Agenda item

The report presented the year end position for the Authority’s capital programme including how this had been financed.  The final outturn position was spend of £4.6m compared with a total budget of £12.7m with a slippage therefore being £8.1m.  The position was broadly consistent with forecasts.  It was noted that slippage was a timing issue dependent on the progress of capital schemes and not an indication of future underspends.

The Director of Corporate Services highlighted:

Other Vehicles – spend related to the purchase of the Water Tower Vehicle and various operational support vehicles during the year.  In addition, this budget also allowed for the replacement of one of the Command Support Units, requirements were still being finalised therefore this would slip over into 2018/19, along with the budget for any support vehicles not received.  The budget also included the replacement of two Driver Training Vehicles. Following a review it was proposed that these were replaced with pumping appliances, thus providing more realistic driver training, as well as increasing the reserve fleet, and also recognising that over the 8 year life of Driver Training vehicles pumping appliance design would change and hence a policy for providing training on actual pumping appliances would ensure that vehicles used for training purposes kept pace with design developments. The cost of a pumping appliance was currently £205k compared with the budget for two driver training vehicles of £190k, hence an additional drawdown of £15k from the capital funding reserve would be required in 2018/19.

Buildings - Committed spend to date related to completion of the replacement water main and the completion of the Multi Compartment Fire Fighting prop at Service Training Centre, purchase of the land adjacent to Preston Fire Station in preparation for redevelopment, and sums paid to date in respect of the redevelopment of the Lancaster Fire & Ambulance facility, which was expected to complete during the first quarter of 2018/19.

The slippage figure related to:

·        Carry forward of outstanding STC redevelopment works;

·        The balance of costs associated with the completion of Lancaster Station;

·        The redevelopment of Preston Fire and Ambulance Station;

·        The replacement Fleet workshop.

ICT Systems - The majority of the capital budget related to the national Emergency Services Mobile Communications Project (ESMCP), to replace the Airwave wide area radio system and the replacement of the station end mobilising system. The ESMCP project budget, £1.0m, was offset by anticipated grant; however the timing of both expenditure and grant was dependent upon progress against the national project. Costs would not be incurred in the current year and an updated project timeframe was still awaited from the National project team.  Given the delay on the ESMCP project, the replacement station end project had also been delayed, however options were currently being reviewed to enhance resilience and ensure that any solution was compatible with the eventual ESMCP solution.

The budget also allowed for the replacement of the Services wide area network (WAN) providing an enhanced network and improving speed of use across the Service. The delivery of this was currently scheduled for the first half of the new financial year.

The balance of the budget related to the replacement of various systems, in line with the ICT asset management plan. We were still reviewing these systems in terms of requirements, having experienced capacity issues within various departments; hence the delay into the new financial year.

The year end capital outturn position, set out in appendix 1 also showed how the programme had been financed in year, from a combination of capital grant (£0.5m), revenue contributions (£1.5m), the drawdown of earmarked reserves (£0.2m) and a drawdown of general reserves (£2.4m).  The balance of the agreed revenue contributions (£0.9m) and the agreed drawdown of general reserves (£0.2m) has been transferred to the capital funding reserve and will be utilised in 2018/19.

Under the prudential framework, the Authority was required to identify various indicators to determine whether the approved capital programme was affordable, prudent and sustainable.  The revised indicators, after allowing for the various changes to the capital programme, which were set out in the report confirmed that performance had been within approved limits.

The original approved capital programme for 2018/19 was £8.0m which excluded slippage from 2017/18.  This had been amended to reflect the final level of slippage of £8.1m.  In addition, approval had been given to bringing forward the replacement of an ALP from 2019/20 into 2018/19 at a cost of £0.6m. Therefore, the final proposed capital programme for 2018/19 was £16.6m which was funded from capital grant, revenue contributions and capital reserves.  Full details of the programme and its funding were set out in Appendix 2 and considered by Members. 

Revised prudential indicators for 2018/19 to 2020/21 showed that the revised programme remained affordable, prudent and sustainable.

RESOLVED: - That the Committee: -

 i.     Noted the capital  outturn position, the financing of capital expenditure 2017/18 and the prudential indicators;

ii.     Approved the purchase of an additional pumping appliance, as opposed to 2 driver training vehicles, and the impact of this on the 2018/19 capital programme;

iii.     Note the adjustment to the 2018/19 capital programme to allow for the purchase of a new ALP; and

iv.     Approved the revised 2018/19 capital programme, and the financing of this and the prudential indicators.