Earmarked Reserves - 2021-22 Year-End
Argyll and Bute Council · 30 June 2022
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL FINANCIAL SERVICES 30 JUNE 2022 EARMARKED RESERVES – 2021-22 YEAR-END 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide information on progress with balances already earmarked within the General Fund and new balances earmarked at the end of 2021- 22 that qualify for automatic carry forward or have been previously agreed. It also presents proposals to earmark 16 new areas of unspent budget which require approval. 1.2 The earmarked balance in the General Fund as at 31 March 2021 was £71.888m. Of this £18.923 has been spent during 2021-22 and £0.515m will be transferred back to the General Fund. The remainder is planned to be spent in future years. 1.3 There are 16 new unspent budget earmarking proposals from services totalling £1.307m with business cases for approval. These are noted in Appendix 2.1 and the associated business cases are in Appendices 2.1a to 2.1p. Department Description Appendix £000 Chief Executive's Unit Four unspent budget proposals 2.1a to 2.1d 226 Executive Director Douglas Hendry Six unspent budget proposals 2.1e to 2.1j 225 Executive Director Kirsty Flanagan Six unspent budget proposals 2.1k to 2.1p 856 Total 1,307 1.4 There are a further seven unspent budget carry forwards totalling £4.499m that have previously been agreed: • During 2021-22, an estates team led NDR review resulted in a saving of £0.200m. As part of the 2022-23 budget setting, it was agreed by Council on 24 February 2022 that this sum be accepted to provide a one off operational saving (Reference CS04) for 2022-23. • During 2021-22, a settlement on disputed amounts due in respect of the NPDO contract and an insurance review created one off savings totalling £0.166m. As part of the 2022-23 budget setting, it was agreed by Council on 24 February 2022 that this sum be accepted to provide a one off operational saving (Reference LRS01) for 2022-23. • At the Council meeting on 27 February 2020, an allocation of £2.856m for Helensburgh Waterfront as part of the Significant Strategic Change Projects allocation was agreed from the Loans Fund Review. This amount is being released to reserves to be utilised in 2022-23. • At the Council meeting on 27 February 2020, an allocation of £0.574m for Capital Programme Intolerable Red Risks was agreed from the Loans Fund Review. This amount is being released to reserves to be utilised in 2022-23.
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• As part of the 2022-23 budget setting, it was agreed by Council on 24 February 2022 that saving of £0.500m be made from the Loans Fund with at least £0.200m to come from underspends in 2021-22 (reference FS01). The amount of available underspend against the Loans Fund is £0.385m so this amount is being carried forward with the balance to be found in 2022-23 year. • An underspend of £0.283m on utility costs is being carried forward to contribute towards the expected adverse impact on the 2022-23 budget of utility costs inflation. The intention to earmark any underspend for this purpose was noted in the Budget Pack presented to Council on 24 February 2022. • Earmarking of £0.034m for investment income relating to the Asset Management Fund. When the Fund was set up, it was agreed that the income should be added to it annually and this amount relates to the income for 2021-22. 1.5 There are new balances totalling £16.474m that qualify for automatic carry forward at the end of 2021-22. These include £2.812m of COVID funding , £6.080m of unspent grants including 1140 hours and Crown Estates, £2.144m relating to Scottish Government Initiatives such as Employability Income and the expansion of free school meals, £2.136m relating to the Strategic Housing Fund and £1.6m of carry forwards for the schools as part of their Devolved Management of Resources (DMR). 1.6 The new earmarked balance as at 31 March 2022 amounts to £89.433m. The most significant elements of this balance relate to Capital Projects £24.722m, Unspent Grant £12.834m, Unspent Budget £10.404m, COVID-19 £9.407m and Strategic Housing Fund £6.590m. 1.7 There are historic earmarked reserves in relation to Social Work of £0.054m contained within this report (£0.040m against Unspent Third Party Contributions and £0.014m against Scottish Government Initiatives). For any new reserves, CIPFA LASAAC Guidance dictates that any reserves relating to the HSCP should be held as a creditor on the Balance Sheet as money owed to the HSCP from the Council. It should be noted that as at 31 March 2022, the balance being held on behalf of the HSCP in this manner is £2.148m.
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL FINANCIAL SERVICES 30 JUNE 2022 EARMARKED RESERVES - 2021-22 YEAR-END 2. INTRODUCTION 2.1 The purpose of this report is to provide information on progress with balances already earmarked within the General Fund and new balances earmarked at the end of 2021- 22 that qualify for automatic carry forward or have been previously agreed. It also presents proposals to earmark 16 new areas of unspent budget which require approval. 3. RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 The Council is asked to: a) review and approve the revised Policy on Year End Flexibility included as Appendix 1 b) approve the 16 new unspent budget earmarked reserve proposals totalling £1.307m as supported by submitted business cases and note that there are a further 7 unspent budget earmarkings amounting to £4.499m that have been previously approved, as outlined in Appendices 2.1 and 2.2. c) note the new balances of £16.474m at the end of 2021-22 that qualify for automatic carry-forward as outlined in Appendix 3. d) note the previously approved unspent budget earmarked reserves of £10.450m and the justification for continuing to earmark these as outlined in Appendix 4. e) note a total of £56.704m of automatically carried forward balances which are previously earmarked balances in addition to the new amounts earmarked as a result of budget decisions in February 2021 and February 2022 as outlined in Appendix 5. f) approve an amendment to the funding behind the agreed £2.653m allocation to Roads Reconstruction. A revised amount of £0.887m coming from unallocated COVID funding and the balance of £1.766m coming from the unallocated general fund balance. g) note that £0.515m of no longer required earmarked balances will be released back into the General Fund. h) note that £2.148m relating to Social Work reserves is recognised on the Balance Sheet and is outwith the scope of this report
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4. DETAIL 4.1 Background 4.1.1 The Council has previously agreed automatic earmarking of the General Fund in respect of the following situations: • The balances in relation to the Strategic Housing Fund, CHORD and unspent budget within the Devolved Management of Resources (DMR) Scheme of Delegation for schools. • Any unspent grants and unspent contributions from external bodies are earmarked on the basis that the monies would have to be returned/repaid if not used for the purpose intended. • Any unspent budget that relates to existing policy commitments arising from a previous Council decision or is required to meet an existing legal commitment is earmarked. • Any unspent funding provided by the Scottish Government to implement new legislation or government initiatives is earmarked. The funding carried forward is used solely for its intended purpose to fund the implementation of new government directions. • Any savings generated from energy efficiency measures are carried forward in an Energy Efficiency Fund for reinvestment to further reduce the Council’s energy costs and carbon emission levels. • The Piers and Harbours Investment Fund – for additional fees and charges income generated from Piers and Harbours operation the funds will be used to meet the costs of the prudential borrowing required to develop and maintain the Council’s harbour assets and infrastructure. • Hermitage Park - to meet the costs of the 10 year Management and Maintenance Plan which is a condition of the Heritage Lottery Funding investment into the Park. • One Council Property – to invest in the Council’s property portfolio to ensure it remains fit for purpose • Fleet Timing Delay – will be used where an order has been committed to be spent from revenue budget but supplier issues prevent delivery within the financial year 4.1.2 Outwith the situations noted above there will be no automatic carry forward of unspent budget. Earmarking of funds in relation to unspent budget and not covered by the criteria above are reported to Members for approval and supported by a business case. 4.2 New Earmarked Reserves 4.2.1 Appendix 2.1 provides detail of the new unspent budget proposals from services at the end of the 2021-22 financial year. These total £1.307m. Members are asked to review these new proposed earmarked balances together with the business cases developed by services which are included as Appendices 2.1a to 2.1p. 4.2.2 Appendix 2.2 provides detail of the new unspent budget proposals that have previously been agreed by Council in relation to commitments to specific areas of spend such as Capital Programme pressures to be funded from the Loans Fund and
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savings targets or expected cost pressures funded from one off underspends. These amount to £4.499m. 4.2.3 There are new earmarked balances for the 2021-22 financial year which qualify for automatic carry forward in line with the conditions outlined in paragraphs 4.1.1. The new automatic carry forwards amount to £16.474m and are outlined in Appendix 3. These include £2.812m of COVID funding , £6.080m of unspent grants including 1140 hours and Crown Estates, £2.144m relating to Scottish Government Initiatives such as Employability Income and the expansion of free school meals, £2.136m relating to the Strategic Housing Fund and £1.6m of carry forwards for the schools as part of their Devolved Management of Resources (DMR). Note that COVID funding (amounting to £2.812m) is being carried forward under ‘Scottish Government Initiatives’ but has been allocated its own category of COVID-19 to allow easier reporting. 4.3 Previously Approved Balances 4.3.1 Appendix 4 outlines the previously agreed earmarked balances of £10.450m from unspent budget with a note on the plans for use and, in some instances, further justification for why the amounts remain earmarked. An indicative spending profile has been included for each earmarked balance but these may vary as projects progress and require amendment. These balances have been scrutinised by SMT to ensure there are clear spending plans in place and that the purpose of the earmarking is in line with Council priorities. 4.3.2 Appendix 5 outlines the £56.704m of carried forward previously approved earmarked balances, in addition to the new amounts earmarked from the unallocated balance as part of the budget at Council on 25 February 2022 and also two additional amounts agreed for 20-21 revenue budget. These are only provided for information as they are balances which qualify for automatic carry forward or have been subject to a previous Council decision. 4.3.3 The new earmarking agreed at the Council Budget Meeting on 25 February 2022 is summarised below: • Climate Change Programme - £0.500m • Provision for Learning Estate Investment Programme - £1.000m • Active Travel - £0.500m • Street Lighting - £0.300m • Bin Replacement Programme - £0.100m • Roads Reconstruction Programme - £1.766m* * Per the budget motion based on estimated COVID underspends the split was £1.488m from unallocated general fund and £1.165m from COVID but the year end position for COVID moved and therefore it is recommended that the difference of £0.278m be added to the general fund allocation. 4.3.4 In addition, there are amounts remaining from budget decisions made in relation to the 2021-22 revenue budget. These are recognising amounts of funding from COVID including additional funding received after the budget was agreed and an agreed transfer to the Capital Plan. They are: • COVID Funding – Balance of Budget Motion - £4.888m • COVID Funding – Additional £40m GRG - £0.712m
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• COVID Funding – amounts allocated to 21-22 revenue cost pressures that were not required - £1.962m • Transfer to Capital Plan - £2.975m 4.3.5 Within Appendix 5, the funding sources from COVID are shown but are then reallocated out to the specific agreed areas of spend going into 2022-23 year. These agreed areas of spend originate from budget decisions made on 24 February 2021, amended by P&R decisions during the year and then finalised on 25 February 2022. There is a change to the value against Roads Reconstruction compared to that agreed at the budget meeting, this is because the COVID position moved between the February COVID report and the actual position at year end. The amount available from COVID for Roads Reconstruction is £0.887m. It is recommended the balance of the £2.653m agreed allocation is taken from the unallocated general fund balance (a movement of £0.278m – less coming from COVID and more coming from the general fund). 4.4 Balances released back to the General Fund 4.4.1 The funds totalling £0.515m that will be un-earmarked and released back into the General Fund are detailed in the paragraphs that follow. 4.4.2 A £0.200m from Investment in Affordable Housing. This earmarked reserve provides cash backed reserves for the loans to registered social landlords and the revised balance of £3.3m reflects the balance on those loans at 31 March 2022. 4.4.3 A £0.108m from Purchase of Catering Equipment – the earmarking related to the purchase of additional kitchen equipment to enable the implementation of free school meals. Since the further rollout to P6 and P7 pupils is paused and awaiting government decision in relation to affordability, this earmarking can be released in the meantime. 4.4.4 A £0.073m from the Innovation Fund – this funding was delegated to the transformation board, which no longer exists. 4.4.5 A £0.050m from Skype for Business for Education – the rollout project is almost complete with only £0.010m estimated spend due in 22-23 so the balance can be released. 4.4.6 A £0.041m from Dunoon Business Improvement District – budget is now baselined so the earmarked reserve is not required. 4.4.7 A £0.039m from Management of Asbestos – budget is now baselined so the earmarked reserve is not required 4.4.8 A £0.004m from Marine Aquaculture – consultancy costs are now fully paid, coming in under initial estimate so the remaining balance is not required. 4.5 General Fund Balance 4.5.1 The General Fund balance at 31 March 2021 was £78.245m. Of this £71.888m was approved by Council to be earmarked for specific purposes. The table at paragraph 4.6 summarises the movement in the earmarked balance to 31 March 2022.
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4.5.2 A total of £89.433m is earmarked to be carried forward into 2022-23. The most significant elements of this balance relate to Capital Projects £24.722m, Unspent Grant £12.834m, Unspent Budget £10.404m, COVID-19 £9.407m and Strategic Housing Fund £6.590m. 4.5.3 The earmarked balances will be monitored throughout the financial year and reported to the Policy and Resources Committee. 4.6 Movement in Earmarked Balances Earmarking Category Balance at 31 March 2021 £000 Transfers Between Categories £000 New Earmarking from 2021-22 Outturn £000 New Earmarking Agreed by Council during 2021-22 £000 Actual Spend 2021-22 £000 Released back to General Fund £000 Balance Carried Forward to 2022-23 £000 Strategic Housing Fund 7,126 0 2,136 0 (2,672) 0 6,590 Investment in Affordable Housing 3,500 0 0 0 0 (200) 3,300 Capital Projects 7,452 15,378 3,430 4,741 (6,279) 0 24,722 Lochgilphead and Tarbert Regeneration 2,272 0 0 0 (1) 0 2,271 Support for Rural Growth Deal 1,195 0 0 0 (137) 0 1,058 Asset Management Investment 2,573 0 34 0 0 0 2,607 Piers and Harbours Investment Fund 970 0 673 0 0 0 1,643 Scottish Government Initiatives 1,116 0 2,144 0 (119) 0 3,141 Transformation 73 0 0 0 0 (73) 0 CHORD 262 0 87 0 0 0 349 DMR Schools 1,020 0 1,601 0 (639) 0 1,982 Energy Efficiency Fund 218 0 0 0 0 0 218 Existing Legal Commitments 588 0 0 0 (113) 0 475 Unspent Grant 8,393 2 6,080 0 (1,637) (4) 12,834 Unspent Third Party Contribution 144 (2) 49 0 (25) 0 166 Previous Council Decision - Other 5,664 (3,096) 244 2,400 (828) (41) 4,343 Redundancy Provision 1,899 0 0 0 (167) 0 1,732 Supporting Organisational Change 499 1,200 0 0 (111) 0 1,588 Spend to Save Route Optimisation Software 100 0 0 0 0 0 100 Timing Delay 107 0 392 0 0 0 499 Hermitage Park 0 0 4 0 0 0 4 COVID-19 13,469 (9,433) 2,812 7,562 (5,003) 0 9,407 Unspent Budget 13,248 (4,049) 2,594 0 (1,192) (197) 10,404 Totals 71,888 0 22,280 14,703 (18,923) (515) 89,433
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4.7 Health and Social Care Partnership 4.7.1 There are historic earmarked reserves in relation to Social Work of £0.054m contained within this report (£0.040m against Unspent Third Party Contributions and £0.014m against Scottish Government Initiatives) and can be found in Appendix 5, references 066 and 067. 4.7.2 For any new reserves, CIPFA LASAAC Guidance dictates that any reserves relating to the HSCP should be held as a creditor on the Balance Sheet as money owed to the HSCP from the Council. It should be noted that the balance being held on behalf of the HSCP in this manner is £2.148m. 5. CONCLUSION 5.1 A total of £0.515m of earmarked balances will be released back into the General Fund. 5.2 Services have submitted their new proposed unspent budget earmarked reserves balances for the 2021-22 year-end for consideration by Members together with business cases to support the requests, these proposals total £1.307m. In addition there is a further £4.499m unspent budget earmarking previously approved in relation to Capital Programme pressures to be funded from the Loans Fund and savings targets or expected cost pressures funded from one off underspends 5.3 There are a number of previously approved unspent budget earmarked reserves balances where there are plans to spend in future years and these have been scrutinised by SMT to confirm there is clear justification for these to continue to be earmarked. 5.4 There are new balances totalling £16.474m that qualify for automatic carry forward for the Council at the end of 2021-22. 6. IMPLICATIONS 6.1 Policy Outlines the new proposed unspent budget earmarking to be carried forward as per the updated policy. Also outlines the new balances to be earmarked which qualify for automatic carry forward 6.2 Financial Outlines all earmarked balances held within the General Fund 6.3 Legal None 6.4 HR None 6.5 Fairer Scotland Duty None 6.5.1 Equalities None 6.5.2 Socio-Economic Duty None 6.5.3 6.6 Islands Duty Climate Change None None 6.7 Risk None 6.8 Customer Service None Kirsty Flanagan Executive Director/Section 95 Officer Councillor Gary Mulvaney – Policy Lead for Finance and Commercial Services
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6 June 2022 APPENDICES Appendix 1 – Policy on End of Year Flexibility Appendix 2.1 – New Unspent Budget Proposals 2021-22 (New Business Cases) Appendix 2.1a – Business Case – Communities and Partnership Team Appendix 2.1b – Business Case – Gaelic Development Appendix 2.1c – Business Case – Financial Systems Appendix 2.1d – Business Case – Accounting and Budgeting Team Resilience Appendix 2.1e – Business Case – Catering and Cleaning Restructure Costs Appendix 2.1f – Business Case – Proposed Demolition of Former Lochgilphead Primary School Appendix 2.1g – Business Case – Councillor IT Equipment – for new Council from May 2022 Appendix 2.1h – Business Case – Transformation Programme Manager Appendix 2.1i – Business Case – Debt Counselling & Welfare Rights Appendix 2.1j – Business Case – Community Safety Partnership Appendix 2.1k – Business Case – Microsoft 365 – Future Licensing Appendix 2.1l – Business Case – Security Operations Centre Subscription Appendix 2.1m – Business Case – Establishing HR Service Centre Appendix 2.1n – Business Case – Island Post Appendix 2.1o – Business Case – Waste Strategy Appendix 2.1p – Business Case – Kintyre Recycling Redundancy Costs Appendix 2.2 – New Unspent Budget Proposals 2021-22 (Previously Agreed) Appendix 3 – New Automatic Carry Forward Earmarkings 2021-22 Appendix 4 – Previously Agreed Earmarked Balances – Unspent Budget Appendix 5 – Previously Agreed Earmarked Balances – Automatic Carry Forward For further information contact Anne Blue, Interim Head of Financial Services anne.blue@argyll-bute.gov.uk
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APPENDIX 1 FINANCIAL SERVICES POLICY ON END OF YEAR FLEXIBILITY 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Local Authority Accounting Panel (LAAP) Bulletin 99 provides guidance to local authorities on the establishment and maintenance of local authority reserves and balances. 1.2 When reviewing their medium term financial plans and preparing annual budgets, local authorities should consider the establishment and maintenance of reserves which can be held for three main purposes: • A working balance to help cushion the impact of uneven cash flows and avoid unnecessary temporary borrowing – this forms part of general reserves; • A contingency to cushion the impact of unexpected events or emergencies – this also forms part of general reserves; • A means of building up funds, often referred to as earmarked reserves, to meet known or predicted requirements; earmarked reserves are accounted for separately but remain legally part of the general fund. 1.3 Given the tightening financial situation it is essential that the Council gives proper scrutiny to any proposal to earmark balances or carry forward funds. In particular the Council should seek to ensure funding that is carried forward is directed to and supports Council priorities in terms of corporate and service plans. 1.4 This note outlines the policy adopted by the Council for the earmarking and carry forward of surplus funds to future years. 2. POLICY 2.1 SMT agreed the ten situations where earmarking of the general fund reserve is permitted. 2.2 SMT agreed the protocol for use of reserves. 3. DETAIL 3.1 The Council hold a general fund reserve. It comprises the following elements: • A contingency for any unforeseen events or emergencies. The contingency is reviewed each year as part of the budget process. • The Strategic Housing Fund. • Balances held to support the following year’s budget. • Earmarked funds as noted below.
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APPENDIX 1 FINANCIAL SERVICES POLICY ON END OF YEAR FLEXIBILITY 3.2 At the end of each financial year any surplus for the year is added to the general fund reserve. At this time the Council have the opportunity to consider earmarking surplus funds. 3.3 There are eleven situations where earmarking of the general fund reserve is permitted. • Unspent grant. On some occasions a grant is received in one financial year and will not be spent/fully spent until the following financial year. If the grant is not spent on the purpose intended the Council would have to return the unspent grant, therefore, the unspent grant is required to be held in the general fund and earmarked for that purpose next year. • Unspent third party contribution. The council may receive a contribution from third parties towards a project/work stream but the project spans more than one financial year. As with grant payments the contribution would have to be repaid if not spent on the purpose it was intended for. In this instance, the unspent contribution is required to be held in the general fund and earmarked for that purpose next year. • Unspent budget within the Devolved Management of Resources (DMR) Scheme of Delegation for schools. This allows for the carry forward of unspent budget within schools, partly to give flexibility over the school year as opposed to the Council’s financial year. Unspent budget is required to be held in the general fund and earmarked for the school next year. This carry forward operates within the agreed scheme of delegation for school budgets. • CHORD funding. Any budget allocated to the CHORD programme will be ring fenced and any unspent balance at the year-end will be carried forward to support the overall CHORD programme. • Existing Legal Commitments. • Scottish Government Initiatives. The council may receive additional funding from the Scottish Government to implement new Government initiatives or legislation. Any unspent funding at year end will be held in the general fund and earmarked for that purpose next year. • Energy Efficiency Fund. Any savings generated from energy efficiency measures are to be pooled for reinvestment in additional projects which further reduce the Council’s energy costs and carbon emission levels.
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APPENDIX 1 FINANCIAL SERVICES POLICY ON END OF YEAR FLEXIBILITY • Piers and Harbours Investment Fund. Additional fees and charges income generated from Piers and Harbours operations are to be pooled and used to meet the costs of the prudential borrowing required to develop and maintain the Council’s harbour assets and infrastructure. • Hermitage Park. The Hermitage Park regeneration project has a significant investment from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) which has a requirement to have a 10 year Management and Maintenance Plan. This will be partly funded by existing Council revenue budgets but should also be supplemented by any additional income which can be generated from park activities. Part of the HLF conditions are that all income generated by the park should be retained to support the Management and Maintenance Plan and a result of this requirement, any unspent income generated by the park is retained for future years requirements. • One Council Property Team. The corporate approach to managing property has been in place since 2018 and historically any surplus above budget will have been absorbed by the Service and ultimately gone to the general fund. Going forward, it is proposed to create a ring-fenced fund for One Council Property to invest in the Council’s property portfolio to ensure it remains fit for purpose. • Fleet - Timing Delay. In 2020-21 year, there has been a particular problem with orders not being delivered because of manufacturing issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A new automatic earmarking category is proposed to allow the value of fleet orders submitted but not delivered due to supplier issues to be automatically earmarked to offset the invoice when the order is received. 3.4 Outwith these eleven situations noted above there will be no automatic carry forward of unspent budget. Any surplus arising from unspent budget within departments/services will be pooled and transferred into the general fund reserve. 4. PROTOCOL FOR USE OF RESERVES 4.1 There are exceptional circumstances where a proposal to earmark unspent budget may be considered. There is no set timetable for this. • The Council’s level of general reserve contingency must be fully met.
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APPENDIX 1 FINANCIAL SERVICES POLICY ON END OF YEAR FLEXIBILITY • The purpose for the earmarking must be linked to the objectives, priorities and targets as set out in the Council’s Corporate Plan, Area Plans and Service Plans. • There needs to be a business case that justifies the required expenditure. • Consideration of the business case must take account of the future budgetary and financial outlook in order not to place undue financial pressure on the Council in the future. 4.2 Any requests to earmark unspent budget based on the criteria above must be submitted to the SMT in the first instance. SMT would assess the proposal and if it considers the proposal worthy of support would submit it to the Council with a recommendation. Proposals not supported by SMT will proceed no further. Kirsty Flanagan Section 95 Officer 2 June 2022
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Appendix 2.1 With Business Cases Ref Service Description New Earmarking Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S UNIT 001 Community Planning Communities and Partnership Team 8,855 Unspent Budget The funds have originated from externally sourced income due to an employee being seconded to the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC). The funds will be used to support the team in relation to meeting its priorities of Building Back Better (Communities), Climate Change and the review of the Argyll and Bute Outcome Improvement Plan. 8,855 0 0 002 Community Planning Gaelic Development 8,235 Unspent Budget To fund Gaelic specific work and project work of the Community Planning Partnership including the development of the new 10 year Outcome Improvement Plan 8,235 0 0 003 Financial Services Financial Systems 114,000 Unspent Budget To fund the completion of the implementation of the Oracle Fusion Financial Management System, a software update for cash receipting to ensure card payments can still betaken and theprocurement and implementation of a newsystem tomanage the requirements of the IFRS16 Leases accounting standard. 114,000 0 0 004 Financial Services Accounting and Budgeting Team Resilience 95,000 Unspent Budget To fund the implementation of a new staffing structure in 2022/23 as agreed at ELT on 12 April 2022. This will provide funding to cover the additional staffing costs in 2022/23 and the training costs over the period 2022/23 to 2026/27 76,000 5,000 14,000 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (DOUGLAS HENDRY) 005 Commercial Services Catering and Cleaning Restructure Costs 17,000 Unspent Budget To support the catering and cleaning team restructure 17,000 0 0 006 Commercial Services Proposed Demolition of Former Lochgilphead Primary School 70,000 Unspent Budget To be added to existing earmarked reserve to fund the demolition of the former Lochgilphead Primary School. This extra earmarking is required due to additional cost projections 70,000 0 0 007 Legal and Regulatory Support Councillor IT Equipment 65,000 Unspent Budget To meet the cost of provision of IT equipment for all new Elected Members as a result of the Local Government Election in May 2022. 65,000 0 0 008 Legal and Regulatory Support Transformation Programme Manager 30,000 Unspent Budget To fund the Transformation Programme Manager for further year to facilitate the implementation of the Transformation programme. 0 30,000 0 009 Legal and Regulatory Support Debt Counselling & Welfare Rights 27,025 Unspent Budget To meet the cost of a Debt Counselling and Welfare Rights Management System. 27,025 0 0 010 Legal and Regulatory Support Community Safety Partnership 16,000 Unspent Budget To earmark the Community Safety Partnership funding received for 2021/22 to beused for Community Safety Partnership purposes. 16,000 0 0 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (KIRSTY FLANAGAN) 011 Customer Support Services Microsoft 365 300,000 Unspent Budget To be added to existing earmarked reserves to meet increasing MS365 licensing costs from 2022/23 onwards 166,930 133,070 0 012 Customer Support Services Security Operations Centre Subscription 76,455 Unspent Budget There is a requirement to pay for a 3-year subscription at £60,000 per annum with a cost pressure being added to the ICT revenue budget to cover the costs from year 4 onwards. There is unallocated funding of £103,545 from the earmarking created at 2020/21 year end for 'Digital Projects', so the earmarking request for 2021/22 year end is the balance of £76,455 16,455 60,000 013 Customer Support Services Establishing HR Service Centre 30,000 Unspent Budget To facilitate the implementation of technical efficiency improvements and new processes 18,000 12,000 0 014 Development & Economic Growth Island Post 50,461 Unspent Budget To fund a temporary post at LGE11 to assist with the National Islands Plan Implementation Route Map 2020-2025 50,461 0 0 NEW Unspent Budget Proposals - 2021-22 Year End Spending profile
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Ref Service Description New Earmarking Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards Spending profile 015 Roads & Infrastructure Waste Strategy 363,000 Unspent Budget To fund/part-fund various waste infrastructure projects that will support the council's compliance with the 2025 ban on the Landfill of Biodegradable Municipal Waste. 225,000 138,000 0 016 Roads & Infrastructure Kintyre Recycling Redundancy Costs 36,000 Unspent Budget To fund redundancy costs associated with Kintyre Recycling 36,000 0 0 1,307,031 898,506 334,525 74,000
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Appendix 2.1a Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY CHIEF EXECUTIVE 23 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE COMMUNITIES AND PARTNERSHIP TEAM 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 It is proposed that £8,855 be earmarked from the revenue budget underspend within Communities and Partnership (Community Planning and Community Development) in 2021-23. There is a spending plan for this earmarking which has occurred through additional income from a secondment. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 Business Case The funds to be earmarked are for specific purposes for use within 2022/23 and the funds are externally sourced – secondment of employee to Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC). The funds will provide support to the team. This support is much needed as the team has grown for specific purposes aligned to priorities of Building Back Better (Communities), Climate Change and review of the Argyll and Bute Outcome Improvement Plan. These projects will be undertaken over 18 months. 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £8,855 will be spent from 2022/23 onwards. CHIEF EXECUTIVE
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Appendix 2.1b Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY CHIEF EXECUTIVE 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE GAELIC DEVELOPMENT 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 It is proposed that £8,235 be earmarked from the revenue budget underspend within Communities and Partnership (Community Planning and Community Development) in 2021-23 to fund Gaelic specific work and project work of the Community Planning Partnership including the development of the new 10 year Outcome Improvement Plan. 2.2 2.2.1 Business Case The funds to be earmarked are for specific purposes and the funds are externally sourced. Specifically these are: - Contributions from partner organisations to fund development of a climate change strategy for Argyll and Bute through the Community Planning Partnership. - Funds from delivery of a Community Planning shared service, which will be used to support the review of the 10-year Outcome Improvement Plan, due March 2023. - Externally awarded funds from Bòrd na Gàidhlig for Gaelic Development Worker and associated action for 2023. 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £8,235 will be spent from 2022/23 onwards. CHIEF EXECUTIVE
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Appendix 2.1c Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY INTERIM HEAD OF FINANCIAL SERVICES 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE FINANCIAL SYSTEMS 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 It is proposed that £0.114m be earmarked from the revenue budget underspend within Financial Services in 2021/22 to fund the following work on three critical Finance line of business systems: • The completion of the implementation of the Oracle Fusion Financial Management System; • A software update to the cash receipting system required to ensure that card payments can still be taken from payees; and • The procurement and implementation of a new system to manage the requirements of the implementation of the IFRS16 Leases accounting standard. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 Business Case The current Oracle E Business Financial Management System will reach the end of its operational life in 2022 and is therefore currently being replaced with a new cloud based financial management system called Oracle Fusion. During the project to implement the new system a number of issues related to the complexity of the new system have arisen which have delayed the go live date by two months and increased the level and duration of the support required from the Council’s implementation consultants. In order to complete the implementation and get this business critical system live early in the 2022/23 financial year, additional funding of of £0.081m will be required. The Council’s cash receipting system vendor has informed the Council of a change to how its system processes card payments from payees. The change will require the Council to make a change to its system configuration which will cost £0.003m to
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Appendix 2.1c 2.2.4 implement during 2022/23 in order to ensure that card payments can still be collected. The Council will be required to implement the IFRS16 Leases accounting standard which changes how it accounts for operational leases by no later than 1 April 2024. Scoping work completed to date has identified the essential need to procure an IT solution to manage leases and provide the accounting entries and notes required to produce the Council’s annual accounts in line with the new accounting standard. Subsequently, the sum of £0.030m is requested to fund the procurement and implementation of an IFRS16 system during the 2022/23 financial year. 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £0.114m will be spent during 2022/23. ANNE BLUE INTERIM HEAD OF FINANCIAL SERVICES
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Appendix 2.1d Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY INTERIM HEAD OF FINANCIAL SERVICES 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE ACCOUNTING AND BUDGETING TEAM RESILIENCE 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 It is proposed that £0.095m be earmarked from the revenue budget underspend within Financial Services in 2021-22 to fund the impact of measures agreed by the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) on the 12th of April 2022 to strengthen and build a sustainable foundation in the Accounting and Budgeting Team within Financial Services. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 Business Case At its meeting on the 12th of April 2022, the ELT reviewed a paper which highlighted the fragility of the Accounting and Budgeting Team caused by ongoing vacancies and long term sickness absences amongst professional staff. To provide a more sustainable foundation for the Team going forward, informed through workforce planning and succession analysis activity, the ELT agreed the following measures: • Create a new SLGE11 post within the Finance Team which support Education; • Regrade one of the SLGE11 posts to a SLGE12 post within the Finance Team which supports DIS; and • Create a new SLGE9 trainee accountant post to ensure effective succession planning. As the decision was made after the Council had set its budget for 2022/23, the new posts were not included in the annual budget and are therefore having to be funded from reserves for the first year. From 2023/24 onwards, the cost of the new posts will be baselined into the revenue budget.
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Appendix 2.1d 2.2.4 The proposal to earmark £0.095m from the 2021/22 underspend in the service will provide funding to cover the additional staffing costs in 2022/23, as mentioned above, and the training costs over the period 2022/23 to 2026/27. 2.3 Expenditure Profile It is expected that the funding will spent across the period 2022/23 to 2026/27 as follows: 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 2026/27 Total £0.076m £0.005m £0.005m £0.005m £0.004m £0.095m ANNE BLUE INTERIM HEAD OF FINANCIAL SERVICES
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Appendix 2.1e Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DOUGLAS HENDRY JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE CATERING AND CLEANING RESTRUCTURE COSTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 It is proposed that £17,000 be earmarked from the revenue budget underspend within Commercial Services in 2021-22 to support the catering and cleaning team restructure. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 Business Case As a result of significant changes to the Catering and Cleaning Service since the development of its innovations work in 2016, an updated management structure was required to better reflect the roles and responsibilities undertaken by the team. The proposed structure was approved by the Departmental Team in December 2021, and work commenced to carry out the required new post development work to enable the changes to take place. The Catering and Cleaning team has an underspend in the 2021-22 budget which it intended to use to offset the costs associated with these changes. However, as the new structure will now commence on 1st July 2022, an earmarking is required to cover the start-up costs for training and equipment supporting four new post holders, which is likely to cost £17,000. 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £17,000 will be spent early in 2022-23 to enable the new structure to operate effectively as soon as post holders are appointed. DOUGLAS HENDRY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMERCIAL SERVICES
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Appendix 2.1f Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DOUGLAS HENDRY 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE PROPOSED DEMOLITION OF FORMER LOCHGILPHEAD PRIMARY SCHOOL 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 It is proposed that an additional £70,000 be earmarked from the revenue budget underspend within Commercial Services in 2021-22 to fund the demolition of the former Lochgilphead Primary School. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 2.2.4 2.2.5 Business Case In the 2020-21 budget £250,000 was earmarked for the demolition of Lochgilphead Primary School with any remaining funds to be used for early investigations into the proposed demolition of the former Rothesay Academy (subject to the listing being removed). Following further investigations it has been confirmed that significant asbestos removal works will be required at Lochgilphead Primary School prior to demolition. The cost of this is estimated at around £90,000. In addition the demolition works have been tendered and the anticipated cost is £160,000. Including fees the total cost is estimated to be around £300,000. Accordingly additional budget is required to complete the demolition and including a contingency (£20,000) it is requested that £320,000 in total is earmarked resulting in a request for an additional £70,000 to be earmarked from the 2021-22 budget. The former Lochgilphead Primary School was vacated over 10 years ago and has not been used productively since then. The property has understandably deteriorated over this period. Despite efforts from Planning to promote the former Lochgilphead Primary School and Estates marketing the former Rothesay Academy for sale over a number of
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Appendix 2.1f 2.2.6 2.2.7 2.2.8 2.2.9 years no serious proposals have been received due to the costs of demolition / conversion. Both properties have become a source of concern for the Property team, local Police and the council’s Insurers in terms of vandalism, anti-social behaviour, maintenance costs and ongoing repairs to keep the properties secure. There is also a danger of youths gaining access and injuring themselves. The former Rothesay Academy is a listed building and therefore any proposals will be subject to consultation with Historic Environment Scotland to remove or vary the listing to allow the property, or part of, to be demolished. During 2021, Fyne Homes who own the upper part of the former Rothesay Academy, demolished this part of the school which is not listed and this also suggests the council should be considering its part of the school. Initial assessment of the costs of demolition for Lochgilphead Primary School had suggested the following range (£125-£170k) and the tendered cost is £160k. However the identified asbestos works require additional budget to be provided and accordingly there won’t be any surplus funds at present to progress investigations into Rothesay Academy from earmarked funds at this stage. Therefore the work will require to be phased over more than one financial year subject to ongoing funding being available. There will also be ongoing savings from the demolition based on non-domestic rates for Lochgilphead Primary (£13,562 per year). 2.3 Expenditure Profile The total expenditure expected of £320,000 will be spent from 2022/23 onwards. DOUGLAS HENDRY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMERCIAL SERVICES
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Appendix 2.1g Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DOUGLAS HENDRY 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE COUNCILLOR IT EQUIPMENT – FOR NEW COUNCIL FROM MAY 2022 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 The Council requires to make additional provision to meet the cost of the provision of IT equipment for all new Elected Members as a result of the Local Government Election in May 2022. It is proposed that £65,000 be earmarked from the favourable 2021/22 outturn position to fund this. The key outcomes for Elected Members and the Council which could be achieved through this project are: • Facilitate more efficient working and enable meeting attendance from alternative locations. • Build in resilience. • Facilitate Elected Members with the carrying out of their duties. 2.2 2.2.1 Business Case The Council requires to provide all Elected Members with the capability of accessing all papers required for Council meetings and provide a means of carrying out their official duties. These meetings may be fully remote; Hybrid i.e. with individual members and officers in the Council chambers, and at specified area council offices for area committees for example, and other attendees accessing remotely; fully on-site where all members attend the Council chamber. Additionally to integrate with the committee management information system provided by Civica Modern.Gov for attendees to access meeting agenda and papers, with indexed agenda, and a subsequent indexed recording to be available.
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Appendix 2.1g 2.2.2 2.2.3 2.2.4 The priority outcome of this project is the ability to deliver all required IT equipment for each Elected Member on their election to the Council in May 2022. Members will require: • Tablet and accessories • Laptop and accessories • Mobile phone The identified sum of £65,000 relates to replacement IT equipment, software, warranties and accidental damage cover. The project and business outcomes also align well with the Legal And Regulatory Support Service Improvement Plan, in terms of commitment to improve efficiency and customer service through improved access to Council Meetings. 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £65,000 will be spent in 2022/23. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DOUGLAS HENDRY WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR LEGAL AND REGULATORY SUPPORT
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Appendix 2.1h Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DOUGLAS HENDRY 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME MANAGER 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 The Council requires to make additional provision to meet the cost of funding the post of Transformation Programme Manager for a further year to facilitate the implementation of the Transformation programme. It is proposed that £30,000 be earmarked from the favourable 2021/22 outturn position to fund this. Business Case The Council’s Transformation Programme is progressing at pace and is being facilitated by the post of Transformation Programme Manager. It is proposed that this post be extended for a further year to facilitate the implementation of the Transformation programme through the next stages. The Council’s transformation agenda is developing and continues to require a Transformation Programme Manager to take leadership and ownership in implementing this piece of work. The Transformation Programme Manager will assist the Executive Director to deliver the Council’s transformation agenda by developing, analysing and monitoring initiatives and projects which deliver the vision, values and strategic objectives of the Council. The Transformation Programme Manager supports project leads as required to help develop their proposals in an objective and supportive manner, providing guidance on value for money and business analysis. The funding of this post plus all relevant travel and IT costs for the next year will be £100,000. A balance of £70,259 remains from previous sums earmarked and it is proposed that an additional sum of £30,000 be added to this.
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Appendix 2.1h 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £30,000 will be spent during 2023/24. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DOUGLAS HENDRY WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR LEGAL AND REGULATORY SUPPORT
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Appendix 2.1i Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DOUGLAS HENDRY 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE DEBT COUNSELLING & WELFARE RIGHTS MANAGEMENT 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 The Council requires to make additional provision to meet the cost of a Debt Counselling & Welfare Rights Management System. It is proposed that £27,025 be earmarked from the favourable 2021/22 outturn position to fund this. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 Business Case The Council Welfare Rights Team have secured a contract with AdvicePro to supply a fully-managed, secure web-based case management system developed specifically for advice organisations. It captures client personal and socio-economic details and casework information over a wide range of matter this will be utilised by Argyll and Bute Council to facilitate Debt Counselling & Welfare Rights. The identified sum of £27,025 relates to costings for the duration of the contract. The project and business outcomes also align well with the Legal And Regulatory Support Service Improvement Plan, in terms of commitment to improve efficiency and customer service. 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £27,025 will be spent from 2022/23 onwards. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DOUGLAS HENDRY WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR LEGAL AND REGULATORY SUPPORT
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Appendix 2.1j Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DOUGLAS HENDRY 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE COMMUNITY SAFETY PARTNERSHIP 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 The Council requires to make provision for the Community Safety Partnership monies received for 2021/22. It is proposed that £16,000 be earmarked from the favourable 2021/22 outturn position to fund this. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 Business Case During 20/21 additional funding of £16,000 was received for Community Safety Partnership purposes. Spending plans were delayed due to ongoing covid impacts however it is the intention that these monies will be utilised by Community Safety Partnership in future years. The identified sum of £16,000 will be required to meet future obligations. 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £16,000 will be spent from 2022/23 onwards. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DOUGLAS HENDRY WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR LEGAL AND REGULATORY SUPPORT
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Appendix 2.1k Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KIRSTY FLANAGAN 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE MICROSOFT 365 – FUTURE LICENSING 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 It is proposed that £300,000 be earmarked from the revenue budget underspend for Software Licences within ICT in 2021/22 and added to existing earmarked reserves to meet increasing MS365 licensing costs from 2022/23 onwards. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 Business Case The ICT Service first reported the need to set aside funds to pay increased costs for Microsoft licences in 2017/18. Since then, ICT have contributed to an earmarking reserve each year as the council prepared to move from an on-premise “owned outright” licence model to a subscription based model using MS365. The project to migrate to MS365 was scheduled to complete during the 2021/22 financial year and the council expected to pay the higher costs starting from 2021/22. Instead, the project was delayed and the higher costs will now be due from 2022/23 onwards. This meant there was an opportunity to add further to the earmarked reserves in 2021/22 and extend the expenditure profile to ensure the Microsoft cost pressure does not impact the council’s revenue budget until 2026/27 – 2 years later than originally predicted. £300,000 can therefore be added to the MS365 earmarked reserve budget and drawn down from 2022/23 onwards.
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Appendix 2.1k 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £300,000 will be added to the existing earmarking and will be spent between 2022/23 and 2025/26. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KIRSTY FLANAGAN RESPONSIBILITY FOR CUSTOMER SUPPORT SERVICE
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Appendix 2.1l Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KIRSTY FLANAGAN 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE SECURITY OPERATIONS CENTRE SUBSCRIPTION 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 It is proposed that £76,455 be earmarked from the general revenue budget underspend in 2021-22 to pay for an urgent need for a new 24-hour ICT security monitoring service – a Security Operations Centre (SOC) subscription to protect the Council’s line of business IT systems from cyber attacks. It is proposed to add this earmarked amount to an unallocated balance of £103,545 from the Digital Service Transformation earmarking from 2020/21 year end to create the total funding required of £180,000. This will pay for a 3-year subscription at £60,000 per annum with a cost pressure being added to the ICT revenue budget to cover the costs from year 4 onwards. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 Business Case The council is operating with a “Heightened Cyber Risk”, currently an increased level due to the war in Ukraine and is repelling a large number of cyber-attacks on a daily basis. Over the last 3 months we’ve seen a fivefold increase in the number of high and critical attempts to breach our Firewall with 79,408 attempts in the last month alone. This is a very dangerous time for local authorities and ICT staff are doing everything possible to protect the council’s systems within existing resources. This level of attack on UK public services is expected to continue for the foreseeable future The ICT service is currently resourced to manage services from 8am until 5pm – Monday to Friday. Following the audit of the SEPA attack in 2020, one of the key recommendations for Scottish public sector bodies was to put in place a 24-hour security monitoring service. A Security Operations Centre (SOC) is a third-party organisation who provide 24x7x365 monitoring of security systems and can alert or respond if they observe something that appears suspicious, or they identify as
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Appendix 2.1l 2.2.3 2.2.4 2.2.5 malicious. There is an ongoing project fronted by the Digital Office to jointly procure a Security Operations Centre service at the most competitive price possible. The purpose of this document is to seek approval to commit funding to participate with the Digital Office joint procurement to provide a Security Operations Centre (SOC) and protective monitoring service capable of detecting and responding to cyber threats and attacks on Council assets. The council has a number of security systems which are not integrated and therefore need to be managed separately. These systems are managed by different teams and the alerts and reports they produce are not visible as a 'single pane of glass'. This means that an alert on one system is not automatically correlated with other systems – something resolved when partnering with a Security Operations Centre. Under the Scottish Government's Cyber Resilience Strategy for Scotland and the Cyber Action Plan for Scotland the council have a responsibility to do everything within our power to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and systems we are responsible for. As part of that responsibility, we should have the ability to identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover from cyber threats. The SOC service will be a major contributing factor to our ability to identify, protect and detect all possible threats. 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £180,000 will be used to fund a 3-year SOC subscription service as part of the Local Government Digital Office SOC procurement currently underway. The first year’s subscription will cost £60,000 and will be due in 2022/23 with further similar commitments due in 2023/24 and 2024/25. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KIRSTY FLANAGAN RESPONSIBILITY FOR CUSTOMER SUPPORT SERVICES
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Appendix 2.1m Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KIRSTY FLANAGAN 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE ESTABLISHING HR SERVICE CENTRE 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 It is proposed that £30,000 be earmarked from revenue budget underspend within Customer Support Services in 2021-22 to fund staffing within the HR Service Centre to facilitate the implementation of technical efficiency improvements and new processes. This underspend is a result of £30,000 budget that was previously allocated for operation of the employee benefits scheme, however the business model of the successful operator (Vivup) allows this scheme to operate without cost to the employer. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 2.2.4 Business Case Detail A major function of the HR Service Centre is to manage the HR process side of the HR/Payroll transition with finance. It has been identified that there is a significant ongoing workload that severely limits staff capacity to setup and develop the new processes required by the changes. To effectively implement the HR Service Centre, it is essential we ensure processes are fully electronic, that we are not double entering data and that the systems support our budgeted staffing. The objective is to develop a service centre model for HR customer service based on and using the same software and telephony as the externally facing Customer Service Centre, utilising bots, chats and maximising effective self-service forms etc. This will reduce avoidable contact and free up professional HR resource to add value to the organisation.
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Appendix 2.1m 2.2.5 2.2.6 2.2.7 2.2.8 Plans are in place for a successful technical model however further staff resource is required support this process. To address this we want to appoint a full-time modern apprentice and 0.5 SLGE8 to free up existing staff to develop and implement new HR Service Centre processes and systems over 18 months. If we do not implement improvements to these processes, we risk not having enough staff budgeted to support existing processes. Also, processes will be more cumbersome for our customers and may impact on the level of service we endeavour to provide. This is also an opportunity to best optimise processes for transfer to our New Payroll /HR Software. The creation of a modern apprentice opportunity also supports the growing our own initiative and opportunities for young people to train and develop within the organisation 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £30,000 will be spent from 2022/23 onwards. We anticipate this will be spent as follows: £18,000 22/23 £12,000 23/24 This has been based on employing a full-time Modern Apprentice and 0.5 SLGE8 (with additional funding from staffing budget). This will be funded by £30,000 underspend in 21/22 employee benefits scheme budget. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KIRSTY FLANAGAN RESPONSIBILITY FOR CUSTOMER SUPPORT SERVICES
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Appendix 2.1n Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KIRSTY FLANAGAN 30 JUNE 2022 ISLAND POST 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 It is proposed that £50,461 be earmarked from the revenue budget underspend within Development and Economic Growth in 2021-22 to fund a temporary post at LGE11 for 1 year to assist with the National Islands Plan Implementation Route Map 2020 – 2025. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 Business Case As members will be aware Scottish Government (SG) introduced the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 (the ‘Act’) and the National Islands Plan (NIP), published in 2019, which identifies 13 strategic objectives for action. In addition the National Islands Plan Implementation route map 2020-25 National Islands Plan Implementation Route Map 2020 – 2025 (www.gov.scot) has also been developed, These documents sets out how Scottish Government, local authorities and other public agencies will work to improve outcomes for our island communities. As a consequence the council has been required to provide additional officer resources to ensure engagement and collaboration with SG and specifically SG Islands team to ensure that we maximise the opportunities for our islands from the NIP and NIP Route map as well as from the associated SG Islands budget that will be available until 2025. It has been challenging to provide the necessary resource from within current officer resources at the level that ensures that we maximise the opportunities for our islands. The proposal is that an officer be recruited for 1 years (2022-2023) to help undertake key areas of work relating to new island legislation. This includes ensuring that we tie in with SG National Islands Plan 2020-25 and associated SG Islands 5 year budget of which 3 years remain. The focus of the post will be to ensure strong representation of the Council on the SG National Islands Plan Delivery Group and to feed into and to work with officers in the SG Islands team and across the council, including the new policy lead for Islands and Business, to represent the key issues as they affect the council and our islands and ensure that we are working with SG to assist in the delivery of the 13 strategic objectives. This would include raising any
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Appendix 2.1n 2.2.3 issues relating to policy and legislation as they affect our islands either existing or new. In addition the post would also support as necessary the Council representatives on the SG Strategic Islands Group. The post will also focus on maximising funding opportunities for our islands particularly the new bidding process associated with the SG Islands Programme Fund as well as supporting the council and third sector organisations in regard to other funding opportunities including Regeneration Capital Grant Funding, Place Based Funding and also Crown Estate funding where they relate to our Islands and regenerating our Places. It is also proposed the post holder would work closely with SG Island colleagues in regard to the SG Carbon Neutral Islands (CNI) project where it relates to our islands. The post holder will also be tasked in looking for external funding to potentially support the post going forward particularly in light of Islay being identified as a carbon neutral island by the Scottish Government and a need to prepare a suitable plan to ensure that this moves forward. 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £50,461 will be spent in 2022/23. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KIRSTY FLANAGAN RESPONSIBILITY FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
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Appendix 2.1o Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KIRSTY FLANAGAN 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE WASTE STRATEGY 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 It is proposed that £136,000 be earmarked from the revenue budget underspend within Waste Services in 2021-22 plus a further £227,000 savings from prudential borrowing timing delays giving a total earmarking of £363,000 to fund/part-fund various waste infrastructure projects that will support the council’s compliance with the 2025 ban on the Landfill of Biodegradable Municipal Waste. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 Business Case The funding from this proposal would be used to fund/part-fund various waste infrastructure projects and site improvements including supporting the council’s compliance with the 2025 ban on the Landfill of Biodegradable Municipal Waste. These projects include: • Capping and Restoration works at Gartbreck Landfill (Islay); • CA/ disposal site, electrical improvement works (Tiree); • The replacement of welfare units for staff accommodation/ washing facilities at Glengorm (Mull) and Gott Bay (Tiree); • Development of Waste Transfer Facilities covering Helensburgh and Lomond. The Capping of Gartbreck involves placing an impermeable cover over landfilled waste when the landfill cell is full. The Cap limits water ingress into the waste mass and therefore limits increased leachate (polluted water) arising from the waste. The cap does not destroy or remove contaminants. Instead, it isolates them.
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Appendix 2.1o 2.2.3 2.2.4 2.2.5 The re-wiring of Gott Bay Recycling shed. The improvements include all new cabling due to damaged cabling. New lighting including safety lights and safety sockets will be installed. The welfare units on Tiree and Mull require to be replaced. New units must have suitable accommodation, staff welfare facilities including toilets, washing area, a break out room and drying room for wet clothing. Work continues with the design of a temporary/ permanent transfer station within the Helensburgh Roads Depot. There is a requirement within the council on-going waste strategy to have waste transfer stations in all areas for the bulking and transfer of material to energy from Waste facilities 2.3 Expenditure Profile The following table provides details of when the costs are likely to be incurred: Project Estimated cost Cost incurred Capping & Restoration Gartbreck - Islay £200,000 2022-2024 CA site electrical works £35,000 2022/2023 Welfare units – Mull & Tiree £40,000 2022/2023 Waste Transfer facilities £88,000 2023-2024 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KIRSTY FLANAGAN RESPONSIBILITY FOR ROADS AND INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES
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Appendix 2.1p Tick One Box For Information Only For Decision Only For Discussion x ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL REPORT BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KIRSTY FLANAGAN 30 JUNE 2022 PROPOSAL TO EARMARK FUNDS FROM GENERAL FUND RESERVE KINTYRE RECYCLING REDUNDANCY COSTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to request support in earmarking unspent budget for a specific purpose, in line with the Policy on End of Year Flexibility. 2. DETAIL 2.1 Initiative/Proposal 2.1.1 It is proposed that £36,000 be earmarked from the revenue budget underspend within Roads and Infrastructure Services in 2021-22 to fund redundancy costs associated with Kintyre Recycling. 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 Business Case The Kintyre recycling service was brought in-house from October 2021. Additional budget was awarded in 2021-22 to meet ongoing additional costs of bringing the service in-house along with one-off budget to fund anticipated voluntary redundancy (VR) and TUPE costs of £68,000. This underspend has arisen due to timing delays in the redundancy process which will be concluded during 2022-23. Staff were TUPED across from Kintyre Recycling in September/October 2021. The staff level to operate the recycling service only required 3 permanent staff, plus 1 seasonal and 6 staff were TUPED across. A recruitment exercise commenced to match staff into the new Kintyre recycling posts. This involves a lengthy process and has led to only one voluntary redundancy at present (leaving end of May 2022) with a potential second voluntary redundancy later this year. Second potential VR employee has currently been redeployed to a temporary post. 2.3 Expenditure Profile The sum of £36,000 will be spent in 2022-23. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KIRSTY FLANAGAN RESPONSIBILITY FOR ROADS AND INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES
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Appendix 2.2 Previously Agreed Ref Service Description New Earmarking £ Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (DOUGLAS HENDRY) 001 Legal and Regulatory Services NDR - One off contribution to 22/23 Budget 200,000 Unspent Budget To fund one off operational saving CS04 agreed for the 2022/23 budget. 200,000 0 0 002 Legal and Regulatory Services NPDO Schools Contract 166,000 Unspent Budget To fund one off operational saving LRS01 agreed for the 2022/23 budget 166,000 0 0 NON DEPARTMENTAL 003 Non Departmental Significant Strategic Change Projects 2,856,000 Unspent Budget Funding gap in capital programme as at 2020-21 Budget Setting, part of Loans Fund Review. 2,856k set aside for Helensburgh Waterfront Development at Business Continuity Committee 25 June 2020. 2,856,000 0 0 004 Non Departmental Capital Programme Intolerable Red Risks 574,000 Unspent Budget Funding agreed as part of Loans Fund Review for Intolerable Red Risks. Funding gap in capital programme as at 2020-21 Budget Setting. As per 3.6.1. of Capital Plan Summary Report - 100k Cashless Catering, 424k Red Risk Emerging Business Application Assets (CareFirst, Ebusiness Suite and Resourcelink) and 50k Dalintober Primary School. 574,000 0 0 005 Non Departmental Loans Fund 385,279 Unspent Budget At the Council Budget meeting on 24 February 2022, Saving FS01, a Loans Fund Management/Operational saving for 22/23 budget of £0.500m was agreed with at least £0.200m to come from underspends in 21/22. The underspend position for 21/22 is £0.385m and this has to be earmarked to help offset the saving. 385,279 0 0 006 Non Departmental Utilities 283,000 Unspent Budget To contribute towards the expected adverse impact on the 2022/23 budget of utility costs inflation as per Budget Pack 283,000 0 0 007 Non Departmental Asset Management Fund 34,296 Unspent Budget Investment income relating to the Asset Management Fund. When the Fund was set up, it was agreed that the income should be added to it annually. The amount being earmarked relates to income from 2021-22 0 0 34,296 4,498,575 NEW Unspent Budget Proposals - 2021-22 Year-end Spending profile
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Appendix 3 Ref Service Description New Earmarking £ Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S UNIT 001 Community Planning NHS Highland Contribution Towards the CPP Running Costs 36,393 Unspent Third Party Contribution Will be deployed as required in the day-to-day running of the Community Planning Partnership's operations. 36,393 0 0 002 Community Planning COVID-19 - Test and Protect Support 30,047 COVID-19 Funding provided in relation to the Local Self-Isolation Assistance Service. 30,047 0 0 003 Community Planning Recovered unspent third sector grant funding. 650 Previous Council Decision - Other To be distributed through the Supporting Communities Fund for communities based projects across Argyll and Bute. 650 0 0 004 Financial Services LACER Fund 797,720 COVID-19 The Council meeting on 28 April 2022, it was agreed that Local Authority Covid Economic Recovery (LACER) Funding is to be used to distribute Scotland Loves Local cards to CTR recipients. This will take place in June 2022 giving Economic Development time to encourage the Co-op to sign up to accept the cards. 797,720 0 0 005 Financial Services Housing Benefits Private 594,330 COVID-19 Specific funding allocation for DHP to support tenants financially affected by the COVID-19 outbreak to sustain their tenancies. It is expected there will continue to be pressure on this budget going into 22-23 594,330 0 0 006 Financial Services Flexible Funding for Supporting People while at Tier 4 COVID 167,983 COVID-19 Funding to strengthen local authority responses to meet emerging needs and support people in their communities struggling with the restrictions and guidance at all protection levels, particularly those at risk through health and social inequalities; this support could cover the same types of support currently delivered including information and advice, access to food and medicines, and practical and emotional support; and, administration costs to support delivery (e.g. strengthening the National Assistance Helpline) and liaison and co-ordination with 3rd sector. It will be for Local Government to use this funding flexibly for this purpose. 167,983 0 0 007 Financial Services Pandemic Support Payments (CTR - Admin) 51,968 Unspent Grant Administration funding associated with Scottish Government schemes to issue monies to CTR recipients. Provide additional staffing to support the recovery from backlog of Council Tax administration caused by Pandemic Support Payment process, further administration duties related to LACER fund and also to support any further Scottish Government funding initiatives that are being considered for 22-23. 51,968 0 0 008 Financial Services Scottish Welfare Fund Grant 38,904 Unspent Grant Underspend against the Scottish Welfare Fund grant. There is a statutory duty to use these funds for the purpose of the Scottish Welfare Fund and therefore the funds will be carried forward for this purpose. It is likely there will be pressure on this budget in 22-23 due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19. 38,904 0 0 009 Financial Services Flexible Food Fund 34,950 COVID-19 Financial Insecurity funding from Scottish Government routed into the Argyll and Bute Flexible Food Fund (ABFFF) is aimed at tackling financial insecurity for adults and families across Argyll and Bute. ABFFF offers financial support and wider confidential professional help to anyone suffering hardship. Working in partnership with the Community Food Forum, Bute Advice Centre and ALIenergy, households with low incomes and no access to cash savings can apply for immediate financial support. The Fund will help support daily living expenses. If the claimant engages with these services, a second payment will be made to contribute to a further months daily living expenses. 34,950 0 0 010 Financial Services Self Isolated Support Grant 16,000 COVID-19 Unspent admin funding for processing Self isolation Support Grants. Monies will be fully utilised in 2022/2023 to support the further administration of the grant until 31 March 2023. 16,000 0 0 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (DOUGLAS HENDRY) NEW Automatic Carry Forward Earmarkings - 2021-22 Year-end Spending profile
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Ref Service Description New Earmarking £ Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards 011 Commercial Services One Council Property 188,127 Previous Council Decision - Other It was agreed in 2020/21 to retain revenue generated from commercial activity in One Council Property for future investment across the Council’s property portfolio to ensure it remains fit for purpose. 188,127 0 0 012 Commercial Services Free Sanitary Provision Scheme 20,220 Scottish Government Initiatives To fund the continued implementation of the scheme through increased provision of reusable products, improved provision in rural communities by working in partnership with Education and improving the storage of products in toilets so that they are more readily available. 10,220 10,000 0 013 Education EDU - Early Learning & Childcare - 1140 Hours Expansion 2,681,093 Unspent Grant The funds will be utilised to implement the Argyll and Bute Early Years Delivery Plan for 1140 hours which will increase access to affordable Early Learning and Childcare across the Council area. 2,681,093 0 0 014 Education School carry forwards (DMR) 1,599,933 DMR Schools To be spent in accordance with DSM regulations. 1,599,933 0 0 015 Education Pupil Equity Fund Carry Forward 784,359 Unspent Grant To provide targeted support for children and young people affected by poverty to achieve their full potential. Funding is used over the academic year. 784,359 0 0 016 Education Expansion of Universal Free School Meals 468,626 Scottish Government Initiatives To support the continued phased implementation of Universal Free School Meals for Primary children. 468,626 0 0 017 Education 100 Day Promise - Increase Teacher and Pupil Support Assistant Numbers 374,095 Scottish Government Initiatives Scottish Government initiative to increase the number of teachers and support assistants in schools. 374,095 0 0 018 Education COVID 19 - Education Recovery - Additional Staff in School and ELC settings 373,346 COVID-19 To employ a variety of school staff to meet the needs of children and young people in their local areas and ensure that levels of teaching and support staff in schools can be maintained in the 2021-22 academic year. Funding will also be used to support the transition from ELC to primary school. 373,346 0 0 019 Education Additional Support Needs - Additional Support for Learning Project 209,363 Scottish Government Initiatives Government initiative to support the provision of support staff in schools as part of 'Support for Additional Support for Learning Implementation'. The funding will be used to supplement the ASN Assistants budget in 2022/23. 209,363 0 0 020 Education Community Mental Health and Wellbeing support to Children and Young People 94,298 Scottish Government Initiatives Scottish Government/COSLA Initiative to support the work under the Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme to deliver new and enhanced community based mental health and emotional wellbeing supports and services for children, young people, their families and carers. The Scottish Government has approved this carry-forward of funding into 2022/23. 94,298 0 0 021 Education Youth Music Initiative 35,852 Unspent Grant To fund YMI projects across the remainder of the academic year 2021/22. 35,852 0 0
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Ref Service Description New Earmarking £ Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards 022 Education Scottish Attainment Challenge - Care Experienced CYP Funding 16,651 Unspent Grant To provide targeted support for care experienced children and young people to achieve their full potential. 16,651 0 0 023 Education Gaelic Central Specific Grant 16,610 Unspent Grant Delivery and promotion of Gaelic Education in line with the Education (Scotland) Act 2016, to be utilised through remainder of academic year 2021/22. 16,610 0 0 024 Education Sanitary Products in Schools 15,298 Scottish Government Initiatives To continue to develop services supporting the Scottish Government Initiative to offer access to free period products in schools. 5,298 10,000 0 025 Education Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme (SMHSS) 13,910 Unspent Grant The Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme funds a daily portion of plain fresh cow’s milk (or specified alternative) and a healthy snack (fruit or vegetables) for pre-school children spending 2 hours or more in the care of a regulated day care provider and/or childminders that has registered for the Scheme. The unspent grant from 2021/22 will contribute towards the cost of the scheme in 2022/23. 13,910 0 0 026 Education Bord Na Gaidhlig - Parental/Community Gaelic Upskilling Project 12,720 Unspent Third Party Contribution This funding is being used for Gaelic Classes and Support being delivered in the academic year 2021/22. 12,720 0 0 027 Education COVID 19 - Summer Activities 8,660 Scottish Government Initiatives Funding was to provide activities to improve the wellbeing of children and young people during the 2021 summer holidays. The remaining balance will be added to the 2022/23 funding to support children and young people over the 2022 summer holidays. 8,660 0 0 028 Education CAST Projects Budget 7,215 Unspent Grant To fund creative arts projects across the remainder of the academic year 2021/22. 7,215 0 0 029 Education Armed Forces Covenant Fund - Rhu Primary School 4,972 Unspent Grant This grant has to be used up by July 2022. it is funding 0.2 FTE Teacher and Art Resources. 4,972 0 0 030 Education COVID 19 - CO2 Monitors 4,346 Unspent Grant To continue the work of providing CO2 monitoring in schools and day care settings to mitigate against the risks of airborne transmission of COVID-19. 4,346 0 0 031 Education Ministry of Defence Grant - support for military children 2,607 Unspent Grant Providing social and emotional support to pupils who are affected by deployment who may have gaps in their Education as a result of transitions. 2,607 0 0 032 Education Food for Thought 577 Unspent Grant Lochgoilhead Primary have orders pending and plans for the remaining balance of the Food for thought Grant. This spend will take place in 2022-23. 577 0 0 033 Legal and Regulatory Services LACER Funding - Advice Services 130,000 COVID-19 Local Authority COVID Economic Recovery (LACER) Funding for Welfare Rights - ALI Energy, Bute Advice, Citizens Advice 130,000 0 0
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Ref Service Description New Earmarking £ Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards 034 Legal and Regulatory Services CCTV Maintenance 24,633 Unspent Grant Maintenance of CCTV systems. Funds transferred from external bodies (Police Scotland) to maintain systems for future years. The remaining balance will be added to the 2022/23 potential funding allocation 24,633 0 0 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (KIRSTY FLANAGAN) 035 Customer Support Services Self Isolated Support Grant (HR) 72,000 COVID-19 These were monies that were provided by Scotgov to fund additional overtime and resources for Shielding/Caring for People and Test and Protect activities, however low infection rates and therefore demand in A&B meant that this was not required in 2021-22. The funding will therefore be used to fund consultancy and development of RPA (robotic process automation) software which will build automation within HR workflows and processes. This will improve efficiency and accuracy. 72,000 0 0 036 Customer Support Services SDS Income (Skills Development Scotland) 64,000 Unspent Grant We receive the money from Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to enable us to deliver Foundation and Modern Apprenticeship programmes. The money covers the salaries of the two Tutors we employ and also any materials we require to deliver the programmes. 64,000 0 0 037 Development & Economic Growth Crown Estates / Coastal Communities Fund 1,634,604 Unspent Grant 2021-22 Crown Estate Funding (Coastal Communities Fund) of £1.635m. Projects approved at 17 February 2022 P&R Committee totalling £1.191M, further report required to allocate remaining £444k. 1,191,000 443,604 0 038 Development & Economic Growth FWES Employability income 953,618 Scottish Government Initiatives The Scottish Government NOLB, PESF and YPG funding monies will be utilised to provide employability support, training and Employer Recruitment Incentives to assist residents of Argyll and Bute to move into positive destinations such as sustainable employment, FTE, etc. These monies will be spent in the financial year 22/23. 953,618 0 0 039 Development & Economic Growth UK Community Renewal Fund 256,338 Unspent Grant 8 projects agreed for Community Renewal Funding in 2021-22, extension given by SG to extend the timeframe for project completions to 30 June 2022 when all money will be spent. 256,338 0 0 040 Development & Economic Growth LACER Funding (Small Business Development Grant) 200,000 COVID-19 Local Authority COVID Economic Recovery Fund grant. This funding will provide funding of between £500 and £5,000 to help existing micro and small businesses to improve their resilience or growth via projects to implement green initiatives, implement digital development, implement marketing improvements and improve efficiency/innovation. 200,000 0 0 041 Development & Economic Growth LACER Funding (Sector Support Grant) 150,000 COVID-19 Local Authority COVID Economic Recovery Fund grant. This will provide funding, either part of the small business development grant or standalone, to help micros and small business to implement projects that contribute to the sector as well as benefitting the business, for example: Tourism and hospitality, food and drink or retail. With option to provide additional business support to hard hit areas including Bute and Kintyre where unemployment remains higher than average - support via specialist advice, locally tailored grants to meet local priorities and targeted marketing activity. 150,000 0 0 042 Development & Economic Growth UK Community Renewal Fund - West Coast UAV Innovation Logistics and Training Hub 125,000 Unspent Grant Project part of UKCRF allocation to develop an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Hub in Oban to transport medical supplies to selected islands, 125,000 0 0 043 Development & Economic Growth UK Levelling Up Fund 125,000 Unspent Grant Development funding to help prepare UK Levelling Up Fund bids for 2 projects proposed by the Council. 125,000 0 0 044 Development & Economic Growth Place Based Investment Programme 123,087 Unspent Grant Projects approved at 12 August 2021 P&R Committee totalling £821k, £123k outstanding at end of 2021-22 is committed and will be spent during 22-23. 123,087 0 0 045 Development & Economic Growth LACER Funding (New Enterprise Support Grant) 120,000 COVID-19 Local Authority COVID Economic Recovery Fund grant. This funding would provide £3,000 grants to help new businesses start up and establish. 120,000 0 0 046 Development & Economic Growth Rothesay Pavilion 87,290 CHORD Build up a provision towards future Council commitment to provide up to £150,000 per annum running costs for Rothesay Pavilion. 0 37,850 49,440 047 Development & Economic Growth Events and Festivals 55,150 Previous Council Decision - Other At the Council meeting on 25 February 21, a decision was taken to agree £90k funding for Events and Festivals for 22-23, in order that the application process can commence during 21-22 and that this agreed figure be augmented by any underspend remaining from the 21-22 financial year 55,150 0 0 048 Development & Economic Growth LACER Funding (Shop Local) 40,000 COVID-19 Local Authority COVID Economic Recovery Fund grant. This funding would provide funding to continue the Shop Local scheme into 2022-23 and 2023-14, buying additional cards and allow the cards to gather momentum and support local businesses. 40,000 0 0
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Ref Service Description New Earmarking £ Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards 049 Development & Economic Growth Tenant Hardship Fund 30,000 COVID-19 Grant received from Scottish Government to support tenants suffering hardship due to COVID-19. Claims have been made and Housing are in the process of paying these out and all claims will be settled during 2022-23. 30,000 0 0 050 Development & Economic Growth Rapid Rehousing 16,775 Unspent Grant Implementing the Rapid re-Housing Plan. This will include, but not exclusively, Rent arrears prevention fund; Decoration project; Flexible Emergency Fund; Mental Health /Addictions Practitioner; Housing First / RRTP training 16,775 0 0 051 Development & Economic Growth LACER Funding (Gypsy Travellers) 10,000 COVID-19 Local Authority COVID Economic Recovery Fund grant. This funding would pay for MECOPP (Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project) to engage with the Gypsy Travellers community on the important subject of the cost of living increases, fuel poverty and the impact of factors such as their remote rural locations and the facilities available to them for everyday living have on their livelihoods 10,000 0 0 052 Roads & Infrastructure Services Piers and Harbours 672,586 Piers and Harbours Investment Fund Funding generated through increased harbour fees and charges in order to generate funds to meet the costs of the prudential borrowing required to develop and maintain the Council's harbour assets and infrastructure. Under the Harbours Act 1964, section 42, as a statutory harbour undertaker, the Council must prepare an annual statement of accounts relating to the harbour activities and any associated activities for each harbour for which it is the statutory harbour authority. This requirement cannot be satisfied by the preparation of a statement of accounts which relates to other Council activities in addition to harbour activities. In essence, any surplus in the Piers and Harbours budget must be reinvested in the marine asset and reflected in accounts. 0 0 672,586 053 Roads & Infrastructure Services Fleet - Vehicle Replacement 392,292 Fleet - Timing Delay Timing delay in fleet replacement causing one-off saving which will be used to purchase additional Fleet as required 392,292 0 0 054 Roads & Infrastructure Services Parking Grant 50,013 Unspent Grant Grant from Scottish Transport for the assessment of footway parking required under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. This will be progressed during 2022-23. 50,013 0 0 055 Roads & Infrastructure Services Hermitage Park Pavilion 4,327 Hermitage Park The Hermitage Park regeneration project has a significant investment from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) which has a requirement to have a 10 year Management and Maintenance Plan. This will be partly funded by existing Council revenue budgets but should also be supplemented by any additional income which can be generated from park activities. Part of the HLF conditions are that all income generated by the park should be retained to support the Management and Maintenance Plan and a result of this requirement, any unspent income generated by the park is retained for future years requirements. 4,327 0 0 NON DEPARTMENTAL 056 Non Departmental Strategic Housing Fund 2,136,353 Strategic Housing Fund Strategic Housing Fund. Council tax collected during 2021-22 from the second homes discount on properties. Requires to be earmarked as part of the Strategic Housing Fund balance. 0 0 2,136,353 057 Non Departmental Oban TIF (Tax Incremental Financing) 252,256 Previous Council Decision Will be used to fund the TIF Programme office for a further 3 years as well as the programme office for Rural Growth Deal beyond the funding that was agreed at Council for this in February 2021. 252,256 0 0 058 Non Departmental Unallocated Admin Support Grant / COVID Grant Admin funding 47,182 COVID-19 Funding to support the delivery of the Business Grants to local businesses, partially used during 21/22 but a balance remains to be carried forward and used in future years 47,182 0 0 16,474,327 13,114,494 501,454 2,858,379
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Unspent Budget/Non Automatic Carry Forward Earmarkings Appendix 4 Previously Agreed Amounts Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds Unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 Closing Balance at 31 March 2022 Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards Completed projects during 2021/22 505,345 505,345 0 0 0 Unspent Budget 0 0 0 CHIEF EXECUTIVES UNIT 001 Financial Services CIPFA 37,476 4,946 32,530 Unspent Budget CIPFA Training - To fund the professional training costs for staff undertaking the CIPFA professional accountancy qualification. 32,530 0 0 002 Financial Services Scottish Government Funding - Welfare Reform/Discretionary Housing Payments (agreed at Council February 2014) 18,595 18,595 Previous Council Decision The Council was allocated additional funding of £550k from the Scottish Government late in 2013-14. This money was allocated to support the Community Learning and Development Team to provide courses to support Universal Credit claimants 2019/2020 to support the recruitment of casual tutors and the purchase and upgrade of laptops. The monies were not utilised however it will now be required to top up the Scottish Welfare Fund and DHP monies for 2022/23 as it is likely that given the current cost of living crisis that more people will be in need of support through these funds 0 18,595 0 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (DOUGLAS HENDRY) 003 Commercial Services Rothesay Pavilion Essential repairs 306,400 306,400 Previous Council Decision Essential repairs to deal with potential health and safety risks and to avoid further deterioration. Budget provision was approved by the Policy and Resources Committee on 21 August 2014. 306,400 0 0 004 Commercial Services Demolition of former Lochgilphead Primary and Rothesay Secondary School 250,000 250,000 Unspent Budget To fund the demolition of the former Lochgilphead Primary School and former Rothesay Academy (subject to the removal of the listing). 250,000 0 0 005 Commercial Services Estates - NDR Revaluation Appeals 84,688 84,688 Unspent Budget The Council agreed to make provision to meet the cost of appealing Non Domestic Rates (NDR) revaluations which will be imposed from 1st April 2017. It was agreed that £150,000 be earmarked from the favourable 2016-17 outturn position to fund these appeals. The balance of £84,688 is still required as NDR valuation appeals have been lodged but have not been heard yet. We will not know the level of savings, and in turn the corresponding charge to us, until the appeals are concluded which should be later on this year. Ryden are awaiting outcome of further citations which will incur fees. 84,688 0 0 006 Commercial Services Site Investigation Works 26,313 5,300 21,013 Unspent Budget For Site Investigation works in relation to Tweeddale Street Car Park, Oban and Oban Airport Business Park to explore commercial opportunities to develop the sites and gain revenue income for Argyll and Bute Council. HUB North were instructed to procure contractors to undertake the site investigations and work commenced in March 2020. This is still ongoing. 21,013 0 0 007 Commercial Services Purchase of Catering Equipment 108,000 108,000 0 Unspent Budget The earmarked funds will be used to purchase additional and replacement kitchen equipment in school kitchens across Argyll and Bute to enable implementation of the first phase of free school meals extension to pupils in Primary Schools from August 2021. The rollout to P6 and P7 is paused and awaiting government decision in relation to affordability so the earmarking has been released back to the general fund reserve. 0 0 0 Spending profile
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds Unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 Closing Balance at 31 March 2022 Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards 008 Commercial Services Management of Asbestos 39,096 39,096 0 Unspent Budget To fund Asbestos management tasks including management/refurbishment and demolition surveys (e.g HWD existing pool demolition) This amount has been released back to the general fund reserve because budget has been baselined for this purpose 0 0 0 009 Education Education Transformation Fund 317,656 130,130 187,526 Unspent Budget At the Council meeting on 27 February 2020, it was agreed to input £400k into Education Digital Learning. The additional funds have been spent in 20/21 and 21/22, as part of the ongoing transformation work in the Education service, focussing on digital and virtual learning technology and the development of learning clusters. This will continue into 2022/23. 187,526 0 010 Education Education Learning Estate Condition Surveys 100,000 22,560 77,440 Unspent Budget To fund the delivery of School Core Facts (SCF) compliant Condition Surveys for prioritised School Buildings. 77,440 0 0 011 Education Skype for Business for Education / Digital Projects (Skype for Business) 168,325 108,814 49,511 10,000 Unspent Budget To fund the initial capital costs for the implementation of Skype for Business for Education. This will bring the Education service in line with other council departments and will improve staff collaboration and modernise school telephony to deliver the service more efficiently and cost effectively. A balance has been released back to the general fund because the rollout project is almost complete with only £0.01m expected spend in 22/23. 10,000 0 0 012 Legal and Regulatory Services Education Purchasing Officers 210,000 210,000 Unspent Budget The earmarked funds will be used to fund an education purchasing team within the Procurement Service for two years. The team will embed good procurement practice, train headteachers on current procurement process requirements, develop spend plans that evidence best value. 90,000 120,000 0 013 Legal and Regulatory Services Transformation Agenda QIO 100,000 29,741 70,259 Unspent Budget Ongoing funding for the QIO post to lead the implementation of the service transformation programme. The QIO will assist the Executive Director to deliver the Council’s transformation agenda by developing, analysing and monitoring initiatives and projects which deliver the vision, values and strategic objectives of the Council. 70,259 0 0 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (KIRSTY FLANAGAN) 014 Customer Support Services Growing our Own and Modern Apprentices 109,150 109,150 Unspent Budget Funding earmarked to support trainee development and modern apprenticeship opportunities based on priority workforce risk areas. These areas have been identified and proposals developed. £95,790 to be spent in 22/23 and £13,360 to be spent in 23/24 to fund a graduate trainee and 3 apprentices to deliver trainee development and modern apprenticeship opportunities 109,150 0 0 015 Customer Support Services Learning and Development 36,508 36,508 Unspent Budget In order to maximise the opportunities and efficiencies of digital learning, this funding will be used to support the extension of digital learning in order to deliver the Digital Learning Strategy, which was approved in FQ4 20/21. 36,508 0 0 016 Customer Support Services Business Development Training 29,723 2,122 27,601 Unspent Budget This budget is funding ongoing leadership development, coaching, action learning sets and commissioned training including Priority Management. 27,601 0 0
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds Unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 Closing Balance at 31 March 2022 Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards 017 Development & Economic Growth Strategic Events & Festivals 60,614 60,614 Unspent Budget At the Council meeting on 25 February 21, a decision was taken to agree £90k funding for Events and Festivals for 22- 23, in order that the application process can commence during 21-22 and that this agreed figure be augmented by any underspend remaining from the 20-21 financial year 60,614 0 018 Development and Economic Growth Oban TIF (Tax Incremental Financing) 539,219 81,775 457,444 Previous Council Decision Will be used to fund the TIF Programme office for a further 3 years as well as the programme office for Rural Growth Deal beyond the funding that was agreed at Council for this in February 2021. 457,444 0 0 019 Development and Economic Growth Royal National Mod 60,000 20,000 40,000 Unspent Budget One off funding allocation for the Royal National Mod agreed as part of the budget setting process for 2019-20. Grant contract issued. Proposed payment of £20k per annum starting 2020/21 (2023/24 final payment of £20k) 20,000 20,000 0 020 Roads & Infrastructure Waste Variation Monies 1,492,997 1,492,997 Unspent Budget This would be used to fund/part-fund various waste infrastructure projects that will support the council’s compliance with the 2025 ban on the Landfill of Biodegradable Municipal Waste, including the development of landfill cell construction works at Gartbreck. 746,499 746,498 0 021 Roads & Infrastructure Climate Change 500,000 500,000 Unspent Budget At the Council meeting on 27 February 20, it was agreed to input £500k budget to mitigate the impacts of weather related damage and climate change with specific emphasis on gully cleaning and drainage improvements. Spend has been delayed due to COVID and the intention is to spend the funds on 2 Gully Motors plus staff over next 2 years. Vehicles are on order and expected to be delivered in early 2022-23. 500,000 0 022 Roads & Infrastructure 3G pitches / Tarbert Sports Pitches 507,385 80,099 427,286 Unspent Budget In November 2018, the Council agreed to a maintenance funding package to be progressed for a number of 3G pitches including Tarbert. This funding will provide an estimated 6.5 years’ worth of ongoing maintenance up to 2025-26. 89,373 337,913 0 023 Roads & Infrastructure Green Transport Initiatives 400,000 400,000 Unspent Budget At the Council meeting on 27 February 20, it was agreed to input £400k in Green transport, investment in footway and cycle path maintenance supporting the healthy wellbeing and green agenda. Spend has been delayed due to COVID and this will be taken forward in 21-22. £260k Footways Reconstruction programme now agreed across the four areas, £140k Ardrishaig North Project. 400,000 0 024 Roads & Infrastructure Waste Management 265,231 8,478 256,753 Unspent Budget Will be used towards long term waste management strategy/model, including but not limited to scoping work for the creating of a waste transfer station . 256,753 0 0 025 Roads & Infrastructure Replacement Signage and Bins 200,000 64,634 135,366 Unspent Budget To replace street litter bins and key road signage. This would help to reduce future budget pressures for replacements of bins and signs and would also help to enhance the streetscape and general appearance of the area by refreshing the street furniture 135,366 0 0 026 Roads & Infrastructure Amenity Services introduction of management information system 35,791 7,692 28,099 Unspent Budget Delay with introduction of amenity time recording system, spend unlikely to be incurred until 2022-23 for handheld devices and software. 28,099 0 0 NON DEPARTMENTAL 027 Non Departmental Redundancy Provision 1,898,524 166,698 1,731,826 Unspent Budget One-off re-profiling gain as a result of the loans fund review to fund known liabilities/cost pressures as agreed at budget setting meeting in February 2020. Future redundancies provision. 500,000 500,000 731,826
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds Unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 Closing Balance at 31 March 2022 Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards 028 Non Departmental Supporting Organisational Change 1,698,750 110,800 1,587,950 Unspent Budget One-off re-profiling gain as a result of the loans fund review to fund known liabilities/cost pressures as agreed at budget setting meeting in February 2020 - Provision to support organisational change (£0.500m) It is proposed to supplement the existing 'Supporting Organisational Change' reserve first established in February 2020 with a further £1.2m to enable the Council to deliver to deliver longer term, more fundamental, service redesign which will require funding to support the identification and delivery of solutions that take account of future requirements and community engagement and deliver longer term revenue and benefits to the Council 500,000 500,000 587,950 029 Non Departmental Underwriting development of Rothesay Pavilion 1,000,000 1,000,000 Unspent Budget Funding to meet additional costs identified as necessary for the refurbishment of Rothesay Pavilion. 1,000,000 0 0 030 Across Services / Chief Executive's Unit Information Management (Balance of Funding) 209,844 209,844 Unspent Budget To support a number of initiatives in respect of improving the Council's information management in line with the transformation agenda and increasing the pace of change as outlined in the BV Review. The planned initiatives include: Estates Survey work £122k, Digitalisation of Title Deeds £92k, document management and workflow system for Planning, Building Standards and Environmental Health £77k and a balance of funding to explore information management solutions in a strategic and coherent way £209k 209,844 0 0 031 Non Departmental Digital Projects (General Provision to be allocated) 103,545 103,545 Unspent Budget To deliver a number of Digital Service Transformation Projects, specifically in Education and Customer Support Services, but also to reserve a further amount to support priority digital transformation projects identified in Departmental ICT programmes, that have not yet started due to resource constraints. The specific projects include: Supply Staff Booking System £0.035m, Skype for Business (for Education) £0.030m, Enhancing Curriculum Choice and Equity of Provision £0.080m, Digital Customer Engagement Developments £0.073m, Replacement of Learning Management System £0.030m, Increase in Schools Bandwidth £0.063mand a general provision still to be allocated £0.189m. Further allocation to Hybrid Council Meetings agreed October 2021 (£0.085m). There is a proposal for 2021-22 year end to use the balance of this earmarking towards the Security Operations Centre Subscription unspent budget request - per Appendix 2.1l 103,545 0 0 032 Non Departmental Spend to Save Route Optimisation Software 100,000 100,000 Unspent Budget One-off re-profiling gain as a result of the loans fund review to fund known liabilities/cost pressures as agreed at budget setting meeting in February 2020 - Spend to save route optimisation (£0.100m). 100,000 0 0 033 Across Services / Legal and Regulatory Services Information Management (Digitalisation of Title Deeds) 92,000 92,000 Unspent Budget To support a number of initiatives in respect of improving the Council's information management in line with the transformation agenda and increasing the pace of change as outlined in the BV Review. The planned initiatives include: Estates Survey work £122k, Digitalisation of Title Deeds £92k (delay on spending due to COVID-19), document management and workflow system for Planning, Building Standards and Environmental Health £77k and a balance of funding to explore information management solutions in a strategic and coherent way £209k 61,000 31,000 0
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds Unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 Closing Balance at 31 March 2022 Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards 034 Non Departmental Community Resilience Fund 76,447 76,447 Previous Council Decision Fund established in 2012/13 to be spent over more than one year. Fund reduced at the Council meeting on 11 February 2016 76,447 0 0 035 Across Services / Customer Support Services Digital Projects (Digital Customer Engagement Projects) 73,000 73,000 Unspent Budget To deliver a number of Digital Service Transformation Projects, specifically in Education and Customer Support Services, but also to reserve a further amount to support priority digital transformation projects identified in Departmental ICT programmes, that have not yet started due to resource constraints. The specific projects include: Supply Staff Booking System £0.035m, Skype for Business (for Education) £0.030m, Enhancing Curriculum Choice and Equity of Provision £0.080m, Digital Customer Engagement Developments £0.073m, Replacement of Learning Management System £0.030m, Increase in Schools Bandwidth £0.063m and a general provision still to be allocated £0.189m 73,000 0 0 036 Across Services / Customer Support Services Digital Projects (Increase in Schools Bandwidth) 63,455 63,455 Unspent Budget To deliver a number of Digital Service Transformation Projects, specifically in Education and Customer Support Services, but also to reserve a further amount to support priority digital transformation projects identified in Departmental ICT programmes, that have not yet started due to resource constraints. The specific projects include: Supply Staff Booking System £0.035m, Skype for Business (for Education) £0.030m, Enhancing Curriculum Choice and Equity of Provision £0.080m, Digital Customer Engagement Developments £0.073m, Replacement of Learning Management System £0.030m, Increase in Schools Bandwidth £0.063m and a general provision still to be allocated £0.189m 63,455 0 0 037 Across Services / Development and Economic Growth Information Management (Document Management and Workflow for Planning, Building Standards and Environmental Health) 67,254 9,763 57,491 Unspent Budget To support a number of initiatives in respect of improving the Council's information management in line with the transformation agenda and increasing the pace of change as outlined in the BV Review. The planned initiatives include: Estates Survey work £122k, Digitalisation of Title Deeds £92k, document management and workflow system for Planning, Building Standards and Environmental Health £77k and a balance of funding to explore information management solutions in a strategic and coherent way £209k 57,491 0 0 038 Legal and Regulatory Services Digital Projects: Hybrid Council meetings 85,000 30,000 55,000 Unspent Budget Per paper agreed at SMT October 2021 - allocation from Digital Projects (General Provision to be allocated). To fund the costs of livestreaming of Council meetings. 30,000 25,000 0 039 Across Services / Education Digital Projects (Supply Staff Booking System) 35,000 35,000 Unspent Budget To deliver a number of Digital Service Transformation Projects, specifically in Education and Customer Support Services, but also to reserve a further amount to support priority digital transformation projects identified in Departmental ICT programmes, that have not yet started due to resource constraints. The specific projects include: Supply Staff Booking System £0.035m, Skype for Business (for Education) £0.030m, Enhancing Curriculum Choice and Equity of Provision £0.080m, Digital Customer Engagement Developments £0.073m, Replacement of Learning Management System £0.030m, Increase in Schools Bandwidth £0.063m and a general provision still to be allocated £0.189m 35,000 0 0
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds Unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 Closing Balance at 31 March 2022 Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Amount Planned to be Spent in 2022/23 Amount Planned to be Spent in 2023/24 Amount Planned to be Spent from 2024/25 onwards 040 Across Services / Commercial Services Information Management (Estates Survey Work) 50,090 37,393 12,697 Unspent Budget To support a number of initiatives in respect of improving the Council's information management in line with the transformation agenda and increasing the pace of change as outlined in the BV Review. The planned initiatives include: Estates Survey work £122k, Digitalisation of Title Deeds £92k, document management and workflow system for Planning, Building Standards and Environmental Health £77k and a balance of funding to explore information management solutions in a strategic and coherent way £209k 12,697 0 0 041 Across Services / Customer Support Services Digital Projects (Replacement Learning Management System) 30,000 18,530 11,470 Unspent Budget To deliver a number of Digital Service Transformation Projects, specifically in Education and Customer Support Services, but also to reserve a further amount to support priority digital transformation projects identified in Departmental ICT programmes, that have not yet started due to resource constraints. The specific projects include: Supply Staff Booking System £0.035m, Skype for Business (for Education) £0.030m, Enhancing Curriculum Choice and Equity of Provision £0.080m, Digital Customer Engagement Developments £0.073m, Replacement of Learning Management System £0.030m, Increase in Schools Bandwidth £0.063m and a general provision still to be allocated £0.189m 11,470 0 0 12,091,421 1,444,820 196,607 0 10,449,994 6,912,987 2,299,006 1,319,776
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Appendix 5 Previously Agreed Amounts Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use Completed projects during 2021/22 2,447,698 2,447,698 0 0 0 COVID-19 Completed projects during 2021/22 24,870 24,870 0 0 0 Previous Council Decision Completed projects during 2021/22 357,442 357,442 0 0 0 Unspent Grant Completed projects during 2021/22 1,125 1,125 0 0 0 Unspent Third Party Contribution CHIEF EXECUTIVES UNIT 001 Community Planning NHS Highland Contribution Towards the CPP Running Costs 34,205 34,205 Unspent Third Party Contribution Will be deployed as required in the day-to-day running of the Community Planning Partnership's operations. 002 Community Planning COVID-19 - Test and Protect Support 14,000 14,000 COVID-19 Funding provided in relation to the Local Self-Isolation Assistance Service. The Community Planning and Development Team will work with community groups to support their community response and resiliency to Test and Protect and COVID-19 impacts 003 Community Planning Recovered unspent third sector grant funding. 7,118 4,290 2,828 Previous Council Decision - Other To be distributed through the Supporting Communities Fund for communities based projects across Argyll and Bute. 004 Financial Services Flexible Food Fund 475,623 475,623 COVID-19 Financial Insecurity funding from Scottish Government routed into the Argyll and Bute Flexible Food Fund (ABFFF) is aimed at tackling financial insecurity for adults and families across Argyll and Bute. ABFFF offers financial support and wider confidential professional help to anyone suffering hardship. Working in partnership with the Community Food Forum, Bute Advice Centre and ALIenergy, households with low incomes and no access to cash savings can apply for immediate financial support. The Fund will help support daily living expenses. If the claimant engages with these services, a second payment will be made to contribute to a further months daily living expenses. In the period from 10 January 2021 to 30 April 2022 client gain in extra benefits income for families was £1.45 million with 1,090 families had been supported. The project has been extended to 31 March 2023 and this money will be used to support it. Other Earmarked Balances
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 005 Financial Services Benefit Admin Grant 202,117 71,663 130,454 Unspent Grant Grant monies which would have to be repaid if not utilised for intended purpose. Benefit Administration activities in the build up to the migration of Housing Benefit to Universal Credit. These monies are committed to cover ongoing Benefit Administration activities in 22/23 to 23/24 when it is now expected that the full migration of working age Housing Benefit caseload to Universal Credit will be complete. Monies will be used to build resilience including staff overtime, outsourcing of Housing Benefit processing during the transition and cover casual staff for the Universal Credit migration. Monies also set aside for additional works to the value of £39,000 with the recovery of Housing Benefit overpayment debt which has resulted from Covid-19. 006 Financial Services Scottish Welfare Fund Grant 138,302 49,394 88,908 Unspent Grant Underspend against the Scottish Welfare Fund grant. There is a statutory duty to use these funds for the purpose of the Scottish Welfare Fund and therefore the funds will be carried forward for this purpose. It is likely there will be pressure on this budget in 22/23 due to the impact of COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis. 007 Financial Services Housing Benefits Private 79,537 79,537 COVID-19 Specific funding allocation for DHP to support tenants financially affected by the COVID-19 outbreak to sustain their tenancies. It is expected there will continue to be pressure on this budget going into 22-23 008 Financial Services Test and Protect Extension 9,929 9,929 COVID-19 Funding provided in relation to the Local Self-Isolation Assistance Service. This will be used to support the recruitment of 0.5FTE LGE6 temp post to assist with call volumes in the Scottish Welfare Fund team in 2022/23 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (DOUGLAS HENDRY) 009 Commercial Services Rothesay Pavilion Charity 750,000 750,000 Previous Council Decision Agreed at Council meeting February 2020, £750k additional revenue support subject to conditions which seek to minimise the risk to the Council as far as is reasonably practicable including requirement for adequate business and financial management and regular reporting by RPC. 010 Commercial Services Contingent Liability - Capital Project 566,744 113,398 453,346 Existing Legal Commitments There is a contingent liability in respect of the capital plan. The earmarked amount is an estimate and further drawdowns are expected to be required for fees relative to court proceedings in to 2020-21. 011 Commercial Services Climate Change Programme 500,000 500,000 Previous Council Decision At the Council Budget meeting on 24 February 2022, the Council committed to additional investments -£0.500m for Climate Change, building on previous £1.1m investments, including projects within Argyll and Bute’s schools.
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 012 Commercial Services Energy Efficiency Fund 218,351 218,351 Energy Efficiency Fund The Central Energy Efficiency Fund (CEEF) was launched by the Scottish Government in 2004 to support the delivery of energy efficiency and renewable energy measures to reduce carbon emissions in the Scottish Public Sector. The original Council allocation of funding was £286k and there were terms and conditions attached to the funding which included formally reporting to the SG on energy efficient measures implemented from the fund. Part of the stipulation of the funding was that any savings from energy efficiencies were reinvested into the fund in order that there was a revolving fund to continually reinvest in energy efficiency measures. The terms and conditions attached to the fund expired on 31 March 2016, however there is an expectation that local authorities will maintain a revolving energy efficiency fund to support future carbon reducing projects. Maintaining this fund also assists the Council to make progress towards reducing carbon emissions and therefore not only to secure savings in energy costs but also in the cost of Carbon Reduction Scheme Allowances. 013 Commercial Services One Council Property 180,506 180,506 Previous Council Decision - Other It was agreed in 2020/21 to retain revenue generated from commercial activity in One Council Property for future investment across the Council’s property portfolio to ensure it remains fit for purpose. 014 Commercial Services Free Sanitary Provision Scheme 27,532 27,532 Scottish Government Initiatives To fund the continued implementation of the scheme through increased provision of reusable products, improved provision in rural communities by working in partnership with Education and improving the storage of products in toilets so that they are more readily available. In addition, with the onset of Covid-19, work is underway to deliver period products to those who are unable to access them at this time and this work can also be funded from this earmarking 015 Commercial Services Free School Meals Funding 12,650 12,650 Scottish Government Initiatives Scottish Government funding for the provision of Free School Meals or meal alternative e.g direct cash payment or food parcel for eligible children and young people. 016 Education EDU - Early Learning & Childcare - 1140 Hours Expansion 4,805,956 55,107 4,750,849 Unspent Grant The funds will be utilised to implement the Argyll and Bute Early Years Delivery Plan for 1140 hours which will increase access to affordable Early Learning and Childcare across the Council area. 017 Education Provision for Learning Estate Investment Programme 1,000,000 1,000,000 Previous Council Decision At the Council Budget meeting on 24 February 2022, the Council committed to additional investments - £1m to help safeguard and support future learning for Argyll and Bute's Learning Estate Investment programme 018 Education Logistics Funding - Safe Opening of Schools 1,244,303 303,698 940,605 COVID-19 SG Funding to ensure the safe opening and operation of schools. Includes transport, PPE, Cleaning and expansion of estate. 019 Education Additional Teaching/Support in Schools/Digital Devices/Family Home Learning Support Fund - £45m Grant - £45m 683,000 194,690 488,310 COVID-19 Continuation of funding for additional staffing, teachers, support staff, additional devices for pupils and additional family /home learning programmes.
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 020 Education DMR Scheme of Delegation for Schools 1,020,226 638,649 381,577 DMR Schools To be spent in accordance with DSM regulations. 021 Education Access to Counsellors in Schools 393,032 28,333 364,699 Scottish Government Initiatives Government initiative to support delivery of the access to school counselling service, in line with the commitment set out in Programme for Government. The delivery of the service will enable children and young people to be supported with issues affecting their mental health and wellbeing. 022 Education Additional Support Needs - Additional Support for Learning Project 421,806 87,000 334,806 Scottish Government Initiatives Government initiative to support the provision of support staff in schools as part of 'Support for Additional Support for Learning Implementation'. 023 Education Recruitment of Additional Teachers and Support Staff in Schools 1,022,556 885,841 136,715 COVID-19 Fund additional teachers and support staff. 024 Education Community Mental Health and Wellbeing support to Children and Young People 115,987 115,987 Scottish Government Initiatives Scottish Government/COSLA Initiative to support the work under the Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme to deliver new and enhanced community based mental health and emotional wellbeing supports and services for children, young people, their families and carers. 025 Education EDU - Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Support to Children and Young People - Pandemic Funding 147,551 97,795 49,756 COVID-19 Scottish Government/COSLA Initiative to support the work under the Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme grant split in 2020-21 with £183,750 of the fund utilised by local collaborative partnerships for supporting children, families and carers through the pandemic. The Scottish Government has agreed for the balance to be spent in 2022/23. 026 Education GIRFEC 49,310 49,310 Scottish Government Initiatives To support Argyll and Bute’s contribution to implementing GIRFEC and the Children and Young Person (Scotland) Act to ensure compliance with legislation. 027 Education ERASMUS French and Spanish Training for Practitioners 41,614 41,614 Unspent Grant Due to COVID-19 and with restrictions on teachers going abroad to Spain and France for Teacher language training, this grant was extended to the end of May 2022. The project will conclude in 2022/23. 028 Education Scottish Attainment Challenge - Care Experienced CYP Funding 41,302 2,409 38,893 Unspent Grant To provide targeted support for care experienced children and young people to achieve their full potential.
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 029 Education Scottish Government Initiatives: Developing the Young Workforce GIRFEC Languages 1+2 41,584 4,106 37,478 Scottish Government Initiatives Developing the Young Workforce: Developing an Argyll and Bute foundational apprenticeship scheme, developing support for vulnerable young people to access training, developing key group knowledge of the local labour market in relation to post-school opportunities and delivering a prevocational programme for unemployed young people. Grant received from the Scottish Government for this purpose. GIRFEC: This grant funding is for the specific purpose of supporting Argyll and Bute’s contribution to implementing GIRFEC and the Children and Young Person (Scotland) Act to ensure compliance with legislation. Activity in Argyll and Bute will include developing specific resources, staff training and development, protocols and procedures in line with the GIRFEC practice model and national guidelines. Languages 1+2: Grant provided for implementing the Scottish Government's 1+2 languages policy for Primary schools. The Scottish Government have confirmed that any unspent funding can be put into reserves for spend later. 030 Education Languages 1 + 2 28,056 0 28,056 Scottish Government Initiatives Languages 1+2: Grant provided for implementing the Scottish Government's 1+2 languages policy for Primary schools. The Scottish Government have confirmed that any unspent funding can be put into reserves for spend later. 031 Education Schools ADP Grant 19,000 19,000 Unspent Grant Providing social and emotional support to pupils who are affected by drugs and alcohol. 032 Education Sanitary Products in Schools 12,040 12,040 Scottish Government Initiatives Scottish Government Initiative to introduce access to free period products in schools 033 Education Pupil Equity Fund Carry Forward 480,696 479,104 1,592 Unspent Grant To provide targeted support for children and young people affected by poverty to achieve their full potential. Funding is used over the academic year. 034 Education Adult Services - c/f Health and Wellbeing funding 385 385 Unspent Third Party Contribution English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) funding and HandWB tutor costs. 035 Legal and Regulatory Services CCTV Maintenance 72,240 34,772 37,468 Unspent Grant Maintenance of CCTV systems. Funds transferred from external bodies (Police Scotland) to maintain systems for future years. Council Decision of 20 Sept 2007. 036 Legal and Regulatory Services Community Safety Partnership 21,538 21,538 Existing Legal Commitments Corporate Initiative with specific funding to deliver a project. To fund reconfiguration of Dunoon CCTV Scheme. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (KIRSTY FLANAGAN) 037 Customer Support Services Microsoft Licensing Costs 577,888 577,888 Previous Council Decision - Other To meet licensing and set-up costs for the Microsoft 365 rollout between 2022/23 and 2026/27. 038 Customer Support Services Skills Development Scotland 86,936 86,936 Unspent Grant We receive the money from Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to enable us to deliver Foundation and Modern Apprenticeship programmes. The money covers the salaries of the two Tutors we employ and also any materials we require to deliver the programmes.
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 039 Customer Support Services Self Isolated Support 43,000 43,000 COVID-19 These were monies that were provided by Scotgov to fund additional overtime and resources for Shielding/Caring for People and Test and Protect activities, however low infection rates and therefore demand in A&B meant that this was not required in 2020/21. The funding will therefore be used for Recovery related activities including the recruitment of a Temporary Additional Web Developer to implement the improvements identified by customers in the Customer Engagement Consultation and to mainstream the Coronavirus page content back in to Business as usual. Another portion will be used to fund the Digital Receptionist solution as part of safe re-opening of offices. 040 Customer Support Services Implementation of Gaelic Language Plan 30,000 30,000 Previous Council Decision Agreed at Council Meeting February 2021. Provision of funding for delivery and implementation of the council’s Gaelic Language Plan in recognition of the contribution that Gaelic makes to economic growth and to the tourism sector, and to enable delivery of key activities within the plan which currently receive no revenue funding. 041 Customer Support Services Bord na Gaidhlig 41,584 24,254 17,330 Unspent Grant Grant funding from Bord na Gaidhlig. Ongoing spend ad hoc to deliver on commitments in the Gaelic Language Plan. Grant income from GLAIF continues to be added to this total and then paid out to projects. 042 Customer Support Services Civil Partnerships 6,250 6,250 Unspent Grant These are monies provided by National Records of Scotland to assist with the implementation and promotion of the new Same Sex Civil Ceremonies offering. Money will be spent on a revised Marriage Guide for customers (Hard Copy and Online Version and on targeted advertising in specialist wedding publications. 043 Customer Support Services Bord na Ghailig 4,000 4,000 Unspent Grant Grant funding from Bord na Gaidhlig. Ongoing ad hoc spend to deliver on commitments in the Gaelic Language Plan. 044 Development & Economic Growth Coastal Communities (Capital) 950,000 950,000 Unspent Grant 2020-21 Crown Estate Funding (Coastal Communities Fund) totalling £1.504m. Expenditure/allocation to projects delayed due to covid, now allocated as per report to P&R on 18 Feb 2021. £950k relates to works within the current capital programme moved from line 075a. Projects include Rothesay Harbour (Pontoons) 191k, Dunoon STEM Hub 100k, Dunoon Cycle Bothy 209k, Tobermory Car Park 400k, Ardrishaig North Project 50k. 045 Development & Economic Growth Coastal Communities 554,303 205,500 348,803 Unspent Grant 2020-21 Crown Estate Funding (Coastal Communities Fund) totalling £1.504m. Expenditure/allocation to projects delayed due to covid, now allocated as per report to P&R on 18 Feb 2021. £950k relates to works within the current capital programme, moved to line 075b. 046 Development & Economic Growth Gypsy Traveller Grant 108,726 42,586 66,140 Unspent Grant To be transferred to ACHA once an expenditure plan approved 047 Development & Economic Growth EH Covid Posts 41,145 41,145 COVID-19 Funding for 2 posts for 2 years and not recruited until late 20- 21
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 048 Development & Economic Growth Digital Boost 34,894 0 34,894 Unspent Grant To provide funding for Digital Boost program. Initially was to be used to help fund the programme in 21/22 but additional income was received by the service so earmarkings to be carried forward to 22/23. 049 Development & Economic Growth Shop Local Campaign 20,230 18,238 1,992 Unspent Grant Grant received to support a Shop Local campaign. 050 Development & Economic Growth Marine Aquaculture - part of rural growth deal 15,977 11,953 4,024 0 Unspent Grant The balance will be used to pay SAMS Enterprise who are progressing the Marine Industry Needs Assessment study and hope to have a draft report available for June. SAMS are in the process of undertaking interviews with a wide range of marine industry stakeholders to identify where lack of infrastructure is prohibiting aquaculture businesses from growing further. Consultancy costs are now fully paid, coming in under initial estimate, so the remaining earmarking is being released back to the general fund. 051 Development and Economic Growth Helensburgh CARS 327,000 327,000 Previous Council Decision - Other Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme for Helensburgh. Grants awarded to upgrade conservation areas in Helensburgh such as shop fronts, town centre accommodation and other priority buildings. Business Case not yet approved. 052 Development and Economic Growth Rothesay Pavilion - Revenue contribution 262,150 262,150 CHORD Build up a provision towards future Council commitment to provide up to £150,000 per annum running costs for Rothesay Pavilion. 053 Development and Economic Growth Lochgilphead CARS 200,000 200,000 Previous Council Decision - Other Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme for Lochgilphead Grants awarded to upgrade conservation areas in Lochgilphead such as shop fronts, town centre accommodation and other priority buildings. 054 Development and Economic Growth Town Centre Fund 414,187 284,231 129,956 Unspent Grant This represents the revenue funded projects within the Town centre fund which have yet to be paid out plus the overall contingency amount which was built into the overall scheme. 055 Development and Economic Growth Dunoon CARS 500,000 400,000 100,000 Previous Council Decision - Other Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme for Dunoon. Grants awarded to upgrade conservation areas in Dunoon such as shop fronts, town centre accommodation and other priority buildings. 056 Development and Economic Growth Rothesay THI 200,000 100,000 100,000 Previous Council Decision - Other Stage 2 submission for the Rothesay Townscape Heritage Initiative project. Budget allocated at 2017-18 budget meeting and allocated to capital, this was then moved out of capital and into earmarked reserves at 2020-21 budget meeting. 057 Development and Economic Growth Proposed Local Development Plan 2 87,910 87,910 Previous Council Decision - Other During 19/20, a cost pressure of £68,000 was allocated to deal with the costs associated with the production of Local Development Plan 2. Due to delays this work has only commenced at beginning of 2022-23 where expenditure will be fully utilised. 058 Development and Economic Growth Kilmartin Museum 400,000 323,793 76,207 Previous Council Decision - Other Upgrade of Kilmartin Museum, works carried out by Museum with grants awarded upon completion milestones. Budget allocated to capital originally but was moved out of capital and into earmarked reserves at 2020-21 budget meeting.
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 059 Development and Economic Growth Dunoon Business Improvement District 40,700 40,700 0 Previous Council Decision - Other Contribution from the Council towards the five year business plan for the Dunoon Business Improvement District. There is now budget baselined for this and the earmarking can be released back to the general fund 060 Roads & Infrastructure Piers and Harbours 970,225 970,225 Piers and Harbours Investment Fund Funding generated through increased harbour fees and charges in order to generate funds to meet the costs of the prudential borrowing required to develop and maintain the Council's harbour assets and infrastructure. Under the Harbours Act 1964, section 42, as a statutory harbour undertaker, the Council must prepare an annual statement of accounts relating to the harbour activities and any associated activities for each harbour for which it is the statutory harbour authority. This requirement cannot be satisfied by the preparation of a statement of accounts which relates to other Council activities in addition to harbour activities. In essence, any surplus in the Piers and Harbours budget must be reinvested in the marine asset and reflected in accounts. 061 Roads & Infrastructure Services Active Travel 500,000 500,000 Previous Council Decision At the Council Budget meeting on 24 February 2022, the Council committed to additional investments. For Active Travel £0.500m for further improvements for footpaths and pavements and supporting safer routes to schools across Argyll and Bute. Requests that officers bring forward a report setting out scheme proposals to the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee. 062 Roads & Infrastructure Services Street Lighting 300,000 300,000 Previous Council Decision At the Council Budget meeting on 24 February 2022, the Council committed to additional investments. For Street Lighting, £0.300m to deliver a programme of street lighting column replacement and improvement across Argyll and Bute, prioritised based on condition, with funding for at least 260 lighting columns. 063 Roads & Infrastructure Vehicle Replacement 106,968 106,968 Fleet - Timing Delay Timing delay in fleet replacement causing one-off saving 064 Roads & Infrastructure Services Bin Replacement Programme 100,000 100,000 Previous Council Decision At the Council Budget meeting on 24 February 2022, the Council committed to additional investments - £0.100m in Argyll and Bute’s litter bin replacement programme and infrastructure, providing almost 200 new/better bins across the area where required due to condition/need and with a focus on town centres and prominent locations, to support cleaner communities. Requests that officers explore options for use of new and innovative litter disposal solutions for future consideration. 065 Roads & Infrastructure Mercury Abatement - Crematorium 66,811 23,992 42,819 Unspent Third Party Contribution Phase 3 of the Cardross Crematorium works includes raised flooring for DDA compliance together with upgrades to fire doors. Works estimate circa £73k. The works include new fire exit doors to meet compliance and the raising of the floor level in the arch opposite the main entrance, the works include ensuring the book of remembrance is readily accessible. Work commenced 2020-21 and property have advised remaining work will be completed in 2022-23. SOCIAL WORK
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 066 Children and Families Criminal Justice Transformation Funding 39,890 0 0 0 39,890 Unspent Third Party Contribution Additional funding from SG to fund redesign work within Criminal Justice. Funds to be pooled with equivalent additional funding received by our CJ Partnership Partners to fund a transformation and development project across the three partner areas. 067 Adult Services See Hear Funding 13,658 0 0 0 13,658 Scottish Government Initiatives Funding has been received specifically from the Scottish Government to support activity around implementation of the See Hear recommendations and the identified priorities of individual Sensory Partnerships. No plans for spend in current financial year, funds will be used in the next two years in accordance with the See Hear plan and Argyll and Bute's BSL Local plan. NON DEPARTMENTAL 068 Non Departmental Allocated to Capital Plan 3,044,775 2,975,000 6,019,775 Previous Council Decision - Other Allocated to capital plan. £8.240m agreed 22 February 2018 and a further £2.408m agreed as a budgeted surplus from the 2018-19 budget. £100k for Dunoon Boxing Club, £124k for Oban Library, £500k for Dunoon CARS, £200k for Rothesay THI, £200k for Lochgilphead CARS. £327k for Helensburgh CARS and £400k for Kilmartin Museum have been moved to separate lines from this overall earmarking. £9225 for 83-85 East Clyde Street Office also moved to separate line (a completed project), leaving balance of 44k. Further £3m agreed by the Council at the budget meeting in February 2021 from unallocated general fund. Further £2.975m transfer to Capital agreed as part of the 21-22 Revenue Budget agreed February 2021 069 Non Departmental Strategic Housing Fund 7,126,380 2,671,560 4,454,820 Strategic Housing Fund Accumulation of Council tax collected from the second homes discount on properties is earmarked as part of the Strategic Housing Fund balance. 070 Non Departmental Investment in Affordable Housing 3,500,000 200,000 3,300,000 Investment in Affordable Housing Agreed at Council Meeting 11 February 2016. This balance reduces as the Loans to RSL balances are reducing. 071 Non Departmental Regeneration and Economic sustainability in Lochgilphead and Tarbert. 2,271,883 1,304 2,270,579 Lochgilphead and Tarbert Regeneration Agreed at Council Meeting 11 February 2016. 2 projects completed; 1 project in the process of completion but currently suspended due to covid-19; 2 currently out to tender but the timeline is affected by covid-19; 1 project nearing completion of the design stage with FBC due for completion & consideration in late 2020. Lochgliphead Front Green Project (Capital) has now commenced with drawdown expected to be £1.648m in 21-22 and £34k in 22-23. 072 Non Departmental Asset Management Fund 2,081,098 2,081,098 Asset Management Investment Agreed at Council Meeting 11 February 2016. This fund has been set up to allow the Council to invest monies where relevant to generate a return that will be reinvested within Argyll and Bute. There are potential investment opportunities in Colgrain, Kilmory and Oban Airport being explored 073 Non Departmental Capital Projects (including Helensburgh waterfront) 7,452,000 5,579,000 1,873,000 Capital Projects Agreed underwriting at the Council Meeting on 11 February 2016. Will be used to fund capital programme and drawn down during 21-22.
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 074 Non Departmental Roads Reconstruction programme 1,766,117 1,766,117 Capital Projects At the Council Budget meeting on 24 February 2022, the Council committed to additional investments. For Roads Reconstruction, continuing a multi-million investment programme over the life of this Council by providing additional funding (£2.653 with some committed from COVID funding) to maintain and improve Argyll and Bute’s rural, remote, island and urban roads network, to guarantee an overall Roads Reconstruction Budget of £8m for 2022/23 075 Non Departmental Roads Capital Investment 2,400,000 700,000 1,700,000 Previous Council Decision Agreed at Council meeting February 2020, a transfer of £264k to Administration priorities to support Roads Capital Investment. This has been built into the capital plan and drawn down in 21-22. The total investment to capital was £2.4m but only the part from the General fund reserve was recognised. The revenue budget allocation of £2.136m recognised at year end 20-21. 076 Non Departmental Inward investment Fund 832,500 49,485 783,015 Inward Investment Fund Agreed at Council Meeting 11 February 2016. This fund has been set up to generate economic and population growth within Argyll and Bute. The aim is to encourage business and people to set up and live in Argyll and Bute. The remainder of this fund will be directed towards projects which support the Rural Growth Deal. 077 Non Departmental Property Capital Investment 500,000 500,000 Previous Council Decision Agreed Council meeting February 2020 - an allocation from the Revenue Budget to Property Capital. Additional funds available in 21/22 to support shift from fossil fuels to clean energy alternatives across our offices and schools. Project is now underway and expected to complete by June 2022. 078 Non Departmental Investment in HubCo 491,791 491,791 Asset Management Investment It was agreed at the Council meeting February 2016 that the investment in HubCo be supported. The earmarking has been updated to show the actual investment costs. 079 Non Departmental Unallocated Admin Support Grant 374,214 10,111 364,103 COVID-19 Funding to support the delivery of the Business Grants to local businesses, partially used during 20/21 and 21/22 but a balance remains to be carried forward and used in future years 080 Non Departmental Rural Growth Deal Programme Office 361,733 87,814 273,919 Previous Council Decision Agreed at Council meeting February 2021. Following the signing of the Heads of Terms Agreement for Argyll and Bute’s Rural Growth Deal in February 2021 and, to secure maximum potential from this £70m investment in the region, invests additional funding to drive forward the progression of Argyll and Bute’s Deal and to support the Deal’s associated programme, business case development and project management. This earmarking includes £151,733 that was sitting under Rural Resettlement fund as at 31 March 22 but was merged into this line going forward 081 Non Departmental Capital pressure 257,000 257,000 COVID-19 Pressure identified on the 20-21 COSLA COVID costs spreadsheets - requires to be earmarked to be drawn down when required against the Capital Plan 082 Non Departmental Oban Library Leased Property 25,069 25,069 Previous Council Decision - Other Capital expenditure on a Leased Property
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 083 Non Departmental Acquisition of Land at Clyde Street, Helensburgh 22,000 22,000 Previous Council Decision - Other The balance remaining after the acquisition of land, relating to Helensburgh Waterfront, has now been earmarked to be used for other capital expenditure relating to the Development 084 Non Departmental Innovation Fund 73,273 73,273 0 Transformation Agreed at Council Meeting October 2015. Fund has been set up to provide support to internal ideas to generate income or reduce costs through efficiencies/redesign. This funding was delegated to the transformation board, which no longer exists so the remaining balance is being released back to the general fund. 0 085 Non Departmental Unallocated General COVID Funding 1,229,921 388,692 1,961,654 -2,802,883 0 COVID-19 This funding originated from the general COVID allocations provided or passed on by the Scottish Government. The unallocated balance to be held as funding for future COVID purposes. This funding originated from 20-21 carry forwards and 21-22 budget decisions and was fully allocated to specific areas of activity at the budget meeting on 24 February 2022. For ease of reporting, the balance on this line has been allocated out to the areas of spend agreed. This ensures the use of the funding is transparent and easily tracked going forward. 086 Non Departmental COVID Funding Share of £275m funding received 20- 21 - original estimate per 21-22 Budget Motion 4,923,000 576,171 -4,346,829 0 COVID-19 One-off allocation from £275m to support COVID pressures. A decision was taken at the Council meeting on 25 February 21 that this would be earmarked at the end of 2020-21 to be fully used as part of the 2021-22 budget decisions. This funding originated from a 20-21 carry forward and the remaining balance was fully allocated to specific areas of activity at the budget meeting on 24 February 2022. For ease of reporting, the balance on this line has been allocated out to the areas of spend agreed. This ensures the use of the funding is transparent and easily tracked going forward. 087 Non Departmental COVID Funding Share of £275m funding received 20- 21 - additional allocation above estimate used in Budget Motion 476,000 98,000 -378,000 0 COVID-19 Per 112a, a COVID funding allocation of £4.923m formed part of the revenue budget decisions on 25 February 21. When the funding was received, it was greater than estimate by £0.476m. It was agreed to add this to the Recovery and Renewal Fund. This funding originated from a 20-21 carry forward and the remaining balance was fully allocated to specific areas of activity at the budget meeting on 24 February 2022. For ease of reporting, the balance on this line has been allocated out to the areas of spend agreed. This ensures the use of the funding is transparent and easily tracked going forward.
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 088 Non Departmental COVID Funding Balance of Budget Motion - 4,888,000 -4,888,000 0 COVID-19 An additional £4.888m from the 21-22 revenue budget decisions in relation to COVID. Share of 21-22 £259m funding allocation (£4.609m) plus the difference between the Loans Fund Principal Repayment Holiday (£5.400m) less the revenue COVID pressures input (£5.101) less the Festive Parking input into the revenue budget (£0.020m). The balance was fully allocated to specific areas of activity at the budget meeting on 24 February 2022. For ease of reporting, this line has been allocated out to the areas of spend agreed. This ensures the use of the funding is transparent and easily tracked going forward. 089 Non Departmental COVID Funding Additional £40m GRG 712,000 -712,000 0 COVID-19 An additional £0.712m from additional 21-22 revenue funding, agreed at May Policy and Resources meeting to be added to the Recovery and Renewal Fund. The balance was fully allocated to specific areas of activity at the budget meeting on 24 February 2022. For ease of reporting, this line has been allocated out to the areas of spend agreed. This ensures the use of the funding is transparent and easily tracked going forward. 090 Non Departmental Capital Cost Pressures 2,000,000 2,000,000 Capital Projects As agreed at the Council Meeting on 25 February 2021. Allocation of COVID funding to Capital Cost Pressures 091 Across Departments COVID Cost Pressures Beyond 2021/22 370,000 370,000 COVID-19 As agreed at the Council Meeting on 25 February 2021 (£2.5m) with the value reduced to £0.370m based on more up to date projections at year end 2021-22. Allocation of COVID funding to projected 22/23 Revenue Cost Pressures 092 Non Departmental Provision for Capital Contract Increases 2,646,000 2,646,000 Capital Projects As agreed at the Council Meeting on 25 February 2021. Allocation of COVID funding to Capital Cost Increases £2.5m with the amended value of £2.646m agreed at P&R on 14 October 2021. 093 Non Departmental Recovery and Renewal Fund 1,547,000 1,547,000 COVID-19 As agreed at Council on 24 February 2022, Recovery and Renewal Fund £1.547m. This is provision for future recovery, regeneration and renewal, as well as any future pressures which may arise following the Covid-19 pandemic through a dedicated Recovery and Renewal Fund. Proposals for use of this fund to be brought forward by officers to the Policy and Resources Committee. To include in the first instance options for maximising Argyll and Bute’s potential as a green, connected staycation destination of choice, requesting that officers bring to the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee a report on use of external funding sources and other opportunities for improving the electric vehicle charging network. 094 Community Planning Community Planning - temp post to support communities 55,000 55,000 COVID-19 As agreed at Policy & Resources committee on 9 December 2021, allocation of £0.055m to a post to support the economic and social recovery together with the building back stronger themes. 095 Development and Economic Growth Economic Development - temp post to support economic recovery 55,000 55,000 COVID-19 As agreed at Policy & Resources committee on 9 December 2021, allocation of £0.055m to a post to support the economic and social recovery together with the building back stronger themes.
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 096 Non Departmental Levelling up Fund bids per P&R February 22 150,000 150,000 COVID-19 As agreed at Policy & Resources committee on 17 February 2022, an allocation of up to £0.150m to support Levelling Up Fund bids 097 Development and Economic Growth Staycation Investment per budget pack February 22 100,000 100,000 COVID-19 As agreed at Council on 24 February 2022, Staycation investment £0.100m. Augments the 2021/22 £0.5m staycation initiative with an additional investment of £100k, including support for community groups and partners in the provision of facilities which can support increasing staycation visitor numbers during the 2022/23 season. 098 Non Departmental CHARTS per budget pack February 22 75,000 75,000 COVID-19 As agreed at Council on 24 February 2022, investment in CHARTS £0.075m. To support the organisation in delivering targeted support, in communities, to the culture, arts and heritage sector as part of its plans to contribute to overall economic recovery. 099 Non Departmental Further Capital pressures per budget pack February 22 3,900,000 3,900,000 Capital Projects As agreed at Council on 24 February 2022, a provision for Capital contract increases £3.900m 100 Non Departmental Roads Reconstruction per budget pack February 22 886,883 886,883 Capital Projects As agreed at Council on 24 February 2022, Roads Reconstruction programme. The funding is to continue a multi-million pound investment programme over the life of this council by providing an additional £2.653m to maintain and improve Argyll and Bute’s rural, remote, island and urban roads network, to guarantee an overall Roads Reconstruction Budget of £8m for 2022/23. The amount noted in the budget pack is £1.165m from COVID but due to movement in estimated covid commitments between the budget pack and year end, the value from COVID is £0.887m with the balance of £1.766m coming from the unallocated general fund. 101 Development and Economic Growth Staycation and Marketing Argyll and Bute 592,013 592,013 COVID-19 As agreed at the Council Meeting on 25 February 2021 with an original allocation of £0.800m. This will include provision of additional waste disposal facilities and other facilities that will be informed by the Motorhome and Informal Camping Survey. 102 Development and Economic Growth Tackling Digital Exclusion Top-Up Fund 250,000 250,000 COVID-19 As agreed at the Council Meeting on 25 February 2021. Establishes the Tackling Digital Exclusion Top Up Fund to support communities and in some cases individuals that are missing out on national programmes due to logistics and economies of scale. While vouchers are available from the UK and Scottish Governments in some cases these do not cover the full cost of infrastructure builds. 103 Legal and Regulatory Services Welfare Rights Support 172,000 172,000 COVID-19 As agreed at the Council Meeting on 25 February 2021 - an allocation of £0.172m. As part of our focus on Improving Opportunities for People and Communities, agrees to provide additional resources to proactively support people experiencing poverty and hardship, by investing in two additional Welfare Rights support staff for two years.
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Ref Service Description Amount Earmarked at 31 March 2021 Actual Spend 2021/22 Funds unearmarked New Earmarking Agreed by Council During 2021/22 General COVID funding allocation to specific themes Closing Balance Reason for Carry Forward Plans for Use 104 Education Education to Support Young People 321,816 321,816 COVID-19 As agreed at the Council Meeting on 25 February 2021 with an original allocation of £0.600m. Agrees to fund a package of measures to boost the wellbeing and build back the resilience of young people, in particular those most vulnerable, following the Covid-19 pandemic, including counselling and increased provision of childcare for children under three. Notes that the Scottish Government is yet to confirm details of funding for similar initiatives and, should our investment in children’s wellbeing qualify for this funding, the balance will be re-allocated to the Recovery and Renewal Fund. 105 Non Departmental CHARTS 7,000 7,000 COVID-19 As agreed at the Council Meeting on 25 February 2021. Allocation of COVID funding to CHARTS £0.067m, with the balance of £0.007m being carried to 2022/23. The allocation is to ensure that Argyll and Bute’s culture, heritage and arts sector can make a contribution to our overall recovery and renewal. 59,797,000 17,478,068 317,997 14,702,771 0 56,703,706