Statement of Accounts 2019/20 UNAUDITED Contents Narrative Report 3 Statement of Responsibilities for the Statement of Accounts 10 Approval of the Statement of Accounts by the Mayor of London 11 Independent Auditor’s Report to the Greater London Authority 12 Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement 13 Movement in Reserves Statement 15 Balance Sheet 19 Cash Flow Statement 20 Notes to the Financial Statements 21 Fund Account 133 Crossrail (incorporating Business Rates Supplement) Revenue Account 134 Notes to the Crossrail Revenue Account 135 Glossary 136 2 DRAFT-Greater London Authority Statement of Accounts 2019/20 Narrative Report The GLA’s accounts provides a wealth of detail on the Authority’s financial position. They are a critical part of our stewardship of large sums of public money. However, as they have to be prepared in a prescribed format the pages that follow, at times, do not read easily. This narrative draws out the key issues from these accounts in an attempt to make them clearer and more understandable to all interested parties. Structure This narrative sets out the: • GLA’s context; • Performance against the Mayor’s vision; • Financial performance in 2019/20; • GLA’s Balance Sheet at 31 March 2020; and • Main financial risks facing the Authority. Context The GLA is the strategic authority for London, and sits between the national Government and the London boroughs. It consists of the: • Mayor of London, who is to be responsible for making London a better place for all those who visit, live or work in the city; and • the London Assembly, which holds the Mayor to account. The Mayor wants London to be a ‘City for All Londoners’ by: • making it easier for people to move in and around the city; • improving London’s environment; • helping the capital’s businesses to thrive; • providing Londoners with more affordable housing; and • giving young people in London more opportunities. The Mayor delivers this vision for London principally through the activities of the: 3 DRAFT-Greater London Authority Statement of Accounts 2019/20 • GLA itself and its wide network of partnerships. Although much of the GLA’s work is strategic – setting frameworks for London’s boroughs and others to work within in areas like the environment, urban planning and economic development – the GLA now has significant delivery budgets for affordable homes and adult education; • London Fire Brigade, which provides the city’s fire and rescue service; • two Mayoral Development Corporations (MDCs), responsible for regeneration centred on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the Old Oak and Park Royal area; • the Metropolitan Police Service, which provides the capital’s police service; and • Transport for London, which provides London’s transport service. The Mayor is responsible for setting an annual Budget of some £18 billion for these bodies. However, these accounts are limited to the GLA itself and its two MDCs which are treated as part of the GLA’s Group Accounts. Performance against the Mayor’s vision Headline data for 2019/20 include: • The number of police officers (full time equivalent) increased from 29,978 at the end of 2018/19 to 31,745 at the end of 2019/20, the highest level for a number of years. There was 13 per cent fall in the number of knife injury victims under 25, against a backdrop of a 5.5 per cent overall annual increase in crimes recorded by the Metropolitan Police Service. • The London Fire Brigade attended 17,751 fires in the year, a ten per cent fall compared to 2018/19, as well as attending 33,380 special services. A first appliance arrived at these incidents in an average of 5 minutes and 12 seconds, a slight improvement on the previous year. • The Covid-19 pandemic significantly reduced the number of public transport trips on the Transport for London network towards the end of 2019/20. However, between April 1 2019 and 1 February 2020 there had been 3.35 billion trips on all TfL modes, against a target of 3.31 billion. • There were an estimated 6.1m visitors to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2019/20; and construction was taking place apace to deliver housing and a new cultural and educational district for London (East Bank). Amongst the new initiatives the Mayor introduced in 2019/20 are the following: • In September 2019, London was part of worldwide Car Free Day celebrations, closing more than 27km of streets in central London including Tower Bridge (closed to all traffic), London Bridge (buses only) and much of the City of London. Events took place across 27 boroughs, with 385 Play Streets allowing local communities to reimagine their 4 DRAFT-Greater London Authority Statement of Accounts 2019/20 streets. Sixty-five per cent of Londoners surveyed after last year's Car Free Day said the events inspired them to use their car less; • The Mayor launched the world-leading Direct Vision Standard in October 2019, which seeks to eliminate dangerous Heavy Goods Vehicle blind spots, proven to be the cause of pedestrian and cyclist deaths and serious injuries; • The Mayor introduced the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in central London in April 2019. This and the Mayor’s wider efforts to clean-up London’s air have contributed to a reduction of 44 per cent in roadside NO2 in the central London ULEZ zone; • The Mayor launched a new kind of energy company in January 2020. London Power is ensuring Londoners have access to energy that is always fair, always affordable, always green – and with excellent customer service; • The Good Growth Fund funded work for over 20,000 square metres of new and improved public realm delivery in 2019-20. The Good Growth Fund is a £70m programme that is, together with the guidance and frameworks we are creating, to regenerate and adapt for the future London’s high streets, town centres and street markets; • In July 2019, the Mayor launched the Good Work Standard – a benchmark for high employment standards with fair pay at its heart. More than 70 employers of a range of sizes and sectors – which collectively employ more than 207,000 staff – have been accredited to the scheme so far. • Some 17,256 genuinely affordable homes funded by Mayoral programmes were started on site last year, more than at any time since records began in 2002-03. This has been achieved despite two years of uncertainty caused by the prospect of a no-deal Brexit and Covid-19 restrictions impacting on the final weeks of the financial year. Some 7,156 of the homes would be available at social rent levels and more than 3,300 were new council homes, the most in any year since the early 1980s; • Over 6,900 rough sleepers were seen by Mayoral rough sleeping services during 2019-20 – the highest number ever. Towards the end of the year, the Mayor commenced the major operation to provide emergency accommodation for rough sleepers to protect them from Covid-19. As at 26 May about 1,300 individuals were being accommodated by the GLA, mainly in hotels; and • The Mayors £70m Young Londoners Fund has now invested in over 200 organisations, which will support 110,000 young people over three years – with more than 23,000 young people benefitting from activities in 2019-20. Projects are providing much needed positive activities and safe spaces for young people across London, including those at risk of involvement in crime. 5 DRAFT-Greater London Authority Statement of Accounts 2019/20 Financial Performance 2019/20 The GLA’s Revised Revenue Budget, net of financing costs, for 2019/20 was £396m. There was an underspend against this Budget of £9.9m or 2.5%. A summary of the main reasons for this variance is set out below: Service Brief Description of Main Reasons for Variances £m Housing Underspend on staffing 1.0 Good Growth Tree planting programme delays and transfer of 3.4 costs of the Energy Company Communities & Skills Delays in delivery of projects 1.1 Strategy & Communications Delays in delivery of major sports projects 2.3 Corporate Interest on balances, offset by overspend on 2.1 staffing budgets Total 9.9 The GLA’s Revised Capital Programme for 2019/20 was £2bn. There was an over-delivery against this Programme of £96.4m or 4.7%. A summary of the main reasons for this variance is set out below. Service Brief Description of Main Reasons for Variances £m Housing Over-delivery of Affordable Housing 120.4 Other Directorates Slippage on minor programmes (0.9) Corporate Reduced spend requirements from functional bodies (23.1) Total 96.4 A detailed outturn report is available here and it sets out fuller details. GLA’s Balance Sheet at 31 March 2020 Set out below is a summary of the GLA’s Balance Sheet at 31 March 2020, comparing the 6 DRAFT-Greater London Authority Statement of Accounts 2019/20 position to a year ago and to the position at 31 March 2016. 2016 2019 2020 As at 31 March: £m £m £m Assets 2,785 4,573 5,641 Liabilities (5,423) (5,548) (6,363) Net Liabilities (2,638) (975) (722) Since 31 March 2016 net liabilities have decreased by £1,916m. This is mainly due to increases in the Authority’s investments and cash balances of some £2,310m largely from the receipt of affordable housing capital grants. There was also an increase in business rates income following the introduction of the London pooling pilot in 2017/18. The cash inflow was partially offset by a net increase in borrowing over the period and is described below.