MD1566 GLA Outturn 2014-15

1.1 The attached report provides a summary of the year-end financial data for the GLA.

1.2 The Budget is the financial expression of the Mayor’s policies and priorities; and to ensure that its business is conducted efficiently, the GLA has established and adheres to sound financial management policies. Part of this process includes advising on the Authority’s financial position at the end of each financial year, which is detailed in the annex to this decision.

2.1 The objective of this report is to provide a summary of the GLA’s financial performance in 2014-15 and to seek approval of the proposed transfers to and from reserves and bad debt write off.

3.1 There are no adverse equality implications as the report contains no proposed changes to new or existing services, policies or strategies.

a) key risks and issues
4.1 It is the responsibility of Executive Directors to establish sound arrangements for planning, appraising, authorising and controlling their operations in order to achieve continuous improvement, economy, efficiency and effectiveness and for achieving their financial and operational performance targets, which are monitored and reported on as part of the budgetary control process.

b) Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
The GLA Business Plan
4.2 This request for a Mayoral Decision supports the monitoring of the GLA Business Plan which sets out the Mayor's priorities, how we will resource and deliver those priorities and the measures we will use to monitor our progress.

5.1 Financial issues are considered within the annex to this report.

6.1 Section 127 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (the “GLA Act”) requires relevant authorities to make arrangements for the proper administration of their financial affairs and to ensure that their chief financial officer has a responsibility for the administration of those affairs. The GLA is a relevant authority under section 127 and consequently is required to comply with these requirements. The attached report has been prepared for the GLA as part of the chief financial officer making arrangements for the proper administration of the GLA’s financial affairs.

6.2 The approval of the transfers to and from the reserves as set out in paragraph 2 of the report is supported by section 34 of the GLA Act which allows the Authority, acting by the Mayor, to do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of any functions of the Authority exercisable by the Mayor.

8.1 Budgetary control reports are circulated across the organisation for review by Executive Directors/Assistant Directors/Heads of Unit and, where appropriate, other nominated officers, with a list of specific variances that require explanation, every four weeks. These explanations and a full year forecast of income and expenditure are presented to the Investment and Performance Board and Budget Monitoring Sub-Committee on a quarterly basis, along with a year-end report (Annex A). The year-end report details the revenue and capital outturn for each Directorate, highlighting the key variances, along with a summary of the transfers to and from reserves and budget carry forwards agreed as part of the year-end closure of accounts process.

Annex A: GLA Outturn 2014-15