Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report

1. Executive Summary

1.1. The purpose of this paper is to present the financial and performance position for Culture, Communities and Rural Affairs (CCRA) in 2008/09, and to outline the key financial issues for 2009/10.

1.2. In summary:

· Revenue expenditure was extremely close to budget - there was an overspending of £9,000 against a budget of £34.7 million.

· Capital schemes to the value of £2.2 million were carried forward to 2009/10.

· The majority of performance indicators showed an improvement compared with 2007/08.

2. Financial and Performance position 2008/09

2.1 The revenue position for 2008/09 is shown in Appendix 1. Expenditure was to all intents and purposes, at the budgeted level, since there was an overspend of just £9,000 which represents 0.02% of the revised budget of £34.69 million.

2.2 The Library and Information Service showed an overspending of £42,000, which is 0.2% of the £19.1 million budget. The one-off costs of the Library Management System (Spydus) were largely offset by savings elsewhere..

2.3 The Director and Business Development budget was underspent by £51,000, and this mainly reflected match-funding project management costs which are chargeable to capital as part of the Community Libraries programme.

2.4 The Sport, Community and Outdoor Services budgets were in total underspent by £15,000 (0.1% of budget). This was the net effect of prudent management of budgets at Calshot in view of the recession and its potential impact on income, and an additional grant payment for a community-related project.

2.5 The trading position for the three businesses in CCRA is as follows:

	Surplus/ (Deficit) £000
River Hamble	10
Hampshire Wardrobe	9
Audiences South	(15)

2.6 It was a difficult trading year for Audiences South as the business suffered reduced income from external funding sources. However, Hampshire Wardrobe continued to exceed expectations.

2.7 The locally resourced capital programme for 2008/09 was £640,000, but this was enhanced to give total resources of £4.9 million. The main contributors to this enhancement of the capital programme were:

_ External funding (e.g. Community Libraries programme, Fair Play Playbuilder) : £2,945,000

_ Contributions from Adult Services and Policy and Resources to the refurbishment of Basingstoke Library : £375,000

_ Approved transfers from the revenue budget (e.g. to fund improvements at Outdoor Service Centres) : £390,000

_ Resources brought forward from the previous year : £540,000

2.8 Of the total £4.9 million available, £2.7 million was committed in the course of the year. Major schemes committed include:

_ Community Libraries programme

_ Fair Play Playbuilder projects

_ Hampshire Record Office improvements

_ Refurbishment of the Willis Museum, Basingstoke

2.9 As a consequence, £2.2 million of capital resources were carried forward to 2009/10, the most significant of which related to the refurbishment of Basingstoke Library.

2.10 Appendix 2 shows the performance information for 2008/09. This indicates that performance has improved against most of the services key indicators.

2.11 Key developments in the course of the year included:

_ The Winchester Discovery Centre attracted almost 500,000 visits in 2008/9 (its first full year) contributing to an increase in library issues alongside attendance for the exhibitions programme in the Gallery, City Space and performance hall events

_ Sunday opening was extended to two more libraries, Aldershot and Andover as a result both have seen an increase in visits

_ The success of the National Year of Reading and associated events for children, including the Wessex Children's book festival, Spread the Word literacy campaign and Summer Reading Challenge encouraged 3,000 more children to join the library and 10% more children completed the Reading Challenge.

_ The Countryside Service continues to increase its work with volunteers in local communities and new Friends groups have been established at Royal Victoria (RVCP) and Lepe Country Parks. There were more than 9,000 volunteer days at countryside sites in 2008/9.

_ Services have continued to develop learning and education programmes leading to the development of the Learning Outside the Classroom offer to schools. Over 28,000 school children visited countryside sites, 37,000 visited museums and the outdoor centres had more than 51,000 overnight stays.

_ 90,000 people attended events organised or hosted at Countryside sites ranging from car boot sales to concerts to events targeted to encourage Black and Minority Ethnic communities to access the countryside, including Picnic in the Park and a guided walk for the Winchester Muslim and Cultural Association.

_ The Archives and Local Studies Service has continued to develop access to archives online and through outreach work with communities such as the Living Links project, and with schools including DVDs, loan exhibitions and resource packs to support the Key Stage curriculum and working with a range of primary and secondary schools under the Big Lottery-funded Their Past your Future 2 programme.

2 Financial Position 2009/10

3.1 The approved revenue budget for 2009/10 is £35.409 million. This includes growth of £250,000 which was allocated to complete the modernisation of the Library and Information Service, including new systems, to meet loss of income and to avoid future calls on the materials fund for other pressures and initiatives. The service budgets are summarised at Appendix 3. The budget for 2009/10 includes charges of £3 million from IT Services for the provision of Information Technology based on the current trading model. As a result of the Corporate Service Review, departments will in future only pay a charge for the marginal cost element of the service they receive. IT Services will receive a budget transfer from customer departments to pay for the fixed cost and infrastructure elements of their service. These budget transfers will be equivalent to the reduction in charges, so that the impact on services' spending power is neutral. As a consequence, the Culture, Communities and Rural Affairs current budget will reduce by some £1.1 million, and this will be implemented in the revised budget.

3.2 The CCRA budget strategy requires services to achieve efficiency savings (over and above the cost of step progression) of £430,000. This sum is being used for high priority service developments, such as developing the rural, adult learning and youth offers, and the interim costs associated with the implementation of Spydus.

2.3 There remain significant pressures on the Library and Information Service. Library budgets are now devolved to local managers and every effort will be made to deliver the service in line with budget. Detailed reviews are being undertaken, for example comparing costs in libraries (including mobile libraries), and it is anticipated that this will yield opportunities for efficiency savings and ensure that the budget is aligned with the Vision and Strategy.

2.4 A review is being undertaken of the CCRA Department's senior management structure, and it is likely that budgets will need to be revised in the light of that review.

2.5 The locally funded capital programme for 2009/10 is £430,000, with a total programme of £2.173 million. The balance comes from external funding for the Basing House project and Playbuilder programme. The £2.2 million brought forward from 2008/09 means that the total available in 2009/10 is almost £4.4 million.

3 Recommendations

4.1 It is recommended that:

i) the financial and performance information for 2008/09 be noted.

ii) The 2009/10 financial position be noted.

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

Links to the Corporate Strategy

Integral Appendix B

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

This report is in accordance with the budget strategy and the County Council's financial management policy. This policy applied equally to all Services and ensures consistent financial management decisions across all policies.

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3