Report of the Director of Corporate Services s4

REPORT OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE, STRATEGIC DIRECTOR FOR ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNITIES AND THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

TO

REGENERATION SCRUTINY SELECT COMMITTEE

25th JULY 2013

TITLE: BUDGET MONITORING 2013/14 – REGENERATION

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Members are invited to consider and comment on the contents of the report.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The purpose of this report is to outline, for those budget areas falling within the remit of the Regeneration Scrutiny Select Committee:-

-  2012/13 Outturn

-  2013-14 budget position to the end of May 2013.

-  Update on progress made in achieving approved savings in 2013/14

The Regeneration Scrutiny Select Committee covers areas from both the Environment and Communities service group and the Office of the Chief Executive. The relevant areas of the revenue and capital budgets have been extracted from the wider service group and included within this report.

(a)  Revenue Outturn 2012-13

The provisional 2012/13 outturn of the regeneration service area is an overspend of £1.790m. The majority of this relates to unallocated savings from the former Sustainable Regeneration directorate.

(b)  Revenue Budget monitoring 2013-14

The directorate net budget for 2013/14 is £33.447m. To the end of May 2013 there is an overspend of £0.587m. The forecast for the year is an underspend of £0.065m relating to staffing costs.

(c)Approved Savings

Approved savings within Regeneration total £2.449m. The savings are identified and risk rated within the report.

(d)Capital

The overall approved capital programme for 2013/14 is £114.994m, of this £49.951m is held within the Office of the Chief Executive service group and £65.043m within the Environment and Communities Service Group. The individual schemes have been identified within the report. Expenditure to the end of May 2013 totals £9.675m.

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:

·  SAP general ledger and BI reports

·  Various documents held by the accountancy team

CONTACT OFFICERS:

Joanne Hardman – Principal Group Accountant tel 793 3156

ASSESSMENT OF RISK:

Low

Key risks to budgetary control are identified in this report.

SOURCE OF FUNDING: Sections in this report consider both the revenue budget and capital programme

LEGAL ADVICE OBTAINED: Not applicable to this report

FINANCIAL ADVICE OBTAINED: This report concerns key aspects of the Council’s revenue finances and has been produced by the Finance team for the directorate.

WARD(S) TO WHICH REPORT RELATE(S): None specifically in terms of the revenue budget. However, there are a number of large schemes within the capital programme linked to wards in Central Salford.

KEY COUNCIL POLICIES: 2012/13 and 2013/14 revenue budget and capital programme

REPORT DETAIL

1  Introduction

1.1  This report is set out in four main sections.

·  Section 2 sets out the provisional revenue outturn of the service area for 2012/13.

·  Section 3 sets out the current position of expenditure against the revenue budget and forecasts the year end position, highlighting any risks/sensitivities.

·  Section 4 provides an analysis of progress made towards agreed CSR savings targets.

·  Section 5 provides an update of the capital programme.

2  2012/13 Provisional Outturn

2.1  The provisional 2012/13 outturn for the Regeneration service area is an overspend of £1.790m. The table below analyses the variation across the service area.

Table A – 2012/13 Outturn

2.2  A significant amount of the adverse variation within the Environment and Communities service group relates to income targets that were not achieved. However, the largest element of the overspend relates to unallocated savings within the former Sustainable Regeneration directorate which were transferred across to the Environment and Communities service group. The Environment and Communities service group management team have worked with the Chief Financial Officer to try to manage the impact of these budget pressures in 2013/14 and future years.

2.3  The Office of the Chief Executive underspend mainly related to two issues within the MediaCityUk budget:-

o  Transport.

From September 2012, the Quayslink bus service was provided by a commercial operator and therefore required no further contribution from the City Council. This produced a part year saving in 2012/13 which will have a full year effect in 2013/14. Additionally, the Metrolink service exceeded expectations in terms of its revenue income which again reduced the demands on the MediaCityUK budget.

o  Property

Property related costs associated with the Landing were lower than anticipated particularly relating to facilities management and NNDR.

3  Revenue budget

3.1 The current position and year end forecast is set out in Table B below. Agreed savings (discussed in section 4) have been built into the budget figures. The overall budget for the Office of the Chief Executive service group covers:-

·  On-going budgets for teams

·  On-going project budgets

·  Short term projects which are typically wholly externally funded

·  Central recharges for Service Level Agreements and Capital charges.

3.2 The budget for the Environment and Communities service group covers the functions of Planning, Transport and Housing which transferred from the former Sustainable Regeneration directorate.

3.3 To the end of May, there is an adverse variation of £587k relating to services within the Environment and Communities service group as detailed below. As it is still early in the financial year, it is difficult to accurately forecast the year end budgetary position, however, a small underspend is forecast relating to staffing costs.

Table B: Revenue budget to May 2013

4  Savings

5 

4.1 The savings agreed during the budget process, and progress made in achieving them, are set out in table C below.

4.2 Table C Savings summary

Note: The Carbon Management saving is to be transferred to the Customer and Support Service group as part of the property function.

4.3 Whist a proportion of agreed savings targets for 2013/14 have been achieved to the end of May, it is anticipated that the full savings target will be achieved by year end. Where there is a significant risk that savings will not be achieved, an amber risk rating has been given to highlight the risk and close monitoring will be undertaken for the remainder of the year.

5. Capital

2012/13 Capital Outturn

5.1 This section of the report outlines the 2012/13 outturn capital programme for the Regeneration area. The capital programme was monitored and reported as part of the overall budget monitoring process across all service groups. Due to the nature of large, complex capital projects, reviews of spend assumptions are undertaken through the year and resources re-profiled as required.

5.2 Table D 2012/13 Capital Outturn

2013/14 Capital Programme

5.3 The capital programme, profile and spend to the end of May 2013. is included in table E below. Each scheme will continue to be closely monitored throughout the year to ensure any potential spend pressures are identified at the earliest opportunity.

Table E – Capital Programme 2013/14

Full details of the programme and funding sources are included in appendix 1.

1

Appendix 1