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6 July 2023
This blog was meant to have been a report on HPC’s financial performance in the last financial year with information taken from the Council papers which went to the Council’s Extraordinary meeting on 26 June.
I meant to provide a summary of the outturn figures for 2022/23 i.e.
- how much income HPC received, and from where, against the amount it budgeted for;
- how much money HPC spent, and on what, against the amount it budgeted for; and
- whether HPC had a surplus or a deficit for the year and how much.
Unfortunately, as normal now, the outturn is not on HPC’s website and it was sent to councillors under cover from the Clerk strictly forbidding councillors to share the information with anyone else.
There was no discussion about the outturn at the public meeting on 26 June which I could have reported. I was merely allowed to clarify my understanding of part of the table before being told the Council did not have time for discussion.
So, there is nothing I can tell you about HPC’s financial outturn.
I meant to provide a summary of the internal auditor's final report for 2022/3. I can’t tell you anything about the auditor’s report for the same reason.
I meant to tell you about the Annual Governance Statement. As I set out in a previous blog, this Statement requires councils to confirm whether, during 2022/3, Council had: -
1. effective financial arrangements in place;
2. an adequate system for preventing fraud and corruption;
3. taken all reasonable steps to comply with the law and proper practices which could have a significant financial impact;
4. allowed electors to exercise their rights;
5. assessed and managed the risks to the council;
6. maintained an effective system of internal audit;
7. taken appropriate action on all matters raised in reports by the internal and external auditors; and
8. considered litigation, liabilities etc.
These are known as assertions and Council is required to confirm these assertions, or not, with a tick in a yes or no box. If it ticks no, Council has to explain why not.
I can tell you, because it was discussed in public, that Council decided to approve a statement saying “No” to assertions 2, 4 and 7.
I can also tell you, because I asked for a recorded vote, that I voted against this on the grounds that I thought Council should also have said “No” to assertion 1.
I said this for a number of reasons, including that this assertion requires, amongst other things, regular monitoring of the budget; HPC’s Financial Regulations require monthly budget monitoring. However, Council only received two budget monitoring reports in 2022/3 (in November and March).
In addition, HPC was unable to pay its creditors for the first three months of 2022/3 because it did not have adequate access to its bank accounts. There was also no evidence that HPC had carried out independent reconciliation of its accounts.
I can’t tell you anything about the Accounting Statement for the same reasons. I cannot for example tell you how much money HPC carried over from last year to this. Nor can I tell you the size of the reserves.
I can tell you that Council decided to refer a request from an allotment holder to the Environment and Services Committee (which next meets in August). He requested approval to keep a beehive on his plot at Hughenden Valley allotment site.
And I can tell you that Council deferred approval of the asset register again as it was still a “work in progress”.
And that’s it, I'm afraid. If you want to know about HPC’s financial performance for 2022/3, you will have to ask the Clerk for the papers and work it out for yourselves. I can’t help you because of the confidentiality restrictions being imposed on HPC councillors and residents. .