Finance
Jump to: Summary of Accounts | Review of Year | Spending on Activities | Summary Balance Sheet | Capital Investment | Cash Flow | Efficiency Plan
Summary of Accounts 2009/10
This document summarises the Authority's full 2009/10 Statement of Accounts and gives a view of the financial position at 31 March 2010. In order to present this information in a more concise and user-friendly way, some modifications to the full Statement of Accounts have been made.
The full statement of accounts are available on the Police Authority's website, www.westmerciapoliceauthority.gov.uk.
Review of the Year
In 2009/10 the resources available from grants and council tax was £197.6m.
The Statement of Accounts is audited each year by the Audit Commission.
The Authority must maintain adequate reserves and these are kept under regular review by the Treasurer. Reserves have been preserved to meet future liabilities, obligations and potential risks. At 31 March 2010 reserves amounting to £24.6m are being held to meet these requirements.
Also during the year capital expenditure was £11.0m and this has been funded primarily by government grant and working capital pending longer term borrowing.
Spending on activities during the year
The total cost of policing in West Mercia during the year was:
| 2008/09 | 2009/10 | |
| £m | £m | |
| 122.1 | Police officers salaries etc | 122.6 |
| 53.7 | Police staff salaries etc | 55.9 |
| 2.3 | Police pension scheme | 2.4 |
| 41.0 | Other running costs | 39.1 |
| 15.5 | Depreciation and accounting adjustments | 12.5 |
| -------------- 234.6 (24.3) -------------- | Income | -------------- 232.5 (24.4) -------------- |
| 210.3 | Net cost of services | 208.1 |
| (1.1) | Interest received and paid | (0.4) |
| (15.5) | Depreciation and accounting adjustments | (12.5) |
| -------------- 193.7 -------------- | Operating cost for the year | -------------- 196.0 -------------- |
The budget for the year was funded by:
| (118.9) | Income from government grant | (121.8) |
| (71.8) | Income from council tax | (75.8) |
| -------------- (190.7) -------------- | Total funding | -------------- (197.6) -------------- |
The difference between the total funding and the operating cost for the year was used for:
| 0.2 | Funding capital expenditure from revenue sources | 0.3 |
| (3.2) | Contribution to (from) earmarked reserves | 1.3 |
| -------------- (3.0) -------------- | Resources deployed at the end of the year | -------------- (1.6) -------------- |
Accounting adjustments relate to requirements in the full Statement of Accounts to include depreciation and an actuarial assessment of future pension cost. This summary relates to expenditure incurred during the year only.
Summary Balance Sheet at 31 March 2010
This is a summary of the value of what the Police Authority owns, together with debts owed to and by the Authority.
| 31 March 2009 | 31 March 2010 | |
| £m | £m | |
| 89.8 | Value of buildings, vehicles and computers | 86.3 |
| 23.9 | Cash in the bank and invested | 11.7 |
| 11.7 | Money owed to West Mercia | 11.3 |
| (20.6) | Money owed by West Mercia | (13.5) |
| (10.9) | Long term borrowing by West Mercia | (10.1) |
| -------------- 93.9 -------------- | Total assets less liabilities | -------------- 85.7 -------------- |
Represented by:
| 70.6 | Accounting reserves | 61.1 |
| 23.3 | Funds for specific purposes | 24.6 |
| --------------- 93.9 --------------- | -------------- 85.7 -------------- |
Capital Investment during the year
The assets of the Police Authority are enhanced by capital spending in each year. In 2009/10 the details were:
| 2008/09 | 2009/10 | |
| £m | £m | |
| 7.1 | Land and buildings | 4.5 |
| 2.4 | Vehicles and equipment | 4.6 |
| 3.1 | Computers and communications | 1.9 |
| -------------- 12.6 -------------- | -------------- 11.0 -------------- |
These were paid for by using:
| 2.7 | Government grant | 3.1 |
| 0.2 | Funds from revenue sources and reserves | 0.3 |
| 0.2 | Sales of other assets | 0.2 |
| 9.5 | Borrowing or use of working capital | 7.4 |
| -------------- 12.6 -------------- | -------------- 11.0 -------------- |
Cash Flow
The cashflow summarises how receipts and payments during the year relate to the final balance of cash and investments:
| 2008/09 | 2009/2010 | |
| £m | £m | |
| 33.6 | Cash and investments at start of year | 23.9 |
| 231.4 | Cash received | 239.0 |
| (241.1) | Cash paid | (251.2) |
| -------------- 23.9 -------------- | Cash and investments at end of year | --------------- 11.7 --------------- |
Efficiency Plan
West Mercia has a strong record of delivering value for money. It has consistently featured in the highest scoring group of police forces in the Audit Commission's evaluation of Police Use of Resources (PURE).
By the end of the financial year 2009/10 West Mercia had achieved £57.1 million in efficiency savings since 1999. This is the equivalent of effectively funding 120 police officers per year, which gives an indication of the scale of the achievement.
West Mercia recorded in excess of £4 million of efficiency gains in 2009/10 and is therefore on track to deliver the planned target for the Comprehensive Spending Review period 2008-2011.
2009/10 saw the continuation of the Strategic Resource Leverage process introduced in 2008/09. The process includes two elements:
- Cash releasing initiatives with Divisions and Departments identifying cash savings of 1.25% without affecting frontline policing.
- Cash re-investment initiatives; where proposals to improve performance or to be more efficient are undertaken by re-deploying resources.
Other wholly local initiatives have taken place, an example being the resolution of local crime in a more effective manner maximising efficiency in investigations.
In continuing the ‘invest to save' basis for committing expenditure, major schemes now approved include,
- Central Storage Facility.
- Operational Data Store bringing data together from the multiplicity of systems necessary to improve decision making and reduce data entry.
- Command and Control System improving call management and subsequent deployment.
As a package the three initiatives assist in addressing the reducing bureaucracy agenda and the improved deployment of police officers.
Helpful links: Index page | Next page | Previous page | Glossary
Bookmark with: