Overall there has been a reduction in general balances held by the Authority. During the year the Authority approved the transfer of £1.869m from general balances to specific reserves including £1.5m to establish a reserve to help finance future capital expenditure. In setting the budget for the year the Authority planned to increase general reserves by £648k. Variances occurred in a number of budget areas and details are included below:

• During the year a number of support staff left the Service through voluntary redundancy or early retirement. These changes were planned as part of our Resourcing and Reform Programme and cost £213k.
• During 2011/12 no operational staff retired due to ill-health. This led to a saving of £150k on the budget for ill health and injury pensions. The costs of injury allowance payments were in line with those expected.
• The overall costs of utilities, cleaning and property management were lower than expected. Some of this reduction in cost was however offset by additional business rates charges whilst we continue to own the site of the former Weymouth Fire Station. The final outturn shows expenditure £71k less than budget. 
• Overall vehicle and equipment running costs are £115k more than originally budgeted. This was mainly due to increased costs of maintaining our vehicle fleet, together with the impact of rising fuel costs.
• During the year the Authority received a number of additional grants from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and other agencies. The Authority received £328k from DCLG to help it prepare for the 2012 Olympics. In March 2012 a further £1.8m was received from DCLG as funding towards the Network Fire Control Service Partnership project, a partnership between Dorset and the fire authorities in Devon and Somerset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. We also received £1.129m from South West Councils in connection with a regional project to improve ICT network infrastructure and security. A number of smaller grants were received from other local authorities in Dorset to fund prevention activities such as our successful SPARC and Fire Cadets programmes.
• The overall cost of financing the Authority’s long-term debt was £892k. This compares to an original budget estimate of £1,110k. The Authority has delayed borrowing whilst our cashflow remains healthy and there is a significant disparity between the cost of borrowing and interest rates on investments. £20k of the budget saving was used to revise the budget for investment income and a further £120k was set aside to fund the purchase of a new performance management system. £100k of revenue funding has been used during the year to fund capital expenditure.

The Authority finances the capital programme by external borrowing, the use of capital receipts generated from the sale of surplus assets, the use of specific grants provided by the government and some direct revenue financing. Capital grants and revenue financing totalled £1.25m in 2011/12. This leaves a balance of funding of £2.737m to be met from other sources. We expect to generate a future capital receipt from the sale of the site of the old fire station in Weymouth during 2012/13 but the amount and timing is not certain. Currently therefore, together with unfinanced capital expenditure brought forward from previous years (£6.196m), this adds up to an overall capital financing requirement of £8.933m. During the year the Authority only undertook new borrowing totalling £4.0m, leaving an outstanding financing requirement of £4.933m. Under the provisions of the Prudential Code the Authority has a period of three years from the financial year to which it relates to borrow the £4.933m identified. At 31 March 2012 the Authority had external debt of £13.462m (£10.6m at 31 March 2011).

In addition, the Authority’s operational vehicles acquired prior to 2005/06 were financed through operating lease arrangements, and therefore are not the property of the Authority. The amount charged to the 2011/12 revenue budget under these arrangements totalled £xxx,000 (2010/11 £765,000).

Click on any of the following to open a copy of the Full Statement of Accounts for:

• 2011-12 (1189KB pdf)
• 2010-11 (1.62MB pdf)
• 2009-10 (1.59MB pdf)
• 2007-08 (933KB pdf)
• 2006-07
• 2005-06
• 2004-05 (This also includes the Statement on Internal Control.)
• The Annual Accounts for 2003-04.