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ITEM EX 5 - ANNEX A

EXECUTIVE – 19 MARCH 2002

QUARTERLY FINANCIAL REPORT – FORMER EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Report by Director for Business Support & County Treasurer and Acting Chief Education Officer

Introduction

1. This report shows the 2001/02 budget for the former Education Committee, together with the projected year end variation based on the latest information available (Annex 1).(download as .rtf file)
2. The balance brought forward from 2000/01 (column 10) is provisional until the accounts have been signed off.

Virements

3. Details of virements and supplementary estimates approved to date are set out in Annex 2.(download as .rtf file).There are no new virements or supplementary estimates this quarter.

Main Issues

4. Based on the latest information available (to end of January 2002), an underspend of £1.434m is forecast. In addition, £1.779m of expenditure in relation to the City Schools Reorganisation is expected, which will be carried forward to 2002/03 and recovered in future years.
5. In order to determine a more accurate year end position, and minimise any variation between this report and the provision outturn report, a thorough analysis of estimated expenditure has been carried out. As a result, there are variations against most budget headings. Annex 4 (download as .rtf file) gives a brief explanation of all new minor variations, with more detailed explanations for other variations in the subsequent paragraphs.
6. The following table identifies the changes since the last report.

	Dec 2001	Feb. 2002	Change	Impli-cations for 2002/03
	£000	£000	£000	£000
Pre Primary
(a) Early Years Specific Grant 3 Year Olds	-295	-304	-9
Primary/Secondary
(b) Statementing	-255	-235	20
(c) Special Needs Advisory Support Teachers	0	-69	-69
(d) Drayton Partnership	0	-74	-74	74
(e) School Specific Contingencies	0	-88	-88
(f) Autistic Service	113	88	-25
(g) Pupil Referral Units	0	-50	-50	40
Special
(h) Paramedical	23	23	0
(i) Out of County Placements	98	387	289	257

	Dec 2001	Feb. 2002	Change	Impli-cations for 2002/03
	£000	£000	£000	£000
Adult
(j) LSC Funding	-344	0	344
Management & Support Services
(k) Education Department	210	241	31
(l) Environmental Services	80	141	61
(m) Information Technology	0	200	200
(n) Health and Safety	0	-135	-135	135
(o) Psychological Services	0	-52	-52
(p) Standards Fund	-35	-500	-465	500
(q) Joint Sports	0	-100	-100
Cross Department
(r) PRC (including Retraining)	0	-119	-119
(s) Transport	206	322	116	122
(t) Other Variations	0	-196	-196	105
Miscellaneous
(u) Revenue Contribution to Capital	-60	-73	-13
(v) Carry Forward from 2000/01	-356	-356	0
(w) Savings to be identified in 2000/01	162	162	0
(x) Carry Forward from 2001/02	0	0	0	413
(y) Balance Sheet Transfer	0	-647	-647
	-453	-1,434	-981	1,646
Plus: Recoverable in Future Years
(z) City Schools Reorganisation	1,739	1,779	40
	1,286	345	-941	1,646

1. Early Years Specific Grant 3 Year Olds: The DfES sent notification to LEA’s in December 2001 informing them of revised allocations for the Spring Term 2002. As a result the number of new 3 year old places the LEA can claim grant on has increased marginally.
2. Statementing: Continued work of the Statementing panel and other officers has resulted in only a small change to the estimated underspend.
3. Special Needs Advisory Support Teachers: A higher take up of the service from schools as part of the buy back facility has resulted in additional income. As a result an underspend of £69,000 is now anticipated.
4. Drayton Partnership: £120,000 was carried forward from 2000/2001 for the Drayton Partnership. The project is due to run until July 2002, consequently some of the allocation needs to be carried forward to 2002/03.
5. School Specific Contingency: Based on the call on this budget to date, an underspend in the region of £88,000 is expected.
6. Autistic Service: The estimated overspend in the Autistic Service in December was £113,000. Officers have been seeking to minimise the overspend and as a result of management action the overspend is now only likely to be £88,000.
7. Pupil Referral Units: An underspend of £50,000 is predicted on Pupil Referral Units. £10,000 relates to efficiency savings arising from the amalgamation of St.James and Ivanhoe Units in September 2001. £40,000 relates to capitation balances which will be carried forward to 2002/03.

1. Environmental Services: Work commissioned by the department in respect of planning and valuation of education establishments has increased above the level anticipated. Based on work commissioned to December 2001, the overspend is now likely to be £161,000. There may also be implications in 2002/03.
2. Information Technology: An overspend of £200,000 is anticipated in relation to IT. Unavoidable costs relating to Microsoft licensing arrangements, and the cost of relocating to Wheatley have contributed in the main to this overspend.
3. Health and Safety: Planned work in respect of three Health and Safety projects has slipped. As a result they will not be complete before the end of the financial year. £135,000 will need to be carried forward to fund these projects in 2002/03.
4. Psychological Services: One off external funding, including income from Connexions has resulted in an estimated underspend of £52,000.
5. Standards Fund: From 2001/02, Standards Fund regulations allow grant allocations to be spent over a 17 month period, up to 31 August 2002. As a result many of the grants will not be fully spent by 31 March and the allocations will need to be carried forward to 2002/03. At this point, it is difficult to predict how much will be required to be carried forward to 2002/03. £500,000 has been assumed for now.
6. Joint Sports: It is anticipated that the budget for emergency repairs will not be fully spent by the year end. As a result, an underspend of £100,000 is anticipated.
7. PRC: Less early retirements, redundancies and redeployments have occurred this year than expected resulting in an underspend, currently estimated at £119,000.
8. Transport: Home to School Transport is now estimated to overspend by £322,000 which can be broken down as follows:

1. Although there has been continuing work encouraging schools to share budget monitoring information with the LEA, this is still not the case with the majority of schools. However, indications are that schools will contribute in the region of £1.5m to schools balances in 2001/02.

Implications for 2002/03

2. In setting the budget for 2002/03, a carry forward from 2001/02 of £0.413m was included and will be the first call against any carry forward in order to balance the budget for 2002/03.
3. Ongoing pressures and savings identified in the December Quarterly Financial Report have been built into the budget for 2002/03. Variations since December which have implications for 2002/03, and for which there is not budget provision are:

£000

Fees to Independent Schools 257

Home to School Transport 122

379

4. Included in the estimated underspend of £1.434m are sums which are already committed in 2002/03. These are detailed earlier in the report and include:

£000

Standards Fund 500

Health and Safety 135

Capitation 115

Drayton Partnership 74

Music 30

854

5. In total, commitments and pressures for 2002/03 amount to £1.646m, with an underspend of only £1.434m, predicated in the current year. Therefore, at this point in time, there are unfunded pressures in 2002/03 of £0.212m. Management action will need to be taken in the new financial year to ensure this is brought into balance.

Government Funding (Annex 3) (download as .rtf file)

6. Details of specific grants received by the former Education Committee are included in Annex 3 and summarised below:

£000

Specific grants received in 2001/02 30,088

New grants notified in October 2001 report 5,934

New grants notified in December 2001 report 538

New grants notified since December 2001 76

36,636

Financial, Staff and Environmental Implications and Implications for People Living in Poverty

7. The report is solely concerned with finance. There are no environmental or staffing implications, or implications for people living in poverty arising directing from this report.

RECOMMENDATIONS

8. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to receive the report.