10.25
The Director’s update will include discussion of the progress against current budgets within all relevant service areas. Particular attention will be paid to areas where there is a risk of not making the savings outlined in this year’s Business Strategy.
Minutes:
Colin Thomas, deputy Chief Fire Officer, reported on:
Recent Civil Disorder
Colin Thomas reported that multi-agency procedure was activated to ensure that infrastructure was in place to minimise likelihood of disturbances in area, and to be able to deal with any incidences if they occurred. Only some small cases of disturbances took place.
Councillor Susanna Pressel said that she appreciated the regular updates from Police.
Efficiencies 2011/2012 and 2012/13 budget setting process
The 2011-2012 savings targets for Fire & Rescue were being delivered. However, meeting the £100,000 savings target for the Road Safety budget is a challenge.
It is too early to take a view on 2012-2013 budget, as it has yet to go through the Star Chamber process. Colin Thomas was confident that the budget would meet the Medium Term Financial Plan requirements.
Richard Webb added that Trading Standards was meeting its short term savings targets. The service had been reviewed and undergone a restructuring exercise. Sharing services with Buckinghamshire County Council was being talked through as a possible way forward. The Director for Social & Community Services and the Chief Fire Officer were considering an options paper on this subject. However, this approach may not deliver the level of savings required.
The Chair of the Committee asked about the timeline for talks with Buckinghamshire. Richard Webb replied that once budgets and options had been discussed by relevant committees we were looking at October or November as a likely time for proposals to be discussed. Councillor Judith Heathcoat added that the process was dependent on another authority coming to a view.
Simon Kearey reported on:
Cogges Museum
The trustees are interviewing applicants for the positions of Director and Operations Manager. 46 applications were received for the Director post with 7 being interviewed on 7 September 2011. 6 applicants are being interviewed for the Operations Manager post on 8 September 2011. Some candidates for each post may be interviewed twice, but it is hoped that appointments will be made in September.
Overall, trustees are pleased with the progress being made; the Natural Bread Company is running the café, and weekend events are proving to be popular. Simon Kearey said that the greatest gain has been the sign up of volunteers to support the work of the museum.
Libraries
Many meetings have been held with Friends of Library groups and Simon Kearey reported that these had been enthusiastic with the information provided being well received; for example, information on the role of volunteers.
Councillor Judith Heathcoat added that the meetings were well attended, open and frank with a mixture of support and dissent. She stressed that no libraries will be closing.
Councillor John Goddard welcomed the analysis provided by council officers. He said that under current plans volunteers would be essential for running all libraries, and asked if there was any progress in winning over volunteers.
Councillor Judith Heathcoat stated that statistics show that Oxfordshire leads the way in volunteering, and that the plans will be implemented over a three year period.
In response to a question on volunteering levels in more deprived parts of the county from Councillor John Sanders, Councillor Judith Heathcoat replied that she is visiting a successful community library in an area of deprivation in Swindon to learn how it is run.
Members of the committee were advised to send specific questions to the consultation address which would mean that they would be recorded and responded to and that they would inform the consultation.