PART 1
(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)
ITEM NO.
REPORT OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE
TO:
TITLE:
THE LEADER OF THE COUNCIL
Chief Executive’s Financial Monitoring to August 2005
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. That Leader of the Council notes the position of the Directorate as at the 31 st August
2005 and receives further reports throughout the year when continuous monthly monitoring has been performed.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This report details the current position for the 2005/06 Chief Executive’s Directorate
Budget.
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
(Available for public inspection)
Budgetary Control File
Financial Information from SAP
ASSESSMENT OF RISK:
Failure to monitor the Budget and instigate appropriate actions of findings can lead to significant over/underspends in 2005/06 that will affect the financial health of the City Council.
THE SOURCE OF FUNDING IS:
Not applicable as the report is commenting on the financial position.
LEGAL ADVICE OBTAINED:
Not required for this report.
FINANCIAL ADVICE OBTAINED:
R eport prepared by the Group Accountant for Chief Executive’s.
CONTACT OFFICER:
Wendy Gregory 0161 793 2906
WARD(S) TO WHICH REPORT RELATE(S):
All
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KEY COUNCIL POLICIES:
CITY COUNCIL REVENUE BUDGET 2005/06
DETAILS (Continued Overleaf)
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1 Ch ief Executive’s Budget 2005/06
1.1 The current projections are based on the position, as at 31 st August 2005.
Further reports throughout the year will indicate any areas for concerns and will highlight areas for discussion with Section Heads.
1.2 The budgets for Policy and Improvement and Scrutiny have recently moved to
Chief Executives. There are some issues that still need addressing as there is a budget shortfall on the Performance Development section relating to the transfer of posts from the Personnel section following from the Corporate restructure.
1.3 The summary position including all expenditure and income to date is shown in the table below:
Cost Element 2005/06
Budget
Budget to Exp
date to date
Variation
MAINSTREAM DIRECTORATE BUDGET
Executive Services
Crime and Disorder Mainstream
198,370 86,373 88,472 2,100
667,020 230,063 134,677 - 95,385
Crime and Disorder Externally funded projects - 230,914 230,914 -
Economic Development 589,240 248,615 277,481 25,666
Chief Officers
Reneration Co-ordination and Strategy
438,210 213,983 207,672 - 6,286
203,483 235,897 232,809 - 3,087
Other Strategy, Resources and ED.
Opportunities Centre
Events
Regeneration Initiatives
- - - -
- 50,642 42,956 - 7,686
75,880 11,821 13,130 1,309
71,560 11,000 11,518 13
MIDAS
Miscellaneous
Grant Income
Scrutiny
Performance Development
Marketing and Communications
Central Recharges
134,000 134,000 134,973 973
- 1,514,175 1,514,211 35
- - - -
259,912 113,510 112,038 - 1,472
387,545 174,852 174,671 - 271
1,646,220 734,247 709,706 - 24,542
592,015 - 27,350 - 27,350 -
Within Directorate Control
Corporate and Dem - Recharges
Capital Charges
Budget to be apportioned
Outside Directorate Control
5,263,454 3,962,740 3,857,878 - 108,633
3,676,875 - - -
43,260 - - -
- - - -
3,720,135 - - -
2
Chief Executives Total Budget 8,983,589 3,962,740 3,857,878 - 108,633
1.4 There is currently an underspend on the budget, but consideration must be given to the following:
Salaries
2.1 It will be recalled that in order to balance the budget, the Directorate employed a vacancy factor of 6%, following a report to the Budget Scrutiny Committee on
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the 7 th July 2004. This had to continue into this financial year in order to keep a balanced budget. There is a favourable variance of £160k, which is predominantly due to vacancies within the Community Safety Unit and within the
Marketing and Communications section.
2.2 It is anticipated that the trend within the Community Safety Unit will continue until December, when posts will start to be filled. The savings will be offset by the costs of recruitment and training and the costs of covering posts.
2.3 There is currently a restructure being implemented the costs of which are likely to exceed £50k within the Performance Development Section, for which there is no budget provision. The reason for this additional cost is due to the budget not transferring to Chief Executives for the post of the Assistant Director on
Performance Development. Without this budget then either this post or that of
Group Leader cannot be accommodated within the structure required to deliver the Performance Agenda and consequently this will have a detrimental affect on the work of this section.
2.4 In addition, a further report is seeking approval regarding additional posts required for the Regeneration, Co-ordination, and Strategy Unit.
3 Economic Development
4
3.1 There is, at present, an overspend in this area due to marketing costs incurred this financial year, due to late submission of invoices. The Section Manager has indicated that these can be managed within the available budget and this will be monitored for achievement as the year progresses. In addition, whilst the section is not currently achieving it’s vacancy saving there are currently a number of vacancies which will assist in achieving the overall budget.
Chief Officers
4.1 There is currently an underspend, but it is envisaged that spend will be on target due to the approval of some new schemes.
5 Marketing and Communications
5.1 Work has developed and a budget for this area has now been approved that meets both the day to day operational needs of the section for 2005/06 and future years and for the required projects to be undertaken.
5.2 The recent establishment of the Section meant that in order to raise the profile of the City and obtain early wins that the projects budget would always be front loaded in 2005/06. It was of therefore no surprise that a budget of £560k was required in 2005/06 compared to the original allocation of £500k with this being balanced by reducing the budget in 2006/07 to £440k. Therefore this budget is still balanced at £1m over the two years but there needed to be some adjustments to the pro-filing.
5.3 The following table gives the details of the spend to date and shows that the underspend in the current year is predominantly due to the vacant Head of
Marketing post.
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Marketing and Communications
Projects
Branding
Changing Perception
Industrial Heritage
Customer Panel
Triathlon
Culture Festival
Tourism Collateral
Total for Projects
General Marketing Activity
Corporate Marketing
Visitor Marketing
Web Development
Creative Services
Worsley Tourism Strategy
Campaign Spend
AGMA
Industrial Power House
Operational Spend
Comms and PR
Life in Salford
On in Salford
City Merchandise
Total General Marketing Activity
2005/06 Budget Budget to date Exp to date Variation
10,360 10,360 10,154 - 206
239,090 75,000 75,522 522
52,760 30,500 30,593 93
17,890 - 5,000 - 5,361 - 361
189,600 90,000 89,322 - 678
40,780 26,500 27,608 1,108
10,150 4,229 3,150 - 1,079
560,630 231,589 230,990 - 600
392,490 194,718 193,790 - 927
368,650 162,722 159,581 - 3,141
73,490 30,621 31,255 634
113,100 55,935 64,996 9,060
- - 26,497 - 26,497 -
- - 1,811 1,811
- 15,195 15,195 -
- 390 - 9,860 - 10,250
109,860 45,775 18,375 - 27,400
- - 299 299
12,000 5,000 21,653 16,653
16,000 18,800 8,659 - 10,141
- - - 540 - 540
1,085,590 502,658 478,717 - 23,942
7
Total for Marketing and Communications 1,646,220 734,247 709,706 - 24,542
6 Other issues
6.1 Accommodation is currently being considered and there is a possibility that there will be expenses relating to moving offices which cannot be covered under any budgets that may be available for office moves.
6.2 Consideration should be given at the planning stage of the costs of these moves in order to accommodate any requirements in the budget at the earliest opportunity.
Conclusion
7.1 At this stage in the financial year, monitoring will continue to ensure any issues are raised as early as possible and that there is a balanced budget for the
Directorate as a whole at the year-end.
7.2 Staffing underspends within Community Safety unit are likely to continue until
December.
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8 Recommendations
8.1 That Leader of the Council notes the position of the Directorate as at the 31 st
August 2005 and receives further reports throughout the year when continuous monthly monitoring has been performed.
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