Report to theLead Member for Corporate Services 8th July 2004
CORPORATE SERVICES REVENUE BUDGET MONITORING 2004/05
AS AT 30th June 2004
The Corporate Services budget for 2004/05 is £4.440m (gross £121.047m). An
analysis of the budget over the main expenditure heads is shown at Appendix 1.
At this early stage in the financial year monitoring is concentrated on salaries, the
implementation of agreed savings and budgets identified as ‘risk areas’
Budget monitoring to 30th June 2004 has identified the following: Salaries
Expenditure on salaries for April to June 2004 compared to the profiled budget for the
three months shows the following position: Division
Finance
IT Net
Salford Advance
Customer Services
Law & Admin
Misc Finance
Total
Budget
April – June 2004
£000
1520
663
309
1577
1093
40
5202
Actual
April – June 2004
£000
1496
652
309
1615
1086
32
5190
Variance
(-)Under/ (+)over
£000
-24
-11
0
38
-7
-8
-12
The overall position shows that expenditure on salaries (which includes overtime and
agency) is within the budget for the period April to June 2004.
The main reasons for the variations are: 


Finance – casual vacancies within the Payroll and the Chief Executives
Accountancy team, which are gradually being filled.
Salford Advance – The e-government grant has been secured, allowing the
extension of contracts for temporary staff. The position will need to be monitored
as the level of grant available in 2005/06 may require some contracts to be
terminated
Customer Services - levels of overtime and agency staff are being monitored.
There is a possibility of additional income/grants which will ensure the costs
remain within budget for the year.
Savings 2004/05
Following Decision Conferencing in September 2003 savings proposals totalling
£815,000 were agreed. The 2004/05 budget has been adjusted for these savings a
number of which will require action during the year to ensure the saving is achieved.
These are detailed as follows: Agreed Savings
Achieved – Budget adjustments
Scanning/Index – transfer in house
Maximise benefit subsidy
C Tax increase non cash payments
Increase court costs
Website advertising
Citizenship ceremonies
Total savings
Value
£000
Current Position
711 No further action required
10 Various solutions under
consideration
5 Working processes have
been changed - will be
monitored
3 Paperless direct debits
being introduced
55 Enquiries are being made
re the level of increase to
the charges, the court will
allow and whether this will
meet the saving.
5 The Council currently does
not allow advertising to
raise income. Alternative
savings will be identified.
26 The Home Office has a
40,000 backlog of cases
resulting in delays in
ceremonies taking place.
Although the income is
payable by the Home
Office, the target of £26k
may not be achieved in
this year.
815
Issues which may have an impact on the 2004/05 Budget
The following issues are being monitored on an ongoing basis.


Licensing – The Secretary of State has approved the legislation in relation to
licensing but has yet to announce the operational date which may be January
2005.
Revenue capitalisation – A proportion of SAP, Legal Services, Energy/Contracts
Audit, Software Development, are currently capitalised. Following the audit of





the 2003/04 accounts, the charges will need to be reviewed in 2004/05 and we will
need to consider the decapitalisation of these charges.
SLAs with schools – Services that are provided to schools are currently being
reviewed in particular the way the services are priced. Charges are currently
being calculated for the new schools SLA which will commence in April 2005.
SLAs with NPHL and SCL – Meetings have taken place to agree the SLAs for
2004/05 and we are due to provide the first quarters monitoring statements
showing the levels and charges for services provided.
E-government funding of £350k has been secured for 2004/05 subject to the
achievement of e-government targets.
IT Net – the renegotiation of the Oracle licence has resulted in a saving of £157k.
Enterprise XP – ITNet Management are meeting with representatives from
Microsoft on Tuesday 6th July to discuss issues relating to licence and
maintenance costs working towards an Enterprise Agreement. Once the costs are
known each Directorate will be assessed in relation to hardware requirements,
functionality and standardisation. The financial implications will be known at this
stage.
UPS/SAN’s and the re-location of the Data Centre – ITNet are currently in the
process of trying to consolidate the configuration of the Remote Storage Area
Networks into a Centralised Area Network within a new Data Centre. (The move
is required to comply with BS 7799, which encompasses security issues
surrounding the whole environment in which the Data Centre is located). The new
Centre will incorporate UPS and a back-up generator. The costs for the
replacement SAN’s will be known by the end of July 2004. The cost of the
building work is expected within the next two weeks. The UPS and generator are
included in the Broadband Project costs and are committed to be spent (150K)
from Lease in the current year.
G. Topping
Assistant Director of Corporate services
(Accountancy & Exchequer)
30th June 2004