Capital and Investment Strategy 2022 to 2023

This Capital Strategy sets out the framework for the governance of capital assets for the organisation. Primary responsibility for the development of the Strategy rests with the Service Director Corporate Finance, although ultimate accountability for its approval rests with Full Council in line with the Prudential Code.

The development or purchase of new assets, maintenance of existing assets and disposal of surplus assets are matters of operational and financial significance and therefore require robust governance arrangements. For this reason, the Corporate Management Team (CMT) will play a pivotal role in these governance arrangements, providing co-ordination and consistency across the organisation.

Whilst this Strategy sets out the framework for identifying, approving, implementing and reviewing capital projects, the details are set out in the Financial Instructions for Capital.

Although the assets held by the Council can be as diverse as the services it delivers, they can be grouped into a few broad categories, namely: property; technology; and highways. For each of these broad categories there will be an appropriate governance board chaired by the relevant Cabinet Member and with further member representation. In addition, a Housing Infrastructure Fund Investment Board (HIF Investment Board) has been established to specifically monitor the delivery of the substantial HIF funded schemes, due to formal monitoring arrangements agreed with Homes England. These are capital governance advisory boards; Cabinet authority will still be required where a key decision is required.

The relationship between these Boards is illustrated in Appendix A. Each Board will have an officer group that will review all business cases before they go forward to the relevant Board to ensure that all due diligence has been undertaken beforehand. The Strategic Investment Assurance function in Planning Growth and Sustainability works across these boards and integrates projects and asks into the Buckinghamshire Strategic Infrastructure Tool. If it is determined that additional specialist boards are required to monitor the delivery of specific capital projects, then they will be established alongside the Property, ICT, Highways and HIF Investment Boards and report into the Corporate Capital Investment Board (CCIB).

The Growth Board is an external board which facilitates growth bids alongside the Council’s partners and establishes the place-based ambition for Buckinghamshire. The Council will implement certain programmes of work to deliver the growth agenda across Buckinghamshire. To this end, the Property, Highways and HIF Investment Boards will align to and advise the Growth Board where project delivery feeds into major growth projects they are considering, although the Growth Board is not a decision-making body of the Council.

The Property Board will cover all land and property whether held for service delivery purposes, or as an investment for financial return. It will be responsible for all land and property regardless of which services are delivered from those premises at any point in time. So, for example, it will cover multi use offices, but also care homes, highways depots, waste processing sites and other single service premises.

The ICT Board will cover all technology assets, be that laptops, screens, phones, or servers, cabling and other hidden infrastructure. It will also include capitalisable software licences and assistive technology. This will apply to technology assets owned by the council whether they are within council premises, or elsewhere.

The Highways Board will cover all highways assets, such as roads and footpaths, but also bridges, signals, road safety projects etc.

The HIF Investment Board will cover all projects that receive HIF funding from Homes England.

For any assets that do not fall readily into any of these major categories, potentially some items of plant and equipment, CMT will either allocate responsibility to one of the above Boards or exercise that responsibility directly itself.

To ensure that appropriate technical financial advice is available to each of the boards, the relevant directorate Head of Finance will be a representative on each board.

All the capital governance boards provide oversight on the delivery of the capital programme. The responsibility and accountability for the delivery of the individual schemes once funding has been released by the relevant governance board rests with Corporate Directors and their project managers.

Each year the Capital Programme will be developed as part of the Medium-Term Financial Plan, culminating in approval by full Council in February each year. The table below sets out the broad timeline to be followed.

Bids to the capital programme should be prioritised by both Portfolio groups and the three governance boards taking guidance from this Capital Strategy and any relevant service priorities. The following criteria will be used to prioritise bids in order to close any gap to the available resources:

a) Statutory requirement (e.g. H&S, school places, disabled facilities, waste collection, household waste recycling centres, statutory reporting – but only to the extent that is statutorily required).

b) Ring-fenced funding has been identified (i.e. s106 or genuinely ring-fenced government grants), the scheme is fully funded, and aligns with corporate priorities.

c) Strong financial business case resulting in savings paying back the cost of investment within 7 years or less or a capital receipt is generated in excess of the investment assisting with COVID recovery and financial sustainability.

d) Maintains the life and/or quality of our assets.

e) The scheme leverages ring-fenced external funding (i.e. s106 or genuinely ring-fenced government grants), the scheme is at least 50% funded and aligns with corporate priorities.

f) In line with corporate and directorate priorities as set out in the Capital and Investment Strategy and the Buckinghamshire Strategic Infrastructure Tool.

g) Provides a geographic balance to the consistency of service provision across the Council area.

Once the Capital Programme is approved individual schemes will be allocated to the most appropriate governance board. Each Board will then have the authority to release resources on individual schemes to project managers in line with the Capital Gateway Process, subject to the necessary requirements at that stage, e.g. outline business case, full business case, etc.

Each Board will put in place appropriate arrangements to monitor progress and drive delivery of the individual projects both in financial terms and practical delivery, effectively carrying out a high-level Programme Management Office role.

The Corporate Capital Investment Board will be convened at least on a 6 monthly basis to review the delivery of the overall capital programme for the Council.