Contact: Ejner Knudsen, ext 7403

1 Summary

1.1 The following decisions are sought:

i) That the final accounts for 2001/02 for the Environment Service be approved.

ii) To agree a request to the Cabinet that £18,000, being this Service's 50% share of the revenue underspendings, be carried forward to 2002/03 and be allocated to the highways management and support services. This would help to meet the additional costs in 2002/03 of implementing the Highways Network Best Value Review Blueprint for the future.

iii) That the departmental assurance statement of the Chief Internal Auditor be accepted.

2 Reason(s)

2.1 Financial regulations require final revenue and capital accounts be prepared and reported to the Cabinet. The County Council's policy is that 50% of any revenue underspending should be added to the Service's budget in the following year and that the Cabinet decides what use should be made of the other 50%.

2.2 The Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting has introduced a new requirement from 2002/03 for the inclusion in the statement of account of an internal control statement. The Chief Internal Auditor has produced an assurance statement covering the County Surveyor's and County Planning departments which needs to be accepted by the Executive Member.

3 Other options considered and rejected:

3.1 Alternative ways of allocating the underspending of £18,000 being carried forward to 2002/03 could be considered. However, it is felt that as the final costs in 2002/03 of implementing the Highways Network Blueprint are still uncertain, it would be prudent to reserve the underspending for this purpose, at the present time.

4 Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or a member or officer consulted - not applicable

5 Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - not applicable

6 Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent - not applicable

Approved by: (signature) Date: (date of decision)

Councillor K B Estlin