Hampshire County Council

Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel Item

20 March 2007

Revenue Repairs Budget 2006/7 and 2007/8

Report by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services

1

Summary

1.1

The purpose of this report is to update Panel members on the revenue budget position for 2006/07 and to propose the allocation of the budget for 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 predicted outturn against the 2006/07 budget;

2. The budget allocations for 2007/8 set out in Appendix 2.

2

Revenue Budget 2006/7

2.1

The level of commitment against the 2006/07 budget at 15 February 2007 is shown at Appendix 1. It is expected that the budget of £14.130m will be fully spent by the end of the financial year.

2.2

Appendix 1 shows the total level of commitment as 99% which is in line with expectations for this stage in the year. Two elements of the budget delegated to schools are not within the control of the Panel and relate to minor repairs arranged directly by schools and budgets delegated to Foundation Schools that have not entered into buy back arrangements with Property Services. In addition, the Engineering Term Maintenance contracts which account for 44% of the total overall budget are fully committed throughout the year. When both of these areas are excluded the level of commitment reduces to 93.3%.

2.3

The winter maintenance contingency in 2006/07 has been applied to cover damage resulting from adverse weather conditions in December and only a small balance remains unspent.

3

Revenue Budget 2007/08

3.1

The 2007/08 revenue budget provision for non-school buildings includes inflation of 2.5% and totals £4.244m. 2007/08 will be the first year of the new schools Service Level Agreement. At this stage it appears likely that at least as many schools will buy back into the new arrangements as the current SLA. The budget assumption is therefore based on the 2006/07 provision adjusted for the inflation allocated by the Schools' Forum from the Dedicated Schools Grant of 7% giving a total of £10.689m. If the final position results in an increased number of schools participating in the new SLA the budget, and associated obligations, will be higher. On this basis the total revenue budget for 2007/08 is £14.993m and the allocations proposed in Appendix 2 assume this figure.

3.3

The existing Engineering Term Maintenance Contracts will run to July 2007 with the new arrangements in place for most of the year. It is anticipated that the new arrangements will offer better value for money in the provision of these services.

4

Conclusions

4.1

The final outturn position for 2006/07 will be very tight with much of the winter contingency already committed but is still expected to be contained within cash limits.

4.2

The response to the new schools Service Level Agreement is very pleasing and the 2007/08 budget has been drawn up assuming the same level of buy back as under the existing arrangements. The new services to be provided will require additional staffing resource to deliver and this can be accommodated within the total available budget.

LINK(S) TO CORPORATE STRATEGY

Yes

No

Hampshire safer and more secure for all

_

Maximising well-being

_

Enhancing our quality of place

_

This proposal does not link to the Corporate Strategy but, nevertheless, requires a decision because:

Budget

£'000

Commitment

£'000

%

Non-Education Services

Redecorations

585

149

25.5

Engineering servicing and repairs

1,866

1,712

91.7

Minor structural repairs

996

1,043

104.7

Asbestos testing

42

28

66.7

Vandalism reinstatement

111

198

178.4

Sub-total

3,600

3,130

86.9

Contingency

37

9

24.3

Delegated to schools

Delegation under LMS scheme

2,249

2,249

100

Eotas

24

24

100

Delegation under fair funding:

Community Schools

7,065

7,385

104.5

Foundation Schools

652

652

100

Sub-total

9,990

10,310

103.2

Other Allocations

Strategic consultants

401

534

133.2

Non functional buildings

75

16

21.3

Gypsy and Traveller Sites

27

0

0

Sub-total

503

550

109.3

Total

14,130

13,999

99.1