1

Summary

1.1

The purpose of this report is to

· Present the Panel with information on the level of commitment against the 2006/07 allocations

· Propose the re-profiling of the overall total within financial years

· Outline the budget provision for 2007/08 and make proposals on the allocations

· Seek approval for the addition of schemes to the programme of capital repairs and NDS Condition Fund in 2007/08

Recommendations

That the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel advise the Executive Member for Policy and Resources that approval be given to:

1. The level of budgetary commitment in 2006/07;

2. The proposed allocation of the 2007/08 capital repairs budget;

3. The proposed re-profiling of resources between 2007/08 and 2008/09;

4. The additions to the capital repairs and NDS Condition Fund programme as detailed in paragraph 4.1.

2

2006/07 Capital Repairs

2.1

The available resources in 2006/07 are shown in the table below

Funding

£m

Capital repairs including carry forward from 2005/06

6.583

Dedicated schools Grant (DSG) capital repairs

10.194

Total resources

16.777

2.2

The majority of this funding, £12.42m, has been allocated to support Corporate Risk Assessment priorities with the balance allocated to support other schemes and landlord strategic requirements.

2.3

The level of commitments against these allocations to 15 February 2007 is shown at Appendix 1. It is anticipated that the budget will be fully committed by the year end.

3

2007/08 and future allocations

3.1

Available resources

3.1.1

The DSG allocation for 2007/08 has been confirmed including a 7% uplift for inflation. The remaining capital repairs budget includes the standard 2.5% uplift but is also subject to minor reductions in line with the overall locally resourced programme.

3.1.2

The change in the way the Government provides support for the NDS programme has been reported to the Panel at previous meetings and means it has not proved affordable to take up the full NDS funding approval in 2007/08. However, Hampshire County Council has taken up an option to bring forward NDS funding from future years provided in the form of 100% grant. The sum for NDS Condition is £6.392m and a similar amount has been taken up by Children's Services. The advance will be reclaimed from future allocations over a three year period. The full allocations for 2008/09 onwards are expected to be announced following the Comprehensive Spending Review this summer but given the assumption that overall annual increases to 2011 will be contained below 2% it is not expected that future allocations will be at levels experienced in the past.

3.1.3

Based on above the capital resources available in the four year period from 2006/07 are summarised in the table below. Future years' allocations are shown at 2007/08 prices.

2006/07

2007/08

2008/09

2009/10

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

Capital repairs

6,583

7,584

5,735

5,782

DSG

10,194

10,908

10,908

10,918

NDS

12,601

16,639

Total

29,378

35,131

16,643

16,690

3.2

Proposed re-profiling

3.2.1

The strategic use of capital repairs resources to achieve maximum strategic effect has been a long-standing policy of this Panel. This has been achieved both by pooling of resources where possible and by making contributions to support major corporate projects with the most recent example of the latter being the contributions to the redevelopment of Ashburton Court planned for 2008/09 and 2009/10. Some further opportunities have been identified to maximise the impact of resources in this way by making targeted contributions to significant corporate projects and initiatives associated with the Contact Centre, Strategic Property Review and Recreation and Heritage sites. To enable this to happen it is proposed to re-profile £2m of capital repairs budget funding from 2007/08 to 2008/09. The table below shows a revised summary of the available resources including the proposed re-profiling.

2006/07

2007/08

2008/09

2009/10

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

Capital Repairs

6,583

5,584

7,735

5,782

DSG

10,191

10,908

10,908

10,918

NDS

12,601

16,639

Total

29,378

33,131

18,643

16,690

3.2.2

The proposed allocation of the capital repairs and DSG budgets in 2007/08 using the above figures are shown at Appendix 2. In line with previous practice the majority of capital repairs funding will be used to address the priorities from the Corporate Risk Assessment.

4

Additions to the Capital Repairs, Office Accommodation and NDS Condition Fund Programmes

4.1

The Panel considered the allocation of the NDS Condition fund monies at its meeting on 23 January 2007. Following a review of priorities it is necessary to make some amendments/additions to the allocation which are detailed below along with those schemes to be added to the capital repairs programme for 2007/8.

£50,000 to £100,000

Calshot Activities Centre - new water treatment plant

Sherborne St John School (NDS) - pitched roofing repairs

Siskin Infant School (NDS) - flat roofing repairs

Hayling Island Secondary School (NDS) - Sports Hall recladding

Library of CAD plans for Primary Schools (NDS)

£100,000 to £250,000

Newlands Primary School (NDS) - pitched roofing repairs

Pennington Infants (NDS) - roof repairs

Burnham Copse (NDS) - windows and roofing repairs

Empire Buildings, Royal Victoria Country Park - roofing repairs

Winchester Discovery Centre

North Farnborough Infant School (NDS) - roofing repairs

Hantsdirect, Parkway, Fareham - contribution towards engineering infrastructure

Osborne School, Winchester - possible contribution to remedial works

£250,000+

Nuance Global House (Office accommodation)- contribution towards infrastructure and refurbishment costs (Ashburton Court project to contribute also on associated decanting costs)

5

Conclusions

5.1

Whilst there remains some uncertainty over future levels of support for NDS the forward allocation of £6.4m available in 2007/08 will enable progress to be maintained in addressing the liabilities in the schools' estate.

5.2

Capital repairs resources will continue to be managed to achieve maximum strategic impact in reducing maintenance liabilities and addressing corporate priorities.