Issue - meetings

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Fleur de Rhé-Philipe to the meeting, and invited her to give an overview of her area of responsibility (Finance, Performance, and Risk).

Referring to the Council’s financial position, Councillor de Rhé-Philipe commented that central government had announced cuts of 28% in the funding to local authorities over four years.  This was close to the anticipated reduction of 25% and so the Council was fairly well prepared to absorb the reductions compared to other local authorities, having low borrowing and following savings made as part of the unitary process.  However, it had also been announced that the 28% cuts would be “front-loaded” (i.e. the majority would come at the start of the period rather than being evenly spread out over four years).  This front-loading would require an additional £30 million reduction in the Council’s budget.  The Council was already looking at its staffing costs, with plans underway to reduce the number of managers by 240.

In addition, the Council would need to make 12% cuts to the 2011/12 budget, with procurement savings and a delay to investments likely to be amongst the areas to be reduced.  It was hoped that the effect on frontline services could be minimised.

The Chairman thanked Councillor de Rhé-Philipe and invited questions:

·         Responding to a question regarding the savings from moving to unitary status, Councillor de Rhé-Philipe commented that the Council was planning to move from 92 buildings to 4.  However, clearly this could not happen overnight, nor was it a suitable time to market the Council’s larger buildings and properties, if it wished to obtain a good return on these assets.

·         A resident queried the efficiency of the highways maintenance services, referring to a repair which had required several visits.  It was explained that highways maintenance was outsourced to a private company, Ringway.  As such, the Council only paid once for the issue to be fixed, and any repeat visits were at cost to the service provider.  In relation to potholes, the weather during the previous winter had caused a significant level of damage.  The Council had attempted to address this by increasing planned investment in repairing road surfacing.

·         In response to a question regarding employee pay and conditions, Councillor de de Rhé-Philipe explained that the Council was considering changes to staff’s terms and conditions, and this this was under discussion with unions.

·         In relation to corporate risks, this was managed by a traffic light system, with risks ranked as green, amber or red depending on their likelihood and severity.  The Council had a robust risk management group which met regularly to assess and monitor risks.

·         Councillor de Rhé-Philipe concluded by announcing that the Council was planning for a 0% Council Tax increase in 2011/12.