Treasury and Resources
Report
2010 year end carry forwards
- Purpose of Report
To consider the carry forward of unspent expenditure approvals from 2010 to 2011.
2. Background
During 2010, individual States departments continued with their initiatives to deliver current and future savings as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) work. All departments are committed to delivering the identified savings target of £65m as part of the CSR initiative. This focus has helped departments to work more efficiently and to more carefully manage the timing of their expenditure.
Departments have also been encouraged to manage their expenditure over the year end with guidance that anticipated expenditure in 2010, which will be incurred in 2011, should be notified to the Minister for Treasury and Resources for carry forward. This flexibility gives departments a greater ability to manage their overall expenditure and fits in with the central initiative of looking at ways to deliver CSR savings.
As a result, £13.38m was identified as underspends available for departments to fund submitted carry forward requests. This was after £8m being returned to the consolidated fund, largely funded through an underspend in Social Security Income Support costs.
Of the £13.38m, £0.2m related to carry forward of Article 11 (8) monies. These have already been approved by MD-TR-2011-0040 on the 12th April 2011.
This request, therefore, relates to £13.16m available for departments for carry forward. Submissions from departments totalled £11.92m and are detailed in Appendix A. This level of requests left an available balance of £1.24m and departments were asked to identify anticipated 2011 spending pressures. Of those pressures identified, £1.21m was granted funding.
3. Proposed Carry Forwards
The planned underspends by department are detailed in Appendix B. Careful consideration has been given to the granting of the carry forward requests made by departments and are subject to each Minister confirming their ability to achieve their CSR target savings in 2011.
Consideration was given to the view expressed by departments that they have encouraged changes in spending behaviours in 2010 and that their CSR work has focused minds on working more efficiently and taking more responsibility for expenditure. In addition, departments have actively encouraged initiatives that will assist in ensuring their savings targets are met overall. Indeed, one of the underlying philosophies around granting carry forward of underspends in 2010 is to redirect expenditure to help departments to deliver their CSR savings.
Departments have been encouraged to have confidence in underspends being allowed to be carried forward in line with the proposed end of year flexibility rules. This is a fundamental part of good financial management and a sound working partnership between central Treasury and those responsible for expenditure within the departments. It is vital that departments continue to manage the timing of their expenditure and have the ability to manage their cashflow to deliver efficiencies and future savings. The carry forward process must be seen as a building block of this and it fits into the plans for introducing longer planning horizons, through the anticipated introduction of a Medium Term Financial plan that will cover three years.
4. Spending Pressures
The identified carry forward requests totalled £11.92m from an available balance of £13.16m, leaving a surplus of £1.24m.
Other spending pressures for 2011 have been identified by departments for which there is limited funding. A detailed review was conducted of the identified spending pressures for 2011 based on their urgency and their ability to deliver future savings.
After careful consideration of the spending pressures identified, the following have been granted funding:
5. Recommendation
It is recommended that the Minister approves the following:
- Departmental carry forwards of £11.92m, as detailed in Appendix B. This subject to receiving a positive response from each Minister confirming their plans to deliver CSR savings.
- Funding of £1.21m of spending pressures from the available balance of £1.24m as detailed in section 4 of this report
APPENDIX A – SUMMARY OF VARIANCES AND UNDERSPENDS ACHIEVED
APPENDIX B – DETAILED CARRY FORWARDS FOR 2010 BY DEPARTMENT