Agenda item

Report FSD21065

The report provided Members with an overview of additional Covid-19 grant funding received by the Council since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.  The Director of Finance introduced the item highlighted that since March 2020 the Council had received a significant sum in Covid-19 related grants.  In addition to supporting the response to Covid-19, the Council had also continued with business and usual, delivering services and identifying areas where savings could be made.  The Committee noted that in recognition of the speed of response, special delegations had been put in place and this had enabled decisions to be taken in a timely manner.  The Director of Finance highlighted that the pressures resulting from the pandemic were likely to continue for a number of years and in response to this it was being proposed that some funding be set aside in a dedicated Covid-reserve to enable the Local Authority to respond to ongoing Covid support pressures in future years.  In response to a question, the Director of Finance confirmed that there would be some flexibility around the use of the Covid reserve and decisions would need to be taken by Members.

The Director of Finance reported that the Local Authority had effectively managed the distribution of Covid grants and had maintained an appropriate grip in terms of the spend.  It had to be recognised that the Council was distributing public money as such there needed to be transparency and accountability and there was a need to use the funding appropriately.  Whilst Covid funding from central Government had undoubtedly slowed down in recent months there remained some further grants to come through the system.

The Committee noted that further updates would be presented through the regular budget monitoring cycle.

In opening us the discussion, the Chairman noted that the amount of Covid-grant funding received in 2020/21 was almost equal to the Council’s controllable budget.  It was clear that this level of grant funding was not sustainable and therefore could not be seen as a business-as-usual scenario.  The Chairman endorsed the decision that had been taken to redeploy staff to Covid-support functions and then return them to their substantive posts as well as the proposal to set aside funds in a Covid reserve.

A Member highlighted that the report had presented a huge amount of information and the late publication of the report had meant that Members had not had adequate time to consider and scrutinise the detail.  In response, the Director of Finance confirmed that details of specific grants would be provided through the Budget Monitoring reports presented to all PDS Committees.  The Committee agreed that it would aid Members’ understanding if a summary of the outcomes for each grant could be provided including how much had been spent and the number of benificiaries.  It was also noted that use of Covid grant funding had been extensively reviewed by Internal Audit with a report presented to the Audit Sub-Committee.  A Member noted that significant levels of funding had been provided to the Council and Officers were to be congratulated for the efficient and effective way the allocation of grants had been managed.  The Chairman suggested that where Members had specific questions these should be directed to the Director of Finance.  Any questions could then be addressed either through the Budget Monitoring reports or, in the event of a very specific question being asked, via an email to Members of the Committee.

Members received assurances that where some of the preventative measures (for example for homelessness) proved to be successful the schemes would continue into the future.

The Chairman noted that in reality the Council had been given very little discretion in terms of the use of the majority of the grant finding received. Every grant that had been received had been accompanied by a number of grant conditions stipulating the use of the grant and when and how it was to be distributed.

RESOLVED: that the report be noted.