First Quarter Budget Monitoring 2018/19
Heritage, Culture and Leisure Committee
4 September 2018
Lead Officer:  Mark Green
Report Author: Ellie Dunnet / Paul Holland

 


Contents

Executive Summary…………………………………….2

Revenue Spending………………………………………3

Significant Variances…………………………………..6

Capital Spending…………………………………….….7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Executive Summary

This report is intended to provide Members with an overview of performance against revenue and capital budgets and outturn during the first quarter of 2018/19 for the services within this Committee’s remit.

Robust budget monitoring is a key part of effective internal financial control, and therefore is one of the elements underpinning good corporate governance. 

The aim of reporting financial information to service committees at quarterly intervals is to ensure that underlying trends can be identified at an early stage, and that action is taken to combat adverse developments or seize opportunities.

It is advisable for these reports to be considered in conjunction with quarterly performance monitoring reports, as this may provide the context for variances identified with the budget and general progress towards delivery of the Council’s strategic priorities.

Headline messages for this quarter are as follows:

§  For this Committee, there is an underspend against the revenue budget of £124,000, but this is expected to change to an overspend of £37,000 by the end of this financial year.

§  The position for the Council as a whole at the end of the first quarter is an underspend against the revenue budgets of £831,000. At this stage we expect to remain within budget for the year.

§  Capital expenditure totaling £848,000 has been incurred between 1 April and 30 June, for the projects which sit within this Committee’s remit.  This represents slippage of £3.679m.

§  Overall capital expenditure totaling £1.671m has been incurred during the first quarter, against a budget of £28.754m.

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue Budget
1st Quarter 2018/19
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Revenue Spending

At the end of the first quarter, there is an overall positive variance of £124,000 against the revenue budget for this Committee.  Based on current information, we are forecasting that this will decrease to an overspend of £37,000 by the end of the year.

As illustrated by the chart below, all committees have kept expenditure within the agreed budget, or have achieved/exceeded their agreed income target this quarter.

Chart 1 Performance against budget analysed by service committee

The table on the following page details the budget and expenditure position for this Committee’s services during the first quarter.  These figures represent the net budget for each cost centre. The actual position includes expenditure for goods and services which we have received but not yet paid for.

The columns of the table show the following detail:

a)    The cost centre description;

b)   The value of the total budget for the year;

c)    The amount of the budget expected to be spent by the end of June 2018;

d)   The actual spend to that date;

e)   The variance between expected and actual spend;

f)    The forecast spend to year end; and

g)    The expected significant variances at 31 March 2019.

The table shows that of a net annual expenditure budget of £4.837m it was expected that £1.226m would be spent up until the end of June. At this point in time the budget is reporting an underspend of £124,000, and the current forecast indicates that the year-end position for this committee will decrease to an over spend of £37,000.  

 

 

Revenue Budget Summary Q1 2018/19

Table 1 Revenue Budget Position, Q1 2018/19 – Heritage, Culture & Leisure Committee (Including recharges)

 

 

Significant Variances

Within these headline figures, there are a number of adverse and favourable variances for individual service areas.  This report draws attention to the most significant variances, i.e. those exceeding £30,000 or expected to do so by the end of the year.  The table below provides further detail regarding these variances, and the actions being taken to address them.

It is important that the potential implications of variances are considered at this stage, so that contingency plans can be put in place and if necessary, this can be used to inform future financial planning.

 

Positive Variance

Q1

Adverse

Variance

Q1

Year End Forecast Variance

Heritage, Culture & Leisure Committee

£000

Mote Park Adventure Zone – This was due to open in Summer 2018, however due to the flooding incident that occurred earlier this year the project has been substantially delayed and will not now open until Spring 2019. This means that the estimated income of £57,000 will not now be realised this year.

 

 

-57

Parks & Open Spaces – Although this area is currently showing a positive variance there are urgent tree works required that mean that by year-end it is forecast to be on budget.

35

 

0

Crematorium – Income has been higher than forecast for the year to date, but maintenance works are required to the cremator, and there are also reinstatement works to the car park to be undertaken, so this will reduce the forecast year-end surplus.

51

 

20

 

Table 2 Significant Variances – Heritage, Culture & Leisure Committee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capital Budget
1st Quarter 2018/19
 


 


Capital Spending

 

The five year capital programme for 2018/19 onwards was approved by Council on 7 March 2018.  Funding for the programme remains consistent with previous decisions of Council in that the majority of capital resources come from New Homes Bonus along with a small grants budget.

Progress made towards delivery of planned projects for 2018/19 is set out in the table below.  The budget figure includes resources which have been brought forward from 2017/18, and these have been added to the agreed budget for the current year.

To date, expenditure totaling £0.848m has been incurred against a budget of £4.527m.  At this stage, it is anticipated that there will be slippage of £1.953m, although this position will be reviewed at the end of the year when the Committee will be asked to approve/note the carry forward of resources into the next financial year.

Capital Budget Summary Q1 2018/19

Table 3 Capital Expenditure, Q1 2018/19

§  At this stage it is not anticipated that there will be any significant spend on the Mote Park Dam Works project during 2018/19.

§  As referenced in the revenue section of this report there has been a delay in completing the Adventure Zone project. The costs above do not include an estimated £0.4m of costs that have been incurred to date as a result of the flooding incident that are currently the subject of an insurance claim. There will be a further update on the position in the second quarter budget monitoring report.

§  The play area improvements scheme is now substantially complete, but the budget does include funding for ongoing maintenance and replacements which is unlikely to be needed this year so this will be slipped into 2019/20.

§  The Crematorium Development Plan included improvement works to the Car Park. The estimated costs of this were £0.236m, but the final cost of the project was £0.320m. (The scheme commenced during 2017/18, so the total cost is spread over two financial years) During the course of the works being undertaken a number of issues were identified. Additional drainage works and a retaining wall were required, and the cost of resurfacing of the car park was not included in the tender documents that were issued for this contract. The remaining budget has been earmarked for future projects as per the Bereavement Services report elsewhere on this agenda.