The Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire Authority (CFA) which is responsible for the local fire and rescue service became an independent precepting authority from 1^st April 2004.  Membership of the CFA will continue to be provided by councillors from the three local authorities.

Local Magistrates Courts Committees, which were partially funded by local authorities, were abolished and replaced by a unified courts administration known as H.M Courts Service within the Department of Constitutional Affairs.  This has brought together Crown Courts, County Courts and Magistrates Courts with effect from 1^st April 2005.  Local authorities no longer provide any finance for this service.

During the year the authority operated two separate accounts, which undertake trading activities of a material nature.

a)Leicestershire Highways

Leicestershire Highways is a business unit of the Highways, Transportation and Waste Management Department and its principal activities cover the maintenance and improvement of principal and county roads, the maintenance and erection of street lighting and the operation and maintenance of vehicles and plant.

* Leicestershire Highways made a £389,000 surplus for 2004/05, before a one off contribution of £627,000 relating to the judgement of an Employment Tribunal in December 2004. Balance sheet note 18 sets out in greater detail further information on this case.

b)County Catering

The Leicestershire County Catering Service provides a catering service to staff within County Hall.

Regulations issued under the Local Government Act 2003 require authorities to set aside certain sums each year as a provision for redemption of outstanding debt.

In 2004/05 the minimum sum required to be set aside for the repayment of outstanding debt is equal to 4% of the Authority’s capital financing requirement (CFR) itself derived from the balance sheet. The opening CFR has been set at the same level as the credit ceiling as at 31/3/2004, the previous determinant of this minimum provision.

The extent to which this amount differs from depreciation charges to services is represented in the consolidated revenue account by an adjustment to the appropriation section of that account under the classification ‘Reconciliation of amount required for the repayment of external loans’.

*Credit to the revenue account is adjusted by the transfer from Government grants deferred to reflect depreciation of assets financed by grants etc of £0.555m.

Section 5 of the Local Government Act 1986 requires the Authority to maintain a separate account of expenditure on a wide range of publicity activities.

This expenditure is included within service totals and is given below:

The County Council acts as agent to the various Primary Care Trusts in the County for the payment of the nursing care element of accommodation charges in care homes.  Payments reimbursed total £3.1m (2003/4 £2.7m).

The Council provides services to other local authorities and public bodies under the Local Authorities (Goods and Services) Act 1970.  The services provided consist of financial, forestry and arboriculture, agricultural planning appraisals and caretaking.  The organisations to whom these activities are provided, together with the income generated, are listed below. Charges for these services are set at a level to ensure the full recovery of cost.

The Council’s Social Services department has entered into a pooled budget arrangement for the supply of aids for daily living with Leicester City Council, Rutland County Council and the 6 primary care trusts. Leicester City West P.C.T acts as the host authority. The County Council contributed £0.752m to the pool.

Finance lease rentals paid to lessors in the year totalled £127,000 (2003/04 £124,000). Lease rentals paid to lessors during the year in respect of operating leases for vehicles and equipment totalled £2.360m (2003/04 £2.300m).

Lease rentals on council owned buildings received from lessees during the year in respect of operating leases totalled £1.761m (2003/04 £1.522m).

The cost of retirement benefits in the Net Cost of Services represents the cost of benefits earned during the year and past service costs which represent the estimated liability of discretionary benefits awarded in year, by the employer.  The charge to Council Tax is based, however, upon the employers contribution paid in year to the Pension Fund, so the real cost of retirement benefits is reversed out of the CRA after Net Operating Expenditure.

The following transactions have been made in the CRA during the year.

In 2004/05 the County Council paid £21.565m (2003/04 £20.941m) to the Teachers Pensions Agency in respect of teachers’ pension costs, which represents 13.5% (2003/04 13.5%) of teachers’ pensionable pay.  In addition, the County Council is responsible for all pension payments relating to pension enhancements for added years service it has awarded together with the related increases.  In 2004/05 these amounted to £1.552m (2003/04 £1.347m), representing 0.87% (2003/04 0.78%) of pensionable pay.

The number of employees (including teachers) whose remuneration, excluding pension contributions was £50,000 or more in bands of £10,000 is detailed below, together with last year’s comparative figures:

Amounts were paid to members of the County Council as follows:

Details of the total Government grants received are shown in the Cash Flow Statement.  The employers contribution paid to the Pension Fund is shown in note 10 to the revenue account.  Other related businesses etc. are disclosed in note 10 to the balance sheet.

From the information currently available, no members of the council or senior officers have undertaken any material related party transactions requiring disclosure.