PAPER B

SUMMARY / PURPOSE

This first part of the report sets out the revenue budget and spending position for the services within this Committee’s remit, as at the end of June 2003. The figures do not include budgets that are controlled elsewhere than the service concerned. These are monitored by the Committee which bears responsibility for such costs. (For example, Resources Select Committee monitors the building maintenance budget centrally, and building maintenance costs are not therefore shown against individual services in the attached statement.)

The second part of the report outlines the Committee’s Outturn as at the 31^st March 2003. Once again, this is for controllable expenditure only and excludes those costs which fall within the scope of another committee.

MONITORING STATEMENTS

Both reports detail Gross & Net Expenditure + Income and are in two parts. Education Services are listed on pages one to four and Community Development Services on page five. Net Expenditure has been classified over SEVEN categories all of which have different spending characteristics. A brief description of each is as follows :

Categories One, and Two ONLY apply to Community Development Services details of which can be found on page five.

PART ONE - SPENDING REVIEW AS AT 30^th JUNE 2003

EDUCATION SERVICES

For Education Services, Net Expenditure is largely in line with that forecast with the exception of those services detailed in Category Five where staff vacancies have resulted in small fortuitous savings which will be offset by the costs of temporary staffing arrangements or service reinvestment which are not yet reflected in the above figures.

For Category Six – SLA agreements with Schools. In some instances income from schools has not yet been received. In such instances, schools are charged in arrear at Term end in accordance with agreed payment schedules with schools.

COMMUNITY & DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

For that part of Community Development services which are the responsibility of this Committee, Net Expenditure largely conforms with anticipated spending levels for the majority of services. However, it should be noted that significant ‘One Off’ costs have already been incurred as is the case for a number of Grants or Council support for the Arts.

The number of services included within Category Two – where either Expenditure or Income is received at irregular intervals is to some extent determined by those accounting considerations which occur during the first quarter of the financial year and in particular that referred to as the ‘Accruals process’. At it’s most simplest, provision is made in the final accounts of the OLD financial year for expenditure or income which has not been paid or received by the 31^st March. At the same time an equal and opposite provision is made in the NEW Year accounts. For instance, as at the 31^st March 2003, some £422,000 grant in respect of the Peoples Network was still outstanding. The impact of this In the current year, is the appearance of a shortfall in income of £403,116 for the Library service. This will be self-regulating when the grant is received.

PART TWO – OUTTURN INCOME AND EXPENDITURE AS AT THE 31^ST MARCH 2003

EDUCATION SERVICES

For Education Services, Net Expenditure is largely contained within the budget available for 2002-2003. If anything, there is a tendency towards underspending rather than overspending with small overall variances throughout the services within the remit of the Committee. The one notable exception is the Inspection Service where the net outturn for the year was some 6% below the budget available. This was largely as a result of income generation and an extended period of staff vacancies where recruitment proved difficult.

It should also be noted that for SEN services, general spending patterns show a greater divergence from budget than for any other group of services. This is likely to occur for a second year – 2003/2004 as the Authority responds to no only the wishes of parents and schools but also the new rigours thrown up by the SEN Code of Practice. However, it should be noted that for the financial year ended 31^st March 2003, NET SPENDING on ALL SEN related services was within the budget available. Expectations for 2003-2004 would also suggest budget adherence.

COMMUNITY AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

The TOTAL budget for Community and Development Services includes provision for Parks and Gardens and Beaches. However, spending on these two categories have been excluded from this report as they are not within the remit of the Select Committee.

Whilst TOTAL spending was within the budget available, it should be noted that this occurred largely as a result of savings on Parks and Gardens/Beaches budgets largely offsetting the additional cost of those services for which the Committee is responsible.

Contact point :            Andrew King ☎ 823658