Archived decisions



Notes to the Balance Sheet

1.	Net fixed assets

1.1	The movements in the fixed assets during the year were as follows :

				Other	Vehicles,	Non-		Work
				land and	plant and	operational	Deferred	in
			Dwellings	buildings	equipment	properties	charges	progress	Total
			£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
	Gross book value as
	at 31 March 2005		4,928	74,288	12,125	1,272	0	646	93,259
	Less accumulated
	depreciation / impairment		34	1,023	6,638	0	0	0	7,695
	Net book value as
	at 31 March 2005		4,894	73,265	5,487	1,272	0	646	85,564

	Movement in 2005/06:
	Transfers between cats.		0	5	516	0	2	-523	0
	Additions		0	108	1,156	0	124	1,426	2,814
	Disposals of assets:
	write-off accum dep'n		0	0	318	0	0	0	318
	write-out GBV		0	0	-324	0	0	-9	-333
	Revaluation of assets:
	write-off accum. dep'n		0	49	0	0	0	0	49
	change in cert valuation		-15	6,714	0	208	0	0	6,907
	Depreciation for year		-37	-1,088	-915	0	0	0	-2,040
	Written off to CFA		0	0	0	0	-126	0	-126

	Net book value as
	at 31 March 2006		4,842	79,053	6,238	1,480	0	1,540	93,153


	Gross book value as		4,925	80,394	12,876	1,480	493	1,540	101,708
	at 31 March 2006
	Accumulated dep'n/imp		83	1,341	6,638	0	493	0	8,555
	Net book value as
	at 31 March 2006		4,842	79,053	6,238	1,480	0	1,540	93,153


	Deferred charges represent expenditure which has been capitalised but which does not add to the value of
	Authority owned assets. The expenditure during the year relates mainly to the cost of the Home Fire Safety
	Checks.



1.2	Fixed assets held at 31 March			2005	2006

	Dwellings :
		Number of houses		23	23

	Other land and buildings :
		Number of fire stations		53	53
		Total floor area (sq m)		37,805	36,828

	Vehicles :
		Number of vehicles owned		114	133

1.3	Valuation bases and depreciation

	Land and buildings assets are required to be revalued every five years, or sooner when there are
	material changes. The last quinquennial revaluation was completed in 2004/05. From 2005/06
	the Authority adopted a rolling programme for valuing it's assets. The valuations were
	carried out by qualified personnel from the Estates Practice, Hampshire County Council.


Notes to the Balance Sheet continued...

	FRS 15 requires the dates and amounts of valuations to be analysed across each of the classes
	carried at current value. No analysis is required for assets valued at historic cost.


			Valuation	Authority	Other land	Vehicles,	Non
			year	dwellings	and	plant and	operational
					buildings	equipment	assets
				£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000

	Valued at historic cost					6,238
	Valued at current value in:		2003/04		7
			2004/05	4,842	63,748		1,480
			2005/06		15,298
				4,842	79,053	6,238	1,480


	Asset valuations are also required to reflect any impairment during the year but there was
	none during the year.

	Details of the policies applied to fixed assets and depreciation can be found in the Statement of
	Accounting Policies.

1.4	Capital spending and financing

	Capital spending on fixed assets was as follows:

	Capital expenditure			2004/05	2005/06
				£'000	£'000
	Land			0
	Construction work			17	1,013
	Vehicles and equipment			1,501	1,681
	Fees and salaries			56	120
				1,574	2,814

	Capital spending was financed as follows :

	Capital financing			2004/05	2005/06
				£'000	£'000
	Capital receipts			0	97
	Revenue contributions			0	1,300
	Supported borrowing			1,424	586
	Capital contribution			10	0
	Capital fund				679
	Capital grant			140	152
				1,574	2,814

1.5	Capital commitments

	The Authority has authorised expenditure in future years under its capital programme of
	£7,349,000 of which £2,468,000 is contracted.

					Expenditure		Expenditure
					approved and		approved but
					contracted		not contracted
					at 31 March		at 31 March
					2006		2006
					£'000		£'000

		2005/06 Frontline appliances			591		243
		Cosham Fire Station			0		3,500
		HQ redevelopment - phase 1			1,877		1,130
		Other schemes			0		8

					2,468		4,881



Notes to the Balance Sheet continued...

2	Long term debtors

				31 March	31 March
				2005	2006
				£'000	£'000

		Car loans to staff		34	25
		Other		5	2
				39	27
3	Stocks

				31 March	31 March
				2005	2006
				£'000	£'000

		Uniforms		268	262
		Equipment		72	70
		Workshops		162	152
		Fuel		28	30
		Hydrants		6	6
		Memorabilia		3	2
		Foam		37	34
		Stationery		17	17
		First Aid		2	2
				595	575

4	Debtors

				31 March	31 March
				2005	2006
				£'000	£'000

		Government departments		13	1
		Other local authorities		0	5
		Sundry debtors		456	403
				469	409


5	Payments in advance

5.1	These mainly represent the annual payments on leasing arrangements of £652,000


6	Creditors

				31 March	31 March
				2005	2006
				£'000	£'000

		Government departments		609	1194
		Other local authorities		39	309
		Sundry creditors		720	1785
				1,368	3,288

	The Authority's policy is to pay business creditors 30 days after the date shown on the
	invoice.

6.1	Increase in Government creditors results from income tax and national insurance contributions relating to
	back pay made in March being due to the Inland Revenue.

	The figure for Government Departments also includes creditors of £184,000 in respect of grant repayments.
	due from the 2004/05 and 2005/06 Revenue Support Grant amending reports


Notes to the Balance Sheet continued...

	The variance in sundry creditors between 31/03/05 and 31/03/06 mainly relates to creditors
	included in 2005/06 for further backdated pay awards due to firefighters.

	Other local authorities creditors includes £166,000 for transfer value paid.

7	Receipts in advance

7.1	The balance shown represents some leasing rebates received in advance and funding for some local
	fire initiatives

8	Temporary Borrowing and Lending

8.1	The balance represents the amount borrowed from or lent to Hampshire County Council.


9	Long term borrowing

9.1	Range of interest Source of loan				31 March	31 March
	rates payable				2005	2006
					£'000	£'000

	4.5 - 5.875% Public Works Loan Board				5,100	5,100

	All loans mature between 2019 and 2034.

10	Provisions

10.1	The Authority holds two provisions. The first is for the provision for bad debts, which
	totals £991. This has been netted off the balance of debtors.

10.2	The second is for uninsurable and other claims. This covers costs which may arise as a result of
	the Authority being uninsured for a period (one of the Authority's insurers went into liquidation),
	possible tribunals (together with their associated costs) and other claims made against the
	Authority. These cases may take a number of years to settle.

	The movement on this provision can be summarised as follows:

				2004/05	2005/06
				£000	£000

	Balance as at 1 April			1,482	303
	Payments made during the year			-680	-30
	Increase/decrease(-) made during year			-499	-48
	Balance as at 31 March			303	225

11	Fixed asset restatement account

11.1	The fixed asset restatement account was created in order to allow assets to be
	maintained in the accounts at current value. The account is written down by the net book
	value of assets being disposed of. The account is also debited or credited with deficits
	or surpluses when revaluations are made.

12	Capital financing account

12.1	The capital financing account contains :

	* the amount of capital expenditure financed from revenue and capital receipts

	* the statutory amount required to provide for the repayment of external loans less
	the amounts included for depreciation and writing down of deferred charges.




Notes to the Balance Sheet continued...

	The change in the account is analysed below:

				2004/05	2005/06
				£'000	£'000
	Balance as at 1 April			2,756	3,999
	Revenue contributions			0	-1978
	Capital receipts applied			0	-97
	Minimum revenue provision			-176	-220
	Depreciation			1,414	2,039
	Deferred charges			145	126
	Deferred Gov grants released			-140	-152
	Balance as at 31 March			3,999	3,717


13	Usable capital receipts reserve

13.1	The balance on the usable capital receipts reserve is made up as follows :

					2004/05	2005/06
					£'000	£'000
	Balance as at 1 April				0	-42
	Receipts in the year				-42	-77
	Less : used to finance capital expenditure				0	97

	Balance as at 31 March				-42	-22


14	Contingent liabilities

14.1	There are no contingent liabilities that have been provided for in the accounts.


15	Finance and operating leases

15.1	The Authority does not hold any assets under finance leases.

15.2	The Authority has operational leases for operational vehicles, employee leased cars and
	photocopiers. The Authority is committed to make payments totalling £1,131,000
	during 2006/07 (£1,118,000 in 2004/05) for leases which expire over the following timescales:


				2005/06	2006/07
				£'000	£'000

	Within the year			78	136
	Within the second to fifth year			638	622
	Over five years			402	373
	Total			1,118	1,131

16	Euro costs
	The Authority does not have any commitments in respect of Euro costs.

17	Earmarked reserves

				31 March	31 March
				2005	2006
				£'000	£'000

	Transitional Grant reserve			787	787
	Underspendings carried forward			500	0
	Capital payments reserve			2,514	1,835
	Modernisation reserve			500	690
			Total	4,301	3,312


Notes to the Balance Sheet continued...

18	Disclosure of net pensions asset/liability.

18.1	As part of the terms and conditions of employment of its officers and other employees,
	the Authority offers retirement benefits. Although these will not actually be payable
	until employees retire, the Authority has a commitment to make the payments that needs
	to be disclosed at the time that employees earn their future entitlement.

18.2	The Authority participates in two pension schemes:

	.	The Local Government Pension Scheme for non-uniformed employees,
		administered by Hampshire County Council - this is a funded scheme, meaning
		that the Authority and employees pay contributions into a fund, calculated at a
		level estimated to balance the pensions liabilities with investment assets.

	.	The Firefighters' Pension Scheme for firefighters - this is an unfunded scheme,
		meaning that there are no investment assets built up to meet the pensions
		liabilities, and cash has to be generated to meet actual pensions payments
		as they eventually fall due.

18.2	An independent actuary, Hewitt, Bacon and Woodrow has calculated that the following
	assets and liabilities for pensions should be included in the balance sheet.
	It is based on a formal actuarial valuation as at 31 March 2005 for the firefighters' scheme and 31 March 2004
	for the Local Government scheme.

	31 March 2005			Local Government	Firefighters'	Total
				Pension Scheme	Pension Scheme
				£m	£m	£m

	Estimated Liabilities in Scheme			19.46	312.63	332.09

	Estimated assets in scheme			11.63	0.00	11.63

	Net liability			7.83	312.63	320.46


	31 March 2006			Local Government	Firefighters'	Total
				Pension Scheme	Pension Scheme
				£m	£m	£m

	Estimated Liabilities in Scheme			23.38	347.48	370.86

	Estimated assets in scheme			15.24	0.00	15.24

	Net liability			8.14	347.48	355.62


18.4	Liabilities have been assessed on an actuarial basis using the projected unit method, an
	estimate of the pensions that will be payable in future years dependent on assumptions
	about mortality rates, salary levels, etc.
	The main assumptions are as follows :
					2004/05	2005/06
					%	%
	Discount rate				5.3	4.9
	Rate of inflation				2.9	3.0
	Rate of increase in salaries				4.4	4.5
	Rate of increase in pensions				2.9	3.0
	Rate of increase on deferred pensions				2.9	3.0
	Long - term expected rate of return on equities				7.7	7.3
	Long - term expected rate of return on bonds				4.7	4.3
	Long - term expected rate of return on property				6.7	6.3
	Long - term expected rate of return on other assets				4.8	4.6
	Average long - term expected rate of return				6.8	6.5

Notes to the Balance Sheet continued...

	Assets in the County Council Pension Fund are valued at fair value, principally market
	value for investments, and consist of the following categories, by proportion:

				31 March	31 March
				2005	2006
				%	%
	Equity investments			69	70
	Bonds			22	21
	Property			4	4
	Other assets			5	5
				100	100

	The proportions of total assets held in each asset type, shown above, reflect the
	proportions held by the Fund as a whole at 31 March.

18.5	The requirement to meet the liabilities of the firefighters' scheme falls on the Authority from
	the year the firefighter retires. The liability for the deficit on the Local Government
	scheme will be reflected in future employer's pension contributions made by the Authority.
	Both costs will in turn be met by Council Taxpayers and Government Grant.

18.6	The movement in the net pension liability for the year to 31 March 2006 is as follows :

					Local Government		Firefighters
					Pension Scheme		Pension Scheme
					£m		£m
	Net deficit at the beginning of the year				-7.84		-312.63
	Movement in year :
	Current service cost				-1.04		-9.13
	Contributions				0.83		7.64
	Past service costs				-0.04		0.00
	Other finance income				-0.24		-16.61
	Actuarial gain / loss (-)				0.19		-16.75
	Net deficit at the end of the year				-8.14		-347.48

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