Agenda item - Capital Budget Outturn 2016/17 including Q1 Monitoring 2017/18

[To report on the outturn position for 2016/17 and update on the 2017/18 financial performance of the General Fund (GF) and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) capital programmes and the revised forecast for 2017/18 to 2021/22 as at quarter one of 2017/18; and to recommend revisions to the current approved GF and HRA capital programmes covering the period 2017/18 to 2021/22]

1. That Council be recommended to:

a. Approve the revised medium term General Fund capital programme of £327.7 million, an increase of £11.7 million from the previously approved programme, reflecting the latest projected expenditure for the medium term.

b. Approve the revised medium term Housing Revenue Account (HRA) capital programme of £261.7 million, a decrease of £1.9 million from the previously approved programme, reflecting the latest projected expenditure for the medium term.

c. Approve the net additional General Fund resources of £11.7 million identified for:

i. CCTV - Grant to Wolverhampton Homes, a new project, of £20,000

ii. Penn Kids, a new project of £325,000

iii. sixteen new projects totalling £11.8 million

iv. sixty six existing projects net reduction totalling £518,000

d. Award a grant of £20,000 to Wolverhampton Homes to procure and install CCTV equipment on the Glentworth Gardens estate.

e. Approve the receipt of grant of £325,000 awarded by Department of Education for Penn Kids to increase capacity in order to deliver 30 hours free childcare.

f. Approve to passport the full grant awarded to the Council of £325,000 to the third party provider Penn Kids.

2. That the General Fund virements totalling £37.9 million detailed at appendix C be approved for;

i. existing projects totalling £33.0 million;

ii. new projects totalling £4.9 million.

3. That the HRA virements totalling £1.7 million for existing projects be approved.

4. That the updated schedules of works for the capital projects under the following directorates be approved.

i. Corporate: ICTS, WV Active – Leisure Centres and in relation to Education; Building Schools for the Future (BSF), Schools Capital Maintenance and Existing Primary School Expansion Programme.

ii. People: Sports Investment Strategy, Co-location Programme, Children in Need – Aiming High for Disabled Children, Community Hubs and Early Education – Two Year Education Pilot

iii. Place: Corporate Asset Management, Urban Parks Refurbishment, Disposals Programme, Accessing Growth Fund, Managing Short Trips, Street Lighting, Highway Structures (bridges, subways, retaining walls), Southside, Maintenance of unclassified roads, Non-Highway Structures, Highway Improvement Programme, Safety Programme, Maintenance of classified roads, Cycling – Cycle Route Improvements, Local Growth Fund (LGF) Feasibility and Energy Efficiency Measures.

5. That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Resources in consultation with the Director of Finance to approve the allocation of the provision of the ‘Corporate Contingency’ to individual capital projects in order that corporate priorities may be addressed in a more agile and timely manner.

6. That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Resources in consultation with the Director of Finance to approve the allocation of the provision of the ‘Transformation Development Efficiency Strategy’ to individual transformation projects in order to benefit from the capital receipts flexibility announced in the Autumn Statement 2015 and in line with the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

7. That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Housing and City Assets in consultation with the Director of Governance to approve the allocation of the provision of the ‘Demolition of Former Schools’ to individual capital projects in order that they may be progressed in a timely manner.

8. That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Resources in consultation with the Director of Finance to approve the allocation of the provision of the ‘Strategic Land Acquisitions’ to individual capital projects to ensure that the priority acquisitions can be progressed in a timely manner.

9. That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Resources in consultations with the Director of Finance to approve the allocation of the provision of the ‘Smart and Accessible City’ to individual capital projects in order that they may be progressed in a timely manner.

10. That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Resources in consultation with the Director of Finance to approve the allocation of the provision of the ‘Lighting Up the City’ to individual capital projects in order that they may be progressed in a timely manner.

11. That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for City Assets and Housing in consultation with the Strategic Director for Place to approve urgent programmes of work to respond to health and safety issues and reprofile existing projects accordingly. Following on from the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower, whilst we are confident that the tower blocks within Wolverhampton are of the correct standard, it is recognised that there may be instances in the future where the Council is required to respond quickly to emerging health and safety issues.

12. That the General Fund outturn position for 2016/17 which stands at 72.1% of the approved capital budget be noted.

13. That the HRA outturn position for 2016/17 which stands at 78.1% of the approved capital budget be noted

14. That it be noted that there is one new project requiring internal resources included in the report which is subject to a separate detailed project report to this Cabinet (Resources) Panel meeting. The inclusion of this projects is for budget approval purposes and is on the assumption that the approval to progress with the project is given at this meeting. As the progression is dependent on that decision, if the project is not approved, the capital programme will be reduced accordingly. The names of the projects are:

Demolition of Former Schools

15. That it be noted that whilst the capital budget requirements of the markets relocation scheme would be included the report to Full Council on 19 July 2017, the capital budget required to instruct a contractor and commence the market relocation scheme would not be released until a further paper is considered by Cabinet (Resources) Panel.

Cllr Andrew Johnson presented the outturn report. He particularly highlighted the General Fund (GF) outturn position for 2016/17; the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) outturn position for 2016/17; the work of the Project Assurance Group to profile the current financial year expenditure to further enhance quarterly capital project forecasting and reporting; the Interchange - Phase 2; and measures put in place following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower, London.

Cllr Johnson also informed the Panel that the capital report contained a request to increase the capital budget for the markets relocation scheme by £530,000 to a total of £3.03 million. This was based on cost estimates prior to commencing procurement. Following the procurement process it was now proposed that this be further increased to a total budget of £4.9 million. The tenders received have come back outside the agreed budget and employees were working with prospective contractors to value engineer the contract. This process would be completed over the coming weeks and the revised capital budget requirements for the scheme would be detailed in the report to Council on 19 July 2017. The capital budget required to instruct a contractor and commence the market relocation scheme would not be released until a further report is considered by Cabinet (Resources) Panel.

Resolved: