Agenda Item No

The Vale of Glamorgan Council

Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning) 29th June 2009

Report from the Director of Learning and Development.

Revenue and Capital Monitoring for the period 1st April 2009 to 30th April 2009

Purpose of the Report

1.             To bring to the attention of this Scrutiny Committee, the position in respect of revenue and capital expenditure for the period 1st April 2009 to 30th April 2009 regarding those revenue and capital budgets, which form this Committee’s remit.

Recommendation

1.             It is recommended that the Scrutiny Committee note the position with regard to the 2009/10 revenue and capital monitoring.

Reason for the Recommendation

1.             That Members are aware of the position with regard to the 2009/10 revenue and capital monitoring relevant to this Scrutiny Committee.

Background

2.             Council on 4th March 2009 (Minute Nos. 844 and 843) approved the Revenue Budget and Capital Programme for 2009/2010. 

Relevant Issues and Options

3.             The Revenue Budget and projected outturn for 2009/2010 is shown in Appendix 1. The current forecast for this Directorate is for a balanced budget.

4.             Schools – The delegated budget relating to schools is expected to balance as any under/overspend is carried forward by schools.

5.             Education Service – Overall, the Education budget is projected to balance as at the end of March 2010. Any savings identified between now and the end of the year will be available to re-direct in to the School Investment Strategy or other reserves.

6.             Grant Related Expenditure - The central budget currently provides £679,220 match funding towards the Better Schools Fund and Welsh Language grants which total £955,026. Schools also have access to the following Welsh Assembly funded grants; A Special grant has been designated for the purposes of improving educational outcomes of pupils registered at the school/PRU and an Energy grant to help offset energy costs totalling £456,000.   The Foundation Phase funding is £2,284,815, there are four purposes for the grant; to employ classroom assistants to work towards the Foundation phase ratios for 3-5 year olds; To employ a Foundation Phase Training and Support Officer; To deliver a training programme and to provide all funded non-maintained settings with at least 10% of a qualified teacher's time to improve the quality of education provision in those settings.

Innovation in Small schools £64,045 mainly given to assist headteachers who also have classroom teaching roles so that they have more capacity to raise school standards.

Community Focus Schools, including Small and Rural schools and Childcare grants totalling £117,381 to assist with the development of services, activities and facilities for the community.

Minority Ethnic Achievement grant of £171,998 to support minority ethnic groups within schools.

14-19 Learning Pathways grant of £716,000 is intended to support the 14-19 Learning Pathways agenda as outlined in Learning Pathways ii and proposed under the Learning and Skills (Wales) Measures 2009. The funding is to be utilised in the following areas; Administration £75,000, Not in Education or Training (NEETS) £75,000, Quality Champion £30,000, Volunteering £30,000, Careers Advice £20,000 and Alternative 14-19 Learning Pathways £485,000.

Basic Skills initiatives of £194,000 to support various strategies for improving basic skills within schools

Details of any other grants which have not yet been confirmed will be reported in subsequent monitoring reports.

7.             Libraries - This service is anticipated to outturn on target.

8.             Lifelong Learning –Currently this service is also anticipated to outturn on budget.

9.             Catering – Also anticipated to outturn on budget.

Capital Programme 2009/2010

10.        Appendix 2 details financial progress on the Capital Programme as at 30th April 2009.

11.        All capital schemes for 2009/10 have been profiled on a monthly basis by the relevant officers. Where there is a significant under/over spending of the profiled budget an explanation will be provided and the scheme will be re-profiled if necessary. This arrangement will apply to all individual schemes over £500,000 in value that have a variance of 20% or more on their profiled budget.

12.        For all schemes where it is evident that the full year's budget will not be spent during the year, the relevant officers will be required to provide an explanation for the shortfall and this shall be taken to earliest available Cabinet.

13.        Schools IT Equipment - An allocation of £100,000 for the purchase of IT equipment for schools is included in Appendix 2. The Director of Finance, ICT and Property has delegated authority to purchase and finance school IT equipment via an internal leasing mechanism. The cost of the equipment will initially be funded from the Computer Fund and the schools will enter into a 3 or 5 year internal lease (dependant upon the type of equipment procured), which will reimburse the fund.

14.        School Building Improvement Grant (SBIG formula) 2009/10 - the approved 2009/10 Capital Programme included a provisional sum for the anticipated SBIG formula grant of £1,320,000. The grant offer has now been received in the sum of £1,101,000 and as such it was requested that Cabinet approve the reduction in the current budget to reflect the actual grant allocation received.

15.        St Cyres Comprehensive School re-development - this scheme is a priority within the Schools Capital Investment Strategy.  A bid for £750,000 transitional funding to carry out development works at the upper school site was submitted to WAG in February 2009 but proved unsuccessful and so additional funding has had to be identified. In April 2009, Members approved the allocation of £468,000 within the School Building Improvement Grant for this purpose but this left a balance of £282,000 to be identified. Cabinet on 3rd June 2009 approved the use of this sum from Education reserves in order to proceed with a development study on the scheme in order to enhance the Vale's prospects in terms of attracting significant funding early on in the 21st Century Schools Programme (replacement for SBIG grant). Appendix 2 has been updated accordingly.

16.        Youth Service Grant - as was reported to Cabinet on 22nd April 2009 in a report by the External Funding Group, WAG have awarded the Authority with a capital grant of £93,000 for various projects including completion of the refurbishment of the new youth service provision bus that was purchased using the first year's grant allocation in 2008/09. The Capital Programme 2009/10 has been updated to reflect the acceptance of this grant and Appendix 2 has been amended accordingly. 

17.        Rhoose Library Improvements - WAG have awarded the authority a grant of £70,000 towards the refurbishment of Rhoose Library for 2009/10. The works will include internal alterations for a new disabled toilet; replacement of internal floor, wall and ceiling finishes; redecoration works; upgrading electrical installations and minor adaptations to external wall. Work is anticipated to commence on site late July 2009. It was requested that Cabinet approve the inclusion of this scheme in the 2009/10 Capital Programme.

18.        Appendix 3 provides non-financial information on capital schemes with a budget of over £100,000. Where a budget shown in Appendix 2 is more than £100,000 but is made up of several schemes that individually are less than £100,000, the scheme is not included in Appendix 3.

Resource Implications (Financial and Employment)

19.        As detailed in the body of the report.

Legal Implications (to Include Human Rights Implications)

20.        None.

Crime and Disorder Implications

21.        None.

Equal Opportunities Implications (to include Welsh Language issues)

22.        There are no equal opportunity implications.

Corporate/Service Objectives

23.        Effective monitoring assists in the provision of accurate and timely information to officers and Members and in particular allows services to better manage their resources.

Policy Framework and Budget

24.        The report is in accordance with the Policy Framework and Budget.

Consultation (including Ward Member Consultation)

25.        The appropriate Chief Officer has been consulted. This report does not require Ward Member consultation.

Background Papers

None.

Contact Officer

Sian Keen (Senior Group Accountant) (01446 709255)

Officers Consulted

Director of Learning and Development

Responsible Officer:

Bryan Jeffreys, Director of Learning and Development