Agenda item

That the Committee supports and endorses the proposals for the Organisational Change Business Plan cost pressures and proposed efficiencies for 2017/18.

The Chief Executive introduced the report which provided an update on the financial forecast for 2017/18 financial year together with the budget pressures and the proposed efficiencies for the Organisational Change Portfolio in the third and final year of the current business planning cycle.  He reminded Members that the original forecast for 2017/18 had set a likely gap between the total spending requirement and anticipated income of £13.7m.  This gap was the total which had to be found in efficiencies, service cost reductions and income growth as part of annual budget planning.  The forecast had been revised at regular intervals, responding to budget developments at national and local levels.  This meant that the latest forecast presented a working deficit of £8.1 m between the forecast gap and the combined total of working, corporate and service portfolio efficiency proposals of £6.3m which could be found. 

The Chief Executive went on to explain that the Cabinet had endorsed the developing portfolio business plans and corporate financial stewardship plans for early consultation with the Overview & Scrutiny Committees.  Two meetings, with Corporate Resources on 16June 2016 and Social & Health Care on 27 June 2016, had already been held.

In continuing the presentation,  the Chief Officer (Organisational Change  1) commented on the efficiencies summary for 2017/18 within the portfolio which amounted to Facilities Management £0.126m;  Property £0.382m and Leisure and Libraries £0.435m, a total of £0.943m.  This was to be achieved by the realisation of a number of efficiency targets, such as the Alternative Delivery Models (ADM) for Facilities Management, Leisure and Libraries.  The Chief Executive commented on the resilience statements which had been provided for each service.  He emphasised to the Committee that going beyond the current proposals would mean unacceptable reductions in service.

An extensive discussion followed during which Members raised a number of concerns and queries which were dealt with as appropriate by the Cabinet Members present or by the Officers. The Chairman welcomed the opportunity for the Overview & Scrutiny Committees to be involved in “early stage” proposals and the questions which Members asked.

Councillor Robin Guest, echoing the “underfunded Council” arguments which had been put forward on a number of occasions, commented that Flintshire was a county of small towns and communities, unlike its nearer neighbour where services were concentrated in one large town. Because of the replication of Council facilities and services across a number of localities, there was a danger that attempts to continue a uniform provision would impair the service for all. He was concerned that  the current model would not succeed indefinitely, which would have a major impact on the area. 

Councillor Guest went on to urge colleagues not to overlook the repercussions of concentrating savings on back office rather than frontline functions because all of those ‘back office’ services  were provided to sustain the whole, and reduction in them has repercussions across the organisation.  He went on to conclude that the savings were based on the Alternative Delivery Models and Community Asset Transfers (CATs) and sought assurance that these projects would continue to be both robust and timely. 

The Chief Executive provided reassurance as far as he was able on service-budget planning  He suggested that progress reports on CATs and ADMs should be brought back to the Committee in due course.  Councillor Kevin Jones, as the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Leisure, commented on the successful transfer of Connah’s Quay swimming pool to Cambrian Aquatics and the excellent prospects for a similar transfer of Holywell to a local group.  He emphasised that there was a great deal of ‘buy in’ from employees who were very positive about being able to have the freedom to generate income and adjusting to public needs.  He was confident that this could be achieved.  The aim was to retain as many localised leisure services for Flintshire as possible.

Councillor Bernie Attridge, the Deputy Leader, welcomed the comments made by Councillor Guest and explained that the reason for early consultation with Overview & Scrutiny was to enable meaningful public and stake holder consultation and engagement to be carried out during the Autumn.

Councillor Nigel Steele-Mortimer asked for clarification about the reference to school meals and sought assurance that this had been properly thought through.  He also asked whether there were alternative proposals – effectively a “plan b”.  In response, the Chief Executive explained that the exercise had been to separate the planned initiatives from possible future choices which would take services below their resilience threshold.   If the Authority were to make further cuts beyond the portfolio business plans, there would be serious consequences, which had been identified within the presentation slides.   He reiterated that it was necessary to appraise Members of the actual position.

RESOLVED

That the Committee supports and endorses the proposals for the Organisational Change Business Plan cost pressures and proposed efficiencies for 2017/18.