Issue - meetings

Report of the Head of Corporate Finance and ICT

Further to Minute No’s 107 and 108 of the meeting held on 14 February 2013, the Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Corporate Finance and ICT which:

·         provided an update on the final Local Government Settlement and confirmed the budget gap of £50.8m over the next two years;

·         provided further details on the outstanding budget savings options relating to the Review of the Library Services, Street Lighting and Public Conveniences and the proposed changes to the fees and charges for youth sports pitches; learning and development; car parking and public conveniences;

·         provided updates on other budget savings options detailed in the report and requested consideration of what should now be included in the final two year Budget Plan;

·         set out the full list of budget savings options to meet the £50.8m budget gap over the two financial years in Annex A to the report.

Following the Cabinet meeting held on 14 February 2013, the proposals for the Transformation Programme and Revenue Budget 2013/15 had been considered in detail at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Performance and Corporate Services) held on 19 February 2013.

The report indicated that the two year budget plan, as summarised in Annex A would enable a budget for 2013/14 to be approved and identified the policy changes required to deliver a sustainable and robust two year budget plan.  Due to the mixture of efficiencies and significant policy changes, some of the options could and would not be realised within a 12 month period and would contribute to the 2014/15 budget as illustrated in the report. This would require the implementation of major change programmes and appropriate capacity would need to be dedicated to ensure deliverability.  Given the scale of the budget reductions any slippage or underachievement would have implications for the financial management of the Council and as such robust management and monitoring arrangements would continue to be operated.

The Chief Executive referred to the amendment sheet setting out the typographical errors to Annex A of the report which had been circulated and indicated that there were 7 options within the report that had been specifically highlighted as having a different status to all other options. This was for options where work was in progress including consultation and equality assessments. This information was made clear in Annex A by reference to the Status Column and one example of this was Day Care and Respite Care for Adults. She also indicated that Members would be advised accordingly should any significantimplications arise from this ongoing work before a final decision was taken.

The Chief Executive also indicated that further details were available on every budget option and would be made available upon request before and during the Budget Council meeting.

The Chair thanked the officers for the work undertaken on the budget and referred to the Joint Further Submission on the Review of the Library Services endorsed by the Friends of Ainsdale Library; Birkdale Library Action Group (BLAG) and the Friends of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 119