Supplementary memorandum by Peter Housden,
Permanent Secretary, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (PH 01(a))
RESPONSE TO COMMITTEE FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS
ON ANNUAL REPORT 2005
1. Utilisation of assets. At QQ39-40, Mr
Housden promised to provide further information on the use of
hard charging, and alternatives to hard charging, to achieve efficient
use of Departmental assets; and to provide a list of (a) the assets
or services which are currently provided to users free and (b)
those assets or services for which a fee is charged.
ODPM has a relatively small asset base for a
central department. It keeps a central register of fixed assets
which currently totals some £147 million and is made up of
over 1,000 individual items.
The policy for management of the assets falls
under the umbrella of Capital Planning, which is facilitated by
and overseen from within Finance Directorate. Asset management
under Capital Planning is delegated to the relevant business unit.
Each unit is required to continually review its assets, to ensure
they are fully utilised or disposed of if necessary. Guidance
is issued on the Department's intranet, and central checks are
performed to ensure asset ownership is verified each year.
HARD CHARGING
The uses to which ODPM assets are put means
that there is little scope for hard charging. With the exception
of a few large assets, most are capitalised IT equipment or systems
used within ODPM. For internal use, we have a policy not to charge
internally.
GOODS AND
SERVICES WHERE
A FEE
IS CHARGED
ODPM has a Fees and Charges Co-ordinator who
oversees the Departmental policy of charging for any goods or
services provided to anyone outside of the ODPM. But these are
not usually asset based.
Examples of a charge being made where an ODPM
asset is used to provide a service to others include the SAP accounting
system's use by DfT and the use of the Queen Elizabeth II Conference
Centre by the Trading Fund Agency that occupies it.
A list of ODPM's major assets is attached at
Annex A, showing for each asset whether or not a fee is charged
for it.
2. Audit Commission scrutiny of local authority
efficiency statements. At QQ43-51, Mr Housden promised to provide
a detailed description of the audit process conducted by the Audit
Commission when looking at local authority efficiency statements;
and an explanation of the way in which local authority performance
on efficiency targets is taken into account when decisions are
made on capping.
The auditors appointed by the Audit Commission
carry out an annual "use of resources" assessment covering
five broad areas of financial management, one of which is value
for money (VfM). This includes a high level review of the Backward
Look Annual Efficiency Statements (these are the statements in
which local authorities report the gains that they have achieved
in the financial year just passed).
The review undertaken by auditors includes consideration
of the process followed by the council in compiling its Backward
Look statement and whether the statement is consistent with any
knowledge about the council concerned that has been obtained through
other audit work. Auditors will report any specific concerns they
may have about the statement through the VfM assessment.
This work does not constitute a formal audit
of the Annual Efficiency Statements. Such work would be costly
to undertake and add significantly to the burden of regulation,
and therefore would be counter to the purpose of the efficiency
agenda.
CAPPING
In the event that capping action is taken against
an authority, it has a legal right to challenge the Government's
decision. Ministers must then consider the authority's challenge.
An authority is entitled to raise its performance as part of its
challenge. Ministers would consider this along with all other
relevant information before their taking final decisions.
3. Asset disposal strategy. At Q55 Mr Housden
promised the Committee a note explaining the Department's strategy
for asset disposal; please include information on the procedure
for identifying which assets should be disposed of, and list the
factors included in the assessment.
The decision on whether to dispose of an asset
is delegated to the relevant business unit. Asset holdings are
subject to annual review. When an asset is identified as being
surplus to requirements consideration is first given to whether
it can be effectively redeployed within the Office, or transferred
elsewhere in Central Government, Local Authorities or Government
sponsored bodies. Transfer outside the Office is made at full
market value. If a surplus asset cannot be transferred to public
bodies it is sold or, if of no value, disposed of as waste. Payment
must be received and cleared by the Office before a sold asset
is released. The Office normally uses the Disposal Services Agency,
an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence, to sell an asset
that cannot be used elsewhere. Guidance on the process required
for disposal is issued on our Intranet, which seeks to ensure
that: any disposal is suitably authorised by a holder of the appropriate
financial and contractual delegation; that the asset can't be
used elsewhere within ODPM, and that any value is realised.
ANNEX A—MAJOR ASSETS HELD BY ODPM
| Asset Name | Description
| Cost £m | Charged for?
| Comments |
| | |
| |
| | |
| |
| QEII Centre | Land, building and equipment
| 27.2 | Yes | These are the property assets not on the QEIICC Agency's asset register.
|
| LOGASnet | Local government grant administration IT system
| 3.3 | NO | This system allows us to streamline payments to local authorities.
|
| NGAS/ASP | Financial accounting IT system SAP
| 16.9 | Yes | Shared service with DfT & was developed before ODPM was established.
|
| Maps on Tap | Mapping service IT system
| 2.3 | No | Developed to provide service for use by ODPM partners, but being considered as chargeable to other users.
|
| Electronic Procurement System | Electronic procurement IT system.
| 2.5 | Yes | Shared service with DfT & was developed before ODPM was established.
|
| Planning Portal | Planning applications administration IT system
| 3.9 | No | The Portal allows planning applications to be made online to local authorities. The Portal was set up to speed up the process, so charging was felt to be counter-productive.
|
| Corporate | |
| | |
| Information Infrastructure | Corporate Information IT system
| 1.0 | Yes | Shared service with DfT & was developed before ODPM was established.
|
| Rent Assessment Panels IT system | Corporate Information IT system for the RAPs
| 1.4 | No | Internal use only at present.
|
| New Dimensions Equipment | Assets under construction—vehicles Heavy Goods Vehicles for transporting urban search and rescue equipment
| 20.4 | No | ODPM responsible for delivery of service.
|
| Other Vehicles Heavy Goods Vehicles for transporting mass decontamination and urban search and rescue equipment.
| | | |
| | |
| |
| 42.7 | | |
| |
| Plant and Machinery
| | | |
| Equipment for mass decontamination and urban search and rescue
| | | |
|
| | |
| |
| 25.2 | | |
| |
| Emergency Fire | |
| | |
| Service Fleet Equipment | Green Goddessess—Fire fighting vehicles built in the 1950s and used during the National Fire strikes
| 3.6 | | |
| million | No | Although vehicles used by the MOD, the cost of the strikes were the responsibility of the ODPM. No longer used.
| | |
| Fire properties at | |
| | |
| Little Rissington | Hangar 97 and FEU premises
| 1.1 | No | Occupied by ODPM staff.
|
| | |
| |
| 
