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ITEM CA5
CABINET
– 18 JULY 2006
FINANCIAL
MONITORING
Report by
Head of Finance & Procurement
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
- This report covers
the period up to the end of May 2006 for revenue and capital. The consolidated
revenue forecast for the year-end shows a balance of £14.971m (para
77). This is made up of £15.690m general balances and a forecast directorate
overspend of £0.719m (net of City Schools).
Revenue
Children,
Young People & Families
- The current forecast
outturn position for Children, Young People & Families is a year-end
overspend of £0.551m (para 22).
- Of this, the Early
Years and Family Support service predicts a £0.451m overspend, of which
£0.641m overspend relates to the budget for Agency placements (para
27). The Asylum Seekers budget is currently predicting a £0.071m overspend
although there is a great amount of uncertainty in this area (para 30).
Within the same service area an overspend of £0.061m is forecast for
Assessment and Family Support. An underspend of £0.421m is being retained
centrally within the service area pending the completion of a review
of the service (para 32).
- The current commitments
for Premature Retirement Compensation are less than the allocated budget
(para 35). However, a further 22 cases are to be considered by the Pension
Benefits Sub-Committee in July. This could lead to an overspend of up
to £0.150m.
Social
& Community Services
- The forecast outturn
for Social & Community Services is an overspend of £0.266m excluding
Supporting People.
- The Social Care
for Adults service is predicting a £0.954m overspend. Within this, the
budget for older people currently forecasts an overspend of £0.619m
(para 39). The overspend is expected to be partially offset by an underspend
of £0.177m in external home support. A £0.200m pressure relating to
achieving Fairer Charging Income has been identified. The care management
team currently forecasts an overspend of £0.140m and the Physical Disabilities
budget is predicted to overspend by £0.273m.
- The Partnership
& Planning forecast outturn is a £0.428m overspend (para 42), of
which the County Council’s contribution to the Learning Disabilities
Pool is showing a forecast overspend of £0.328m.
- Within the Directorate
Management Team, there is a predicted underspend of £1.163m (para 44).
This primarily relates to the contingency, which has a budget of £1.313m
and no spend allocated to it yet. However, a total of £1.306m has been
ringfenced to meet currently identified pressures.
- The forecast outturn
for Supporting People is a £0.358m underspend (para 46).
Environment
& Economy
- There is no variation
forecast for Environment & Economy.
- Waste Management
is the highest risk area and the service is progressing steadily in
the procurement process for a waste treatment contract. The break-even
position takes into account a proposed transfer of both the £0.253m
carry forward from 2005/06 and £0.231m from in-year underspends into
the Waste Management earmarked reserve (para 51).
Resources
& Chief Executive’s Office
- The forecast directorate
overspend is £0.310m, which primarily relates to an overspend of around
£0.300m on the SAP Revitalisation Project (para 62). This is a cash
flow issue as it will be managed by a corresponding underspend next
year.
- At the end of
2005/06, the Modernisation Fund underspend was transferred to an earmarked
reserve. It is proposed to transfer the budget allocation for 2006/07
of £0.489m into the reserve and then draw down the reserve to fund successful
bids (para 65). The successful bids to date this year amount to £0.376m.
Council
Balances
- The forecast year-end
position for general balances has increased by a net £0.558m from the
previously reported position to £15.690m (para 73).
Capital
- An updated Capital
Programme (download as .pdf file)
is circulated with this report. This programme rolls forward the 2005/06
actuals and updates the capital programme for the period 2006/07 to
2008/09. Individual schemes have been re-phased accordingly.
- The capital programme
shows an overall surplus of £0.918m that can be used to fund new schemes
up to 2008/09.
- The capital cash
flow shows a surplus of £11.0m in 2006/07 and a £15.4m shortfall in
2007/08. There are contingency plans in place to ensure that there will
be sufficient cash to deliver the programme.
INTRODUCTION
- This report covers
the period up to the end of May 2006 for revenue and capital. The detail
for each Directorate is summarised within the report and individual
reports for each Directorate are in the Members’ Resource Centre.
Annexes
- The following
annexes are attached: (download as
.xls file)
Revenue
Annex
1 Estimated Year End Position Directorate Summary
Annex
1a-1e " " " by Directorate
Annex
2a Summary of Virements
Annex
2b Summary of Supplementary Estimates
Annex
3 Latest Grants Position
Annex
4 Earmarked Reserves
Annex
5 Forecast Revenue Balances at Year End
Capital
- Updated
Capital Programme (download as .pdf file)
PART 1
- REVENUE
- Annex 1 shows
the forecast revenue outturn position at the end of May. The overall
projected in-year variance for the Council is set out in the table below
(positive variances represent overspends and negative variances represent
underspends) :
|
Year
End Variation
|
|
£m
|
Children,
Young People & Families
|
3.084
|
Less
City Schools Reorganisation
|
2.533
|
|
0.551
|
Social
& Community Services (excl. Supporting People)
|
0.266
|
Supporting
People
|
-0.358
|
Environment
& Economy
|
0.000
|
Community
Safety
|
-0.050
|
Resources
& Chief Executive’s Office
|
0.310
|
|
|
Total
Variation
|
0.719
|
- The main issues
on the revenue budget for each directorate are set out below.
Children,
Young People & Families (£0.551m in-year overspend)
- The current forecast
outturn position shows a projected overspend of £3.084m. Of this £0.551m
relates to the current financial year and £2.533m relates to the planned
overspend on the City Schools Reorganisation, which is being repaid
over a number of years.
|
Year
End Variation
|
|
£m
|
Children
& Young People
|
0.071
|
Early
Years & Family Support
|
0.451
|
Educational
Effectiveness
|
0.000
|
Strategy
& Performance
|
0.029
|
Total
in year variation
|
0.551
|
City
Schools Reorganisation
|
2.533
|
Total
Variation
|
3.084
|
Dedicated
Schools Grant (DSG)
- From April 2006
Schools Block services are funded by the Dedicated Schools Grant. This
will impact on the treatment of under or overspends for central items
within the Schools Block budget. Any unspent grant must be carried forward
to support the Schools Block budget in future years; it cannot be used
to offset overspends on non-Schools Block services. The Council has
three options for dealing with any overspends on central Schools Block
items:
- Fund the overspend
from County Fund.
- Fund part of
the overspend and carry forward the remaining element.
- Carry forward
the overspend to the next financial year and fund from DSG.
Members
need to be aware that the level of general balances within the Medium
Term Financial Plan (MTFP) assumes any overspend would be met from
DSG. The Cabinet will need to take a view on which option they wish
to pursue. The overall position of the Schools Block budget will be
kept under review during the year.
Children
& Young People (£0.071m overspend)
- No variation is
forecast for Home to School Transport at present. However, given the
large increase in spend on this budget over the last 2 years, there
is a risk that the strenuous actions being taken following new management
arrangements may not achieve a balanced budget by year-end.
- Statementing and
Out of County budgets are central expenditure items within the Schools
Block. No variation is forecast for these budget heads at present. However,
given the volatile and demand led nature of these budgets it is too
early to be confident about year-end projections.
- The Service for
disabled children is currently forecasting an overspend of £0.071m,
the main cause of this pressure being the cost of the Resource Centres
for children with disabilities. The budget for agency residential placements
is currently forecast to break-even. However, given the cost of such
placements this remains an area where there is significant risk.
Early
Years & Family Support (£0.451m overspend)
- The budget for
Agency placements is forecast to overspend by £0.641m. This is split
between £0.060m on residential placements and £0.581m on placements
with independent fostering agencies. A service review is currently being
undertaken (para 32).
- No variation is
currently predicted for Children’s Homes, although this remains a significant
risk area as budgets have frequently been overspent in recent years.
- Based on current
commitments, there is currently no variation forecast for Leaving Care.
However, it is likely that this budget will come under pressure later
in the year due to the numbers of young people likely to leave care
during the year and the level of support they are likely to require.
- The Asylum Seekers
budget is currently predicting a £0.071m overspend. However, there is
a great amount of uncertainty in this area as follows:
- Over the past
year there has been a significant reduction in the numbers of asylum
seekers supported following the transfer of responsibility for new
families and adults to the National Asylum Seekers Service (NASS).
The County Council service now supports only unaccompanied asylum
seeking children (UASCs). A reduction in grant funding has
led to a situation where the current structure is no longer financially
viable and a review is being undertaken to address this problem.
- The Home Office
grant has not been subject to full audit since 2001/02 due to problems
with data matching systems. Any disputes over eligibility for support
may impact on the amount of grant receivable.
- The final allocation
of Safeguarding Children grant is not due to be announced until September
2007.
- An overspend of
£0.061m is forecast for Assessment and Family Support. This is mainly
in respect of the cost of residence orders.
- An underspend
of £0.421m is currently being retained centrally within the service
area. This is the balance of funding allocated during the 2006/07 budget
process yet to be allocated. It is anticipated on completion of the
current service review and its budgets, this will be allocated either
to offset the overspends above or to preventative measures designed
to reduce the pressures in those budgets.
Educational
Effectiveness (no variation forecast)
- It is not anticipated
that Educational Effectiveness will overspend its budget in 2006/07.
Given the restructuring of the service there is a considerable amount
of work that is currently being undertaken to align budgets with the
new management structure. County Facilities Management (CFM) are forecasting
to achieve a break-even position for the financial year.
Strategy
& Performance (£0.029m overspend)
- The actual cost
of trade union representatives funded by the directorate exceeds the
current budget by £0.029m.
- The current commitments
for Premature Retirement Compensation are less than the allocated budget.
However, a further 22 cases are to be considered by the Pension Benefits
Sub-Committee in July; these are estimated to cost up to £0.225m. This
could lead to an overspend of up to £0.150m (depending on contributions
received from schools).
Delegated
Schools’ Budgets
- The statutory
deadline for schools to submit their approved budgets was 3 May 2006;
by this date 133 (45%) budget submissions from schools had been received
out of 293 schools. At the time of writing this report this had increased
to 289 (98.6%). A full analysis of school budget submissions will be
provided in the next financial monitoring report.
Social
& Community Services (£0.266m overspend excluding Supporting People)
|
Year
End Variation
|
|
£m
|
Cultural
Services & Adult Learning
|
0.000
|
Social
Care for Adults
|
0.954
|
Partnerships
& Planning (excl. Supporting People)
|
0.428
|
Business
Support & Performance Management
|
0.047
|
Directorate
Management Team (incl. contingency)
|
-1.163
|
Social
& Community Services Subtotal
|
0.266
|
Supporting
People
|
-0.358
|
Total
|
-0.092
|
|
|
Memorandum
Accounts
|
|
Older
People, Physical Disabilities & Eqpt Pooled Budget
|
0.317
|
Learning
Disabilities Pooled Budget
|
0.000
|
Cultural
Services & Adult Learning (no variation forecast)
- At this early
stage in the financial year no overall variance is forecast for Cultural
Services, but this may change as trend data become clearer.
- The significant
financial challenges facing Adult Learning were considered in detail
at Cabinet on 21 June. The proposals for 2006/07 result in a deficit
of £0.174m being incurred during this financial year. Cabinet agreed
to a temporary supplementary estimate of £0.174m, hence this service
is now forecasting a breakeven position. The recovery plan consists
of a containment of costs in the short term, and a radical service re-design
over the next three years. There are inevitably risks associated with
delivering a "turn-around" project of this scale and this will require
close monitoring.
Social
Care for Adults (£0.954m overspend)
- The budget for
Older People is currently forecasting an overspend of £0.619m. Of this
the most significant variance arises in internal home support service
which is forecasting a year-end overspend of £0.478m, £0.350m relates
to the recruitment of care workers to support transfers from acute hospital
beds, and £0.128m relates to the recruitment of mainstream care workers
for the transitional period of new external contracts. The overspend
is expected to be partially offset by an underspend of £0.177m in external
home support. A £0.200m pressure relating to achieving Fairer Charging
income has been identified and an action plan has been formulated to
address this. The care management team budget currently forecasts an
overspend of £0.140m. This is within the context of a £0.290m vacancy
factor in this area, representing the funding shortfall if all posts
were filled.
- The Physical Disabilities
budget is predicted to overspend by £0.273m, £0.260m of which is due
to a projected shortfall in Fairer Charging income (see para 39, included
in action plan).
- No significant
variances are forecast for the Integrated Mental Health Service (£0.028m
overspend) and Learning Disabilities (£0.024m overspend).Partnerships
& Planning (£0.428m overspend)
- The County Council
contribution to the Learning Disabilities Pool falls within this area
and is showing a forecast overspend of £0.328m, due to underachievement
of Fairer Charging and other client income (see para 39 action plan
formulated to address this). Other variances relating to legal charges
(£0.060m overspend) and internal and external day services (£0.040m)
are forecast for year-end.
Business
Support & Performance Management (£0.047m overspend)
- An overspend of
£0.047m is forecast relating to pressures within Facilities Management
and Finance.
Directorate
Management Team, including Contingency (£1.163m underspend)
- This large underspend
primarily relates to the contingency, which has a budget of £1.313m
and no spend allocated to it. This was created within
the 2006/7 budget to provide a buffer in the event of efficiency savings
(totalling more than £9m) proving hard to deliver. The directorate’s
senior management team has agreed a process for prioritising bids against
this budget. Any proposed virements will be referred to members for
formal approval. Although pressures have been identified, and amounts
in the contingency ringfenced, it is considered too early in the financial
year to request a virement.
|
Year
End Variation
£m
|
Contingency
budget
|
1.313
|
|
|
Ringfenced
to meet current pressures:
|
|
Fairer
Charging income
|
0.788
|
Transitional
cost of new home care contracts
|
0.128
|
Underachievement
of vacancy targets
|
0.390
|
Total
ringfenced pressures
|
1.306
|
|
|
Balance
of contingency
|
0.007
|
- The Directorate
Management Team is currently reporting an overspend of £0.077m, due
to additional costs associated with an interim head of service &
recruitment costs for the permanent position. In addition there are
other forecast overspends totalling £0.066m.
Supporting
People (£0.358m underspend)
- The Joint Commissioning
Body recently agreed an in-year planned underspend of £0.385m in order
to fund inflationary increases to providers in 2007/08. Current forecast
shows £0.027m variance against plan, although this includes an assumption
of achieving one-off savings of £0.448m to meet in year pressures and
on-going savings of £0.225m to meet shortfalls in grant to meet current
obligations.
Pooled
Budgets Memorandum Accounts
- The pooled budget
for Older People, Physical Disabilities & Equipment is currently
forecasting an overspend of £0.317m, due partly to the Radcliffe Infirmary
closures to date plus other aspects of speedier discharge. This overspend
is hoped to be pulled back by taking action now and through additional
funding from the Primary Care Trusts.
- The main pressure
on the pooled budget for Learning Disabilities relates to £1.2m of efficiency
savings to be found. A management plan is in place to monitor these
savings and a breakeven position is forecast.
Environment
& Economy (no variation forecast)
- The current forecast
position shows a projected breakeven for all service areas.
Transport
(no variation forecast)
- The risks to achieving
the current breakeven prediction sit within Highways Management where
there may be difficulties in the full achievement of targeted cashable
efficiencies. The successful 12 month extension to the current energy
contract, will make the cost pressures manageable within this year’s
Transport budget. There is still a high risk in future years that costs
will increase beyond the provision within the current medium term financial
plan.Sustainable Development (no variation forecast)
- Waste management
is the highest risk area. The service area is not only dealing with
operational issues, but also working in partnerships with districts
(through the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership) and progressing steadily
in the procurement process for a waste treatment contract. The break-even
position takes into account a proposed transfer of both the £0.253m
carry forward from 2005/06 and £0.231m from in-year underspends into
the Waste Management earmarked reserve. This earmarked reserve will
help to support financially one off and other agreed initiatives to
minimise the impact of Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme fines.Business
Support (no variation forecast)
- It is proposed
to transfer £0.140m of the Business Support carry forward into a reserve
to fund projects to improve the way we work.
Community Safety
(£0.050m underspend)
- The Fire &
Rescue Service forecast underspend of £0.050m on the administration
budget relates to a 2004/05 Policy & Budget Plan for the appointment
of a Radio Replacement Project Manager. This appointment was deferred
until 2005/06 and consequently the £0.050m will be carried forward until
2008/09 in order to fund this 4 year commitment.
- Under the new
financial arrangements for firefighter pensions, authorities are required
in 2006/07 to make a payment into the firefighter fund of 1 x pensionable
pay for ill-health retirements made in 2005/06. In 2005/06 there were
two such retirements and as a consequence, the 2006/07 budget will be
over-spent by £0.024m. This overspend will be a call on balances.
- Council approved
a one-off budget provision of £0.252m for Community Safety in 2006/07
to help offset the brought forward overspend of £0.308m. This, together
with contributions of £0.026m from other underspent areas of the directorate,
will mean a net overspend of £0.030m to be recovered in the financial
year. An action plan is in place to address the position.
Resources and Chief Executive’s
Office (£0.310m overspend)
- Resources and
the Chief Executive’s Office are forecasting a combined overspend of
£0.310m for the areas set out below:
|
Year
End Variation
|
|
£m
|
Financial
Services & Procurement
|
0.000
|
Human Resources
|
0.000
|
Legal Services
|
0.000
|
Information
Communications & Technology
|
0.000
|
Business
Support
|
0.000
|
Property
Services
|
0.030
|
Coroner’s
Service
|
0.000
|
Shared Services
|
0.300
|
Chief Executive’s
Office
|
-0.020
|
Total
Variation
|
0.310
|
Human
Resources (no variation forecast)
- Efficiency savings
not fully achieved last year together with this year’s savings will
be met by the management of vacancies. This may put pressure on the
achievement of some of the service objectives.
Information
Communications & Technology (no variation forecast)
- Excluding ringfenced
underspends, there is an overspend carried forward of £0.165m to be
managed this year. The current forecast shows that achieving this year’s
financial target will be tight but can be achieved with careful management
of variances and restricting the use of contract staff.
- One off funding
of £0.337m from Local Authority Business Growth Incentive income and
£0.375m from the release of part of the Pension Reserve funding has
been approved by the Cabinet. This will be used to fund corporate projects
with priority being given initially to development work on the universal
payments system, document forms and data management.
- Approval has been
given by the Cabinet for £0.221m from the capital programme to fund
part of the cost of constructing a data centre at Clarendon House, the
balance of £0.300m being met by the revenue budget.Property Services
(£0.030m overspend)
- The Castle Project
brought forward an overspend of £0.136m to be met from this year’s budget
and external funding. Allowing for residual legal and other costs, an
unfunded balance of £0.030m is forecast. There is also a risk that the
Oxford Preservation Trust will be unable to meet insurance costs of
£0.030m, which would then become a cost to the Council. It is proposed
that any overspend on the completion of the project, be met by using
part of the £0.150m included in the capital programme for the Castle
Education Centre, which is no longer required.
Shared
Services (£0.300m overspend)
- The budget for
the SAP Revitalisation Project is now included as part of the Shared
Services Project. A review of all the commitments against budget indicates
that there may be an overspend of around £0.300m in the current year.
This is a cash flow issue and will be managed by a corresponding underspend
next year.
SAP Revitalisation
Project Stream
|
£m
|
Programme
Management
|
0.417
|
Finance
|
0.220
|
Integration
of third party systems
|
0.500
|
Procurement
|
0.920
|
SAP Competency
Centre
|
0.200
|
HR
|
0.040
|
Total
|
2.297
|
Budget
|
1.997
|
Forecast
overspend
|
0.300
|
- Excluding the
SAP Revitalisation Stream, spend on the Shared Services Project this
year looks to be significantly less than forecast and this planned spend
will move into next year. A detailed updated will be provided in the
next Financial Monitoring Report.
Chief
Executive’s Office (£0.020m underspend)
- There is a planned
underspend this year in the Scrutiny budget of £0.020m to cover the
pay costs of 1.5 FTE research and support assistants for the remainder
of their contracts in 2007/08.
Modernisation
Fund
- At the end of
2005/06, the underspend on the Modernisation Fund was transferred into
an earmarked reserve in line with the original purpose in setting up
the "Fund". It is similarly proposed to transfer the budget allocation
for 2006/07 into the reserve and then to draw down the reserve to fund
successful bids. The position to date is set out below:
Modernisation
Fund Reserve
|
£m
|
As
at 1 April 2006
|
0.740
|
Proposed
transfer to reserve
|
0.489
|
Successful
bids to date:
|
|
Business
Process re-engineering
|
-0.110
|
Foster
Care Placements
|
-0.080
|
Change
Management
|
-0.040
|
Preventative
& Day Care Services
|
-0.122
|
Countywide
Facilities Management
|
-0.024
|
Total
of successful bids
|
-0.376
|
|
|
Uncommitted
balance
|
0.853
|
Strategic
Measures
- It is anticipated
at this stage of the financial year that there will be a surplus of
£0.650m arising on strategic measures in 2006/07.
- There are two
main reasons for this. Firstly, when the budget was constructed it was
anticipated that base rates would fall during 2006/07 from 4.5% to 4.0%.
The current view is that the next movement in base rate will be upwards,
although not for some time. A base rate of 4.5% has been used for this
update. Secondly, balances at the start of the financial year have been
higher than estimated, principally due to slippage on the Capital Programme
during 2005/06.
- There are potential
risks to the delivery of this surplus. The main risk is in relation
to the level of the Baxter Index, which is used to calculate interest
due on some developer contributions. The current Baxter Index used for
this update is 4.9%. As a comparison the Baxter index used in recent
years has been 10.0% in 2002/03, 3.7% in 2003/04, 3.6% in 2004/05 and
6.2% in 2005/06.
- It has also been
assumed that returns from our external cash managers will average 4.5%
for the year. We are looking for their returns to exceed 4.5% over a
three-year period. There will be fluctuations in returns, both up and
down, during this period and these will be carefully monitored and reported
to Cabinet from time to time.
Government
Grants
- Details of specific
grants are shown in Annex 3 and summarised below:
|
£m
|
Specific
grants received in 2006/07 (as per published Medium Term Service
& Financial Plan)
|
399.113
|
New grants/changes
previously reported
|
0.000
|
New grant
changes this month
|
-0.138
|
Total grants
for 2006/07
|
398.975
|
- The changes this
month represent changes in the Sure Start General and Local Programme
grants (net reduction of £0.166m), a reduction of £0.025m in the Mental
Health Grant (final notification) and a new "New Burdens" grant of £0.053m
in Community Safety.
Earmarked
Reserves
- Details of Earmarked
Reserves are shown in Annex 4 and summarised below:
|
2006/07
|
|
Balance
at
1 April 2006
|
Forecast
Movement
|
Forecast
Balance at
31 March 2007
|
|
Contributions
from Reserve
|
Contributions
to Reserve
|
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
£m
|
Children
Young People & Families
|
17.063
|
0
|
0
|
17.063
|
Social &
Community Services
|
1.550
|
-1.406
|
0.180
|
0.324
|
Environment
& Economy
|
4.397
|
-0.070
|
1.289
|
5.616
|
Community
Safety
|
0.923
|
-1.374
|
0.782
|
0.331
|
Resources
& Chief Executive’s Office
|
1.448
|
-0.819
|
0.511
|
1.140
|
Corporate*
|
14.530
|
-8.250
|
0.037
|
6.317
|
Directorate
Total
|
39.911
|
-11.919
|
2.799
|
30.791
|
* Note:
the Corporate figures do not include any drawdown on the Shared Services
Reserve pending confirmation of detailed spending forecasts.
General
Revenue Balances
- The forecast position
for general balances has increased by £0.558m as shown below. This is
as a result of adjustment to balances following preparation of final
accounts of £0.443m (mostly early receipt of Local Authority Business
Growth Incentive funding), additional interest on cash balances £0.650m,
offset by calls on balances of £0.337m funding to ICT, a temporary supplementary
estimate to Adult Learning of £0.174m and fire-fighters ill health retirements
of £0.024m.
|
£m
|
Forecast
position per last report (net of City Schools)
|
15.132
|
Adjustment
to balances following preparation of final accounts
|
0.443
|
Additional
interest on cash balances
|
0.650
|
Allocation
of Local Authority Business Growth Incentive funding to ICT
|
-0.337
|
Temporary
supplementary estimate to Adult Learning
|
-0.174
|
Fire-fighters
ill health retirements
|
-0.024
|
Net forecast
position (net of City Schools)
|
15.690
|
Efficiency
Savings
- At this stage
no variations to achieving the targets have been reported. However,
a number of risk areas have been identified, particularly within Social
& Community Services, and these will be closely monitored.
Best Value
Performance Indicator (BVPI) 8
- BVPI8 measures
the percentage of undisputed invoices paid within 30 days of receipt.
The Council’s target for 2006/07 is for 95% of invoices to be paid within
30 days of receipt and the performance for the year to the end of May
is as follows:
|
%
|
Children,
Young People & Families
|
95.0
|
Social &
Community Services
|
88.9
|
Environment
& Economy
|
98.3
|
Community
Safety
|
94.8
|
Resources
|
89.7
|
Chief Executive’s
Office
|
96.7
|
Mouchel Parkman
|
79.1
|
|
91.5
|
- April was a very
encouraging month but performance has slipped in May. Performance by
Mouchel Parkman, in particular, has deteriorated. The reason for this
has been identified and can be overcome. In view of the persistent failure
to achieve the performance target between the Council and Mouchel Parkman,
the provisions in the contract for fee penalties are being applied.
Conclusion
- At this early
stage in the year Directorates have identified a number of potential
budget pressures leading to a total forecast overspend of £0.719m (net
of the City Schools overspend). The forecast for general balances stands
at £15.690m, giving a consolidated balances position of £14.971m. The
position will be closely monitored as in the past a number of underspends
have emerged during the year; however a number of risk areas were identified
in the budget process and these will also need to be kept under review.
PART 2
– CAPITAL
- An updated Capital
Programme is circulated with this report. This programme rolls forward
the 2005/06 actuals and updates the capital programme for the period
2006/07 to 2008/09. Individual schemes have been re-phased accordingly.
- The capital programme
shows an overall surplus of £0.918m that can be used in line with the
Council’s decision on 20 June 2006 "as a contingency for any future
urgent projects which arise up to 2008/09".
- The capital cash
flow shows a surplus of £11.0m in 2006/07 and a £15.4m shortfall in
2007/08. This indicates an overall shortfall in 2007/08 of £4.4m. It
is anticipated that this will be resolved by slippage on schemes at
the end of that year judging by past experience. The cash flow is also
impacted on by the assumed repayment in 2008/09 of £4.224m on the capital
costs of setting up Shared Services. The actual profile of the repayment
will not be exactly as shown in the capital financing summary. There
are contingency plans in place to ensure that there will be sufficient
cash to deliver the programme.
- The programme
will be closely monitored taking into account all of these factors.
- The capital programme
includes schemes approved by the Council on 20 June 2006. The additions
to the capital programme are as follows:
- Time to Change
– Implementation of phase II of the project
- Maltfield House
– Refurbishment of children’s home
- Bicester Library
– Provide new / enlarged library
- Highways Depot
– Relocate fuel storage at Deddington
- Highways Depot
– To improve drainage & containment at Deddington
- Highways Depot
– To improve drainage at Drayton
- The detailed costs
for Watlington Library are not yet known. The capital programme will
include this scheme once details are known.
- The Yarnton House
scheme is no longer required as the accommodation needs will be dealt
with as part of the Review of Property Assets and has been removed from
the capital programme as approved by the Council on 20 June 2006.
- The Cabinet on
21 June approved the provision of £0.221m from the Capital Programme
contingency referred to above to fund part of the costs of a central
data centre for the Council. The data centre scheme is included in the
updated capital programme.
- The capital programme
includes an updated position on the HOPs programme. This shows a surplus
of £0.552m, which will be a contribution to revenue in 2007/08. This
is less than the assumption in the MTFP which assumes £1.6m. However,
this had been identified during the budget process as a potential call
against the sum available to allocate in that year.
- There is no monthly
monitoring report attached for this month because the capital programme
shows the up to date position. This capital programme will form the
basis of the next monthly monitoring report due in September 2006.
- Significant changes
since the last capital programme are as follows:
- The capital
schemes moved as a result of the realignment of directorates are now
shown in either Social & Community Services or Children, Young
People & Families directorate as appropriate
- The Cabinet
approved the Local Transport Plan 2006 – 2011 (LTP2) at its meeting
on 21 February 2006. This capital programme introduces the LTP2 programme
and results in format changes where schemes are grouped to reflect
the LPT2
- During the course
of the capital closedown a temporary reserve was established to fund
the set up costs of £4.224m for the shared services centre. The capital
programme assumes that the £4.224m will be repaid in 2008/09.
- The Oxford Schools
Reorganisation repayment to the DfES is shown in the capital programme
as £8.812m; we are still awaiting further progress with the DfES and
will report the updated position when known RECOMMENDATIONS
- The Cabinet
is RECOMMENDED to:
- note
the report;
- take
a view on the option to be pursued in respect of any overspend
on the Dedicated Schools Grant;
- approve
the proposed transfer of £0.484m to the Waste Management earmarked
reserve;
- approve
the proposed transfer of £0.489m to the Modernisation Fund reserve;
- approve
the updated Capital Programme.
SUE SCANE
Head of Finance
& Procurement
Background Papers: Directorate
reports deposited in the Members’ Resource Centre
Contact Officers:
Stephanie Skivington, Strategic Financial Manager (Part 1) Tel: (01865)
815426
Mike Petty, Strategic Financial Manager (Part 2) Tel: (01865) 815622
July 2006
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