Archived decisions

Earmarked reserves at 31 March 2006 Appendix 4

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Balance 1 April 2005

Income / (Expenditure) during 2005/06

Appropriations (to) / from Revenue 2005/06

Appropriations (to) / from Capital 2005/06

Net contributions to / (from) reserves in 2005/06
(Col 2 to Col 4)

Balance at 31 March 2006

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

Schools General Reserve (Note 1)

34,999

-

3,378

-

3,378

38,377

Less temporary use for capital funding

-4,246

-

-

-742

-742

-4,988

30,753

-

3,378

-742

2,636

33,389

General Capital Reserve

3,615

-

-

-3,615

-3,615

-

Trading accounts

1. Former DSOs

750

114

143

-

257

1,007

2. Supplies

987

116

15

-

131

1,118

3. Printing

301

32

74

-

106

407

4. IT Services

507

-961

-

-

-961

-454

5. Caretaking & Cleaning

122

9

-

-

9

131

6. Services to Schools

1,320

460

-

-

460

1,780

7. Arts Marketing

10

1

-

-

1

11

8. River Hamble

87

198

-

-

198

285

Designated underspendings (Note 2)

4,356

-

-791

-

-791

3,565

Other

1. Insurance

6,635

-

1,200

-535

665

7,300

2. Segensworth units

220

-17

-

-

-17

203

3. Historic publications

45

1

-

-

1

46

4. Invest to save (Note 3)

328

-

-75

-

-75

253

5. Job-evaluation transitional costs

4,750

-

5,650

-

5,650

10,400

6. Grant equalisation

20,925

-

2,825

-

2,825

23,750

7. Modernisation, restructuring and efficiency

-

-

3,505

-

3,505

3,505

8. PSA reward grant

-

-

2,712

-

2,712

2,712

9. LATs income

-

-

3,538

-

3,538

3,538

75,711

-47

22,174

-4,892

17,235

92,946

                      Annex 1 - Appendix 4

    Notes to summary of earmarked reserves at 31 March 2006

1 Schools general reserve

    In aggregate schools incurred expenditure of £3,378,000 less than their delegated budgets increasing the reserve to £38,377,000 at the end of the year. The table below summarises the position over categories of school.

Variation in the year

Balance at 31 March 2006

£'000

£'000

% of budget

Nursery

145

353

26.0

Primary

946

21,010

7.1

Secondary

1,853

14,294

5.3

Special

434

2,720

9.7

3,378

38,377

6.4

    The average level of school reserves has risen as a proportion of budget from 6.3% to 6.4% during 2005/06. £4,988,000 of school reserves have been used temporarily to finance Education capital expenditure, through the School balances loan scheme.

2

3 Designated underspendings

    The table below summarises the movements in the reserve balances during 2005/06.

Variations arising from

Balance 1 April 2005

2005/06 Budget

2004/05 Final accounts

2005/06 Revised budget

2005/06 Final accounts

Balance 31 March 2006

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

Adults

-

-

-

-

-

-

Children

402

-

-402

-

-

-

Environment

8

-

-8

255

7

262

Policy & Resources

970

-749

-65

225

-

381

Recreation and Heritage

-

-

-

-

-

-

Matched Standards Fund contribution

1,645

-

-1,645

-

1,386

1,386

Sickness / Maternity leave buy back

-247

-

247

-

-267

-267

School meals buy back

196

-

-

-

-125

71

Hillier Gardens development fund

128

-

-

-

42

170

Pay and Benefits

270

-

-

-133

-

137

Second homes income

984

-

-

-9

-

975

Change for children

-

-

-

85

-

85

Children's Trust (CAMHS)

-

-

-

-

365

365

Total

4,356

-749

-1,873

423

1,408

3,565

4 Invest to Save

    The table below summarises the movements in the reserve balance during 2005/06:

£'000

Balance at 1 April 2005

328

Financing of additional staffing to support generation of capital receipts and business rate appeals

-265

Repayment in respect of capital receipt generation

190

Balance at 31 March 2006

253

Annex 2 - Appendix 4

Protocol for earmarked reserves

Reserve

Purpose

Use of reserve

Management and control

Review Process

Schools

Earmarking of the balance of unspent delegated budgets.

1 To supplement school's budget share, to finance capital contributions and to provide a contingency.

Responsibility of Head teacher and School governing body.

In addition to review by individual governing body, trends reviewed annually by Education Executive Member.

2 Up to 25% of total reserve made available on a loan basis to finance school capital projects of an `invest to save' nature. Advances of £5.0m made in 2004/05 and 2005/06 under this scheme mainly to fund rationalisation projects in advance of the realisation of capital receipts.

Proposals subject to approval of the capital programme, involving executive member, Cabinet and County Council approval.

Use of loan scheme subject to appraisal of projects and to 25% upper limit.

General capital

To assist in matching the timing of the availability of capital financing resources with the timing of capital payments.

To finance locally - resourced capital expenditure.

By County Treasurer in conjunction with decisions on the financing of the capital programme.

Reviewed at least twice yearly on closure of the accounts and in approving a new capital programme. Reserve fully utilised in 2005/06 due to revised profile of capital receipts.

Trading accounts

To enable business units to carry forward planned surpluses.

To meet future deficits and/or restructuring costs, to fund capital investment or to return surpluses to customers by reducing prices.

By responsible Chief Officer subject to Executive Member approval, where appropriate.

Through production of an annual business plan linked to the budget process .

Designated underspendings

To enable individual services to carry forward 100% of planned underspendings and at least 50% of unplanned underspendings

To fund non-recurring expenditure in future years or to phase-in the requirement for additional funding or to achieve savings

By service Chief Officer reporting to the Executive Member. Cabinet responsible for approval of cases where more than 50% of a saving is earmarked

Reviewed annually during budget cycle

Insurance

To cover fire, flood and storm damage reinstatement costs which are already committed and to reserve against adverse trends in liability claims.

To supplement annual `premiums' charged to services.

Chief Executive and County Treasurer subject to Cabinet approval.

At least annually on closure of the accounts. In view of outstanding fire reinstatement commitments, a contribution of £1.2m to the reserve is proposed in 2005/06.

Invest to save

To provide funding for investment which will generate future cash savings which can be recycled back into the reserve

For approved investment purposes subject to Cabinet or Policy and Resources Executive Member approval

County Treasurer subject to Cabinet approval

Reviewed annually in conjunction with proposals in the budget meeting invest to save criteria. Currently being used to support initiatives to secure additional capital receipts and business rate revaluations.

Job evaluation transitional costs

To assist in meeting transitional costs likely to arise from implementation of the Pay and Benefit Review

To supplement employee budgets in transitional period following implementation

County Treasurer subject to Cabinet approval

Further reserve contribution of £5.65m agreed in the 2005/6 revised budget in order to earmark £10m for potential back pay costs.

Grant equalisation

To assist in managing the impact of future grant loss initially from the 2003/04 Revenue Support grant formula review and subsequently from the 2006/07 review.

To compensate for service and/or council tax impact of grant loss.

County Treasurer subject to Cabinet approval.

Further contribution of £2.8m in 2005/06 agreed following the 2006/07 grant settlement increasing the balance to £23.7m at 31 March 2006.

Modernisation, restructuring and efficiency plan.

A newly established reserve in 2005/06 to assist in funding uncertain future costs associated with the modernisation of the County Council's services.

To fund pump priming initiatives and continuing higher costs.

County Treasurer and Chief Executive subject to the approval of the Cabinet.

Reviewed in each year's budget planning and on an interim basis during the year. At the time of the last review part of the planned 2005/06 contribution was redirected to the grant equalisation reserve.

PSA reward grant

Newly established on closure of 2005/06 accounts to earmark the reward grant earned from the first Local PSA for future use.

To be used in accordance with the policy agreed by the Cabinet in July 2005.

Subject to relevant executive member approval.

Policy agreed for the use of the reserve, but subject to review as part of medium term financial strategy.

LATS income

Newly established on closure of the 2005/06 accounts to earmark income from the sale of LATs for future use.

To be used in accordance with the policy agreed by the Cabinet in June 2005 to reduce cost pressures from the existing Waste contract and for further investment in Waste infrastructure.

County Treasurer and Director of Environment, subject to the approval of the Cabinet.

At least annually in conjunction with the budget and capital programme process. Initial sales income of £3.5m received in 2005/06 transferred to the reserve.

Segensworth unit factories

To enable annual tenant contributions towards repairs to be earmarked for periodic major repair liabilities to infrastructure

To fund maintenance of specific infrastructure which is the responsibility of the County Council as freeholder

Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services subject to terms of relevant agreement

Reserve is ring-fenced

Other minor reserves

Sums set aside for specific future purposes

To fund spending on specified purpose

Various

Reviewed at least annually on closure of the accounts