiny. Officers explained that the Charities Review would start to deliver many of the changes requested by the Committee in September 2024, but noted that whilst a deficit funding model applied, some restrictions on the reporting format would be difficult to change. 

b)    The Committee raised the issue of significant variance on year-end recharges and the need to review the governance and accountability in prioritising work in the backlog. Officers reported that different options were being finalised regarding how to allocate recharges for the financial year and would go before Members for agreement.

c)     Members queried whether the Corporation’s asset maintenance ‘bow-wave’ was included on top of the financial figures behind the budget position for 2023/24. Officers explained that £133m was the projection of the scheme for 2024/25 and future financial years.

d)    It was suggested by a Member it would be useful to have a paragraph in the charities review outlining assets or items that had previously been relinquished to the benefit of the City of London Corporation rather than the charities. The Chairman highlighted that a position had been agreed where income generated by the charity could now be retained by the charity for a specific purpose and opportunities to raise money would be ring fenced back to areas for agreement as part of the charity review.

e)    It was reiterated by the Committee that the terminology should be changed from ‘bow wave’ to ‘backlog’.

RECEIVED.