Agenda item

Area

Overspend/ (Under spend)

Reason

£’000

Fleet & Technical Services

32

The overspend related to the timing of committed spend against breathing apparatus, operational equipment and breathing apparatus, as goods and services were ordered for delivery later in the financial year, and hydrant repair commitments.

Property

(157)

The underspend related to spend against planned repairs and maintenance as property department capacity was almost fully occupied with working on the current capital projects.  It was likely that this would result in a similar level of underspend by year end which would be reported in November.

IT

28

The current overspend predominantly related to the timing of annual software licences paid during the first part of the year, which would reduce as the year continued.

In addition, the national Emergency Services Mobile Communications Project (ESMCP) to replace the Airwave mobilising radio system was now underway, and as such LFRS had been allocated government funding to create up to 4 fixed term project roles to facilitate our transition to the replacement system in due course.  The Committee was asked to endorse the creation of these posts for this purpose.

Service Delivery

(98)

The underspend reflected the continued reductions in spending across many budget headings, for which next year’s budget would be adjusted, and the single most significant element of which was the ongoing underspend on smoke detectors as the new Home Fire Safety Check process continued to be embedded within the service.

Pay

(648)

In terms of the underspend to date, this was broken down as follows:

• Wholetime pay (£278k underspend) related to a combination of the timing of costs of ad hoc payments such as overtime and public holidays, which would be monitored closely for the rest of the financial year and the differences between the expected staffing numbers versus the actual staff in post.  In addition, following retirements to the end of August and 5 personnel leaving without accruing full pension benefits, there were 20 vacant posts which would continue to create underspends until the Lancaster wholetime pump was removed on 1 October.  The wholetime budget allowed for the recruitment of up to 30 staff in the second half of the year, to make up the anticipated shortfall in staff as retirements continued.  This recruitment exercise had been open to existing Retained Duty System (RDS) staff only.

• Retained pay (£220k underspend) related to vacant hours of cover across many fire stations, plus timing of spend for retained training courses scheduled for later in the financial year.  The current Wholetime recruitment could potentially create further reductions in hours of cover dependent on the number of RDS appointed and their subsequent ability to carry out dual roles.

Note the Retained pay budget also included an additional £600k in relation to the Strengthening and Improving RDS project, which was phased in at the end of the year pending identification and approval of specific requirements in due course.

• Support staff pay (£150k underspend) related to various vacant posts, for which recruitment was currently underway, including posts relating to the additional £100k budget added into ICT to create additional capacity.

Committed spend to Aug 16

£m

Pumping Appliances

0.964

Committed spend to date related to the purchase of 5 pumping appliances for the 2016/17 programme, which had been ordered and were currently in build, anticipated delivery was by March 2017.

Other vehicles

0.130

Committed spend to date related to various support vehicles from the 2015/16 and 2016/17 capital programmes which had either been delivered or had been ordered.

The balance of the budget related to:-

• the remaining planned support vehicles replacements, which were being reviewed prior to replacement;

• the replacement of 2 driver training vehicles (DTVs) for which specification options were currently being considered.

Operational Equipment / Future Firefighting

0.118

This £1m budget was set aside to meet the costs of innovations in firefighting equipment, and the spend to date reflected the purchase of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or drone, which was now operational, and the costs of trialling a new vehicle type to use as a water tower.  In addition, the initial purchase costs of flood suits would shortly be charged against this budget.

Building Modifications

1.527

The majority of committed spend to date related to the purchase of the property adjacent to Lancaster fire station in order to facilitate the redevelopment of the site.

The balance of the budget related to:-

• the remainder of the budget for the provision of a replacement for Lancaster Fire Station, incorporating a joint Fire & Ambulance facility, following the purchase of the adjacent site, we were expecting tender responses back during October;

• completion of the remaining items of capital works at the Training Centre site in order to make the site fit for purpose for the next five years, in addition the budget allowed for the relocation of the Fleet workshop to Training Centre.

IT systems

0.012

Committed spend to date related to the final stages of the phased implementation of the replacement asset management system begun during the last financial year.

The balance of the budget related to:-

• Initial costs of the national Emergency Services Mobile Communications Project (ESMCP) to replace the Airwave wide area radio system – with further budgetary provision included in the 2017/18 draft capital programme;

• the replacement of the wide area network (WAN) to allow a solution to be in place when current service contracts were due to end during 2017/18;

• The replacement of various systems, in line with the ICT asset management plan, however these were reviewed prior to starting the replacement process.