Archived decisions

Contact: Sheila Little, Education Finance Unit (01962 847545) ([email protected])

1. Summary

1.1 This report up-dates on the projected end of year spend for 2004/05 as compared to the revised budget for the Education service. Following continued implementation of the strategy of budget holders monitoring expenditure closely and alerting senior managers to any potential increases or savings opportunities, the expectation is that, after applying all contingencies, the service will come in with a balanced revised budget at £675.1m.

1.2 Race and equality impact assessment has been considered in the development of this report and no adverse impact has been identified.

2. Forecast Outturn 2004/05 up-date

2.1 At revised budget stage in January 2005 an overspend of £70,000 was noted, although management action was planned to contain the spending within budget. Overall monitoring now indicates a balanced budget is projected, and the main variations in individual areas since January 2005 are discussed in the following paragraphs with a summary provided in para 4.1.

Home to School Transport (cash limit £19.5m) -£40,000

2.2 Monitoring reports indicate that due to favourable contract price negotiations a small saving against the revised budget can be projected.

Inclusion (SEN)

2.3 Budget pressures on these services (i.e. Statements, Out-County Placements and EOTAS) continue. Against a base budget of £18.55m, current forecasts indicate that:

· Statements / Out-County Placements (Cash limit £13.1m) nil

As indicated in the earlier report, although a balanced budget is still forecasted on this very volatile budge, this has only been achieved through use of significant Standards Funds monies.

· Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS) +£40,000

(cash limit £5.97m)

The additional pressure on this volatile budget reflects in the main an increase in home tuition requirements.

New Early Years Places (cash limit £18.18m) +£64,000

2.4 Although a few final payments remain to be made, so far the take up of three year old places during the Spring term has been 150 children higher than projected in January. This reduces the total under spend for the year to approximately £496,000 as compared to £560,000 in January 2005.

Interest on School Balances nil (Non Delegated schools - miscellaneous)

2.5 No further interest rate rises have occurred or are anticipated and therefore there is no change to the projected increase in income from this source.

Services to Schools and Support - ICT costs nil

2.6 It was reported on 18 January 2005, against a cash limit of £1.25m, that the outturn forecast indicated a significant projected overspend (£564,000) for a variety of reasons. The position remains unchanged and management action continues to minimise the final outturn overspend against this budget.

Services to Schools and Support - staffing costs -£50,000

2.7 Management action has resulted in a general under spend on staffing budgets across a number of areas.

Vosper Thorneycroft Southern Careers (VTSC) nil (included in Continuing Education Budget)

2.8 The impact of the loss of the annual dividend has already been reflected in the budget pressures for 2004/05. However, discussions continue to finalise the payments of IT costs relating to the service.

Other Minor Variations -£110,000

2.9 A number of smaller variations explain the remainder of the movement as summarised below:

· a reduction in the number of claims for pupil support through uniform allowances (-£30,000)

· a reduction in the net cost of recoupment (-£60,000) due to fewer pupils being educated out of Hampshire

· an under spend in the premature retirements budget (-£50,000)

· an overspend on the LM contingency (£20,000).

3 Business Units

3.1 The latest indications are that in total the education business units balance will not reduce as significantly as originally thought and the cumulative surplus at 31 March 2005 is projected to be £853,000 as compared to £482,000 reported in January 2005 (on gross expenditure of £24.9m). Of the balance about £362,000 relates to Stubbington and Minstead Study Centres to self fund their building programme agreed as part of the longer term business plan. The increase in balances relates mainly to a reduced deficit in the EdICT business unit resulting from increased income (£182,000) and delays in the Primary Schools SIMS/SQL conversion project (£123,000). The SIMS project expenditure will be incurred in the new financial year.

3.2 In accordance with the Scheme for Financial Management for Schools, the service level agreement that each business unit has with schools is due for renewal with effect from April 2005 (for three years). So far the percentage level of buy-back has been high and business units are currently calculating the level of income this will generate. Further information will be reported to the next meeting, when all schools will have indicated their buy-back preferences.

4 Summary

4.1 In summary, the current forecast for 2004/05 is that the budget will show a marginal net under spend of £6,000 as illustrated in the table below:

Budget Description	Variation from cash limit	Changes from Jan to March	Projected outturn
	January 2005		March 2005
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Home to School Transport	0	-40	-40
School Specific Contingencies	120	20	140
Education Otherwise Than at School	141	40	181
New Early Years Places	-560	64	-496
Interest on school balances	-87	0	-87
Support services - ICT	564	0	564
Support services - staffing	0	-50	-50
Vosper Thorneycroft Southern Careers	331	0	331
Other minor variations	129	-110	19
Net pressures on specific budgets	638	-76	562
To be funded from:
Additional childcare grant 2003/04	192	0	192
General contingency budget	376	0	376
Net pressure on Cash Limit	70	-76	-6

5 Legal Implications

5.1 None

6 Financial Implications

6.1 A summary of the financial implications are given in Section 5 and will be further reported to the next meeting.

7 Personnel Implications

7.1 None

8 Impact Assessment

8.1 Race and equality impact assessment has been considered in the development of this report and no adverse impact has been identified.'

9 Crime prevention issues

9.1 None

10 Views of the Local County Councillor

10.1 None

Recommendation

1. That the budget monitoring report and an identification of costs pressures is noted.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act. - none

TITLE FILE

None