Agenda item

The Committee had before it a report by the Executive Director of Corporate Services which (1) provided Elected Members with an overview of the Council’s 2024/25 unaudited Annual Accounts; (2) presented the Annual Governance Statement for scrutiny and approval; and (3) presented the unaudited Annual Accounts for those registered charities where the Council was the sole trustee and was subject to statutory requirements for separate accounts and audit opinions.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee -

(a)      approve the Annual Governance Statement as included in the Council’s unaudited Annual Accounts for the financial year 2024/25;

(b)      consider the Council’s unaudited Annual Accounts 2024/25;

(c)      consider the unaudited Annual Accounts 2024/25 of the Council’s registered charities;

(d)      note that following the meeting the Council’s and the registered charities’ unaudited Annual Accounts would be finalised, signed by the Chief Officer - Finance and submitted to the Council’s external auditors, Audit Scotland;

(e)      note that the Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee on 26 June 2025 would receive the Council’s audited Annual Accounts for consideration and approval prior to their signature by the Chief Officer - Finance, Chief Executive and Council Co-Leaders;

(f)       note that the Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee on 26 June 2025 would also receive the external auditor’s report on the annual accounts for debate and consideration and that the report would set out the auditor’s findings and conclusions, highlight any significant issues arising from the audit of the Annual Accounts and inform Elected Members of the proposed audit opinion in advance of the accounts being approved; and

(g)      note that the Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee on 26 June 2025 would also receive the audited Annual Accounts for the registered charities for consideration and approval prior to their signature along with the associated external auditor’s report.

In response to a question regarding the dates with tbc next to them within the table at section 3.16, the Chief Officer – Finance advised that these were indicative dates based on the previous year and that the dates for submission of the accounts would be announced by the Scottish Government in due course.

In response to a question regarding whether the governance arrangements for the London Stock Exchange had changed since the Council had joined, the Chief Officer – Finance advised that quarterly reports and scrutiny of the credit rating had been introduced from the start.

In response to a question regarding the increase in the level of debt, the Chief Officer - Finance advised that the debt was spread between housing and non housing investment programmes and that the figure was expected to rise based on the current Prudential Indicators. 

In response to a question regarding re-payments of short term debt and how this was rolled over and paid off, the Chief Officer – Finance advised that using short term borrowing reduced the burden of locking in higher levels of debt over a longer period of time. 

In response to a question regarding the leasing arrangements for Hydrogen Buses that were currently not operational, the Chief Officer – Finance advised that the buses were leased to First Bus which was shown as a liability on the accounts.  The Executive Director of Corporate Services advised that the hydrogen hubs were due to be operational by the end of the calendar year which would result in the buses being back in use.

In response to a question regarding whether the sources of funding outlined on page 139 was different to the pie chart information on core funding, the Chief Officer – Finance advised that they were different with the figures in the pie chart being the spending and income for the operation of the general fund with the additional funding relating to capital funding from a variety of sources.

In response to a question regarding whether the grants received from government funded the IJB, the Chief Officer – Finance advised that all funding provided to the IJB came from government grants, non domestic rates, Council Tax or reserves.  He further explained that non domestic rates although collected locally were given to the Scottish Government for them to issue grant funding to each local authority on a similar level to the money collected.

In response to a comment regarding Councillors not being aware of politically sensitive decisions before they appeared in local media and how this would be addressed in the future, the Executive Director of Corporate Services advised that where possible, all Councillors would be notified in advance before released to the local media.

In response to a question regarding the statement on member to member working together and where the problems were, the Interim Chief Officer – Governance advised that the statement within the Annual Governance Statement was a recommendation from Audit Scotland which required some consideration to improve cross party working.

In response to a question regarding Section 75 monies and whether the Council could revoke planning where monies were not paid, the Executive Director for City Regeneration and Environment advised that as written this would be the case however there was a process where developers could request to vary the agreement and this was where there would be an impact on the accounts. She outlined the process involved for developers to request a variation and the appeals process if required.

In response to a request for more information on RAAC and the risks associated with this and the liabilities to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and the General Fund, the Chief Officer – Finance advised that there liabilities across both accounts due to the split between tenants and the costs associated with the HRA and the General Fund would be impacted based on the outcome of the ongoing discussions with homeowners.  He further advised that it was not possible to provide a percentage at this time against either of the accounts due to various unknown factors.

In response to a question regarding litigation in connection with the experimental traffic regulation order and whether there would be a requirement to repay grant funding to the Scottish Government, the Chief Officer - Finance advised that at the end of the financial year information from Transport Scotland indicated that there was no requirement to pay back any funding based on the decisions made to continue with the proposals and that where there were any changes to the position, Transport Scotland would be notified.  He further advised that this item sat within the contingent liabilities to advise committee of the position and that the Council were aware of the financial environment they were operating under.  The Interim Chief Officer – Governance advised that it was too early in the process to know what the impact would be and that the Council were not in a position to quantify any losses at this stage.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       in response to a question regarding the Common Good Fund balance sheet showing a decrease in the value of its net assets and the reasons for this, to note that the Chief Officer – Finance would circulate by email information relating to the assets;  

(ii)      in response to a question regarding the significant difference to note to debtors for public corporations and trading funds from the previous year, to note that the Chief Officer – Finance would circulate by email details relating to the debtors information; and

(iii)      to otherwise approve the recommendations contained in the report.