Purpose

To review the unaudited outturn financial position and approve carry-forward budgets

Decision

It was resolved to:

A    Note the financial performance of the Combined Authority as set out in this report which is based on the actual expenditure as at 30 June 2026.

B    Delegate authority to the Chief Executive Officer to drawdown £0.473m from earmarked reserves for additional capacity to support the Authority’s response to the Government’s devolution agenda as set out in paragraphs 6.1-6.3, noting that the funding will only be drawn down if required.

C    Delegate authority to the Chief Finance Officer to include future capacity funding from Government into the Combined Authority’s budget, should further grant funding be awarded, as set out in paragraph 6.1-6.3.

D    Delegate authority to the Chief Finance Officer to accept the funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, once confirmed, and approve its use to support the development of the Authority’s data, digital and AI capacities as set out in paragraph 6.4.

E    Note decisions taken via the Single Assurance Framework delegations as set out in section 7.

F    Note Mayoral and Officer decisions taken since the previous Board update as per paragraphs 8.1-8.5

G   Note the budget changes from decisions taken since the previous budget report, and approve the changes to budgets arising from audit findings as set out in paragraph 8.6.