Issue - meetings

The report forms part of a series relating to the Service and Resource Planning process for 2015/16 to 2017/18.

The Committee will consider in turn the savings proposed by each directorate for their service areas. Comments from the Committee will then be fed back to Cabinet in order that they can take the comments into consideration in proposing their budget and Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) on 27 January 2015. Council will meet to agree the budget and MTFP on 17 February 2015.

The report contains the following annexes:

Annex A:  Service & resource Planning Report 2015/16 to 2017/18 to Cabinet 16 December 2015

Annex 1:  New revenue budget pressures and savings 2015/16 – 2017/18

Annex 2:  Review of charges 2015/16

Annex 3:  Forecast earmarked reserves 2015/16 – 2017/18

Annex 4:  Service & Community Impact Assessments (SCIAs) Overarching Assessment (SCIAs for individual proposals are available on the Council’s website https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/service-and-community-impact-assessments-scias-201415)

During the meeting the Director together with the Cabinet Member for the relevant Directorate will be available to respond to questions as follows:

The timings below are indicative and will be updated on the website on Wednesday 17 December:

1000 – 1020 Overview and introduction (Lorna Baxter)

1020 – 1150  Environment & Economy

1150 – 1320  Children, Education & Families

Break for lunch

          1335 – 1415 Fire & Rescue Service

          1415 – 1445 Chief Executive’s Office

          1445 – 1600 Adult Social Care

The Committee had before them a report that formed part of a series relating to the Service and Resource Planning process for 2015/16 to 2017/18.

The report contained the following annexes:

Annex A:  Service & resource Planning Report 2015/16 to 2017/18 to Cabinet 16 December 2015

Annex 1:  New revenue budget pressures and savings 2015/16 – 2017/18

Annex 2:  Review of charges 2015/16

Annex 3:  Forecast earmarked reserves 2015/16 – 2017/18

Annex 4:  Service & Community Impact Assessments (SCIAs) Overarching Assessment (SCIAs for individual proposals are available on the Council’s website https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/service-and-community-impact-assessments-scias-201415)

The Committee considered in turn the savings proposed by each directorate for their service areas.

They also took into consideration councillor comments from briefing sessions and the cabinet meeting held on 16 December 2014. The Director and the Leader, or relevant Cabinet Member for each Directorate, were available to respond to questions.

The Committee received a presentation from Lorna Baxter, Chief Finance Officer setting out the overall picture including the national context, the local impact of Government funding reductions to Oxfordshire and a high level summary of the budget pressures and savings.

Economy & Environment

Sue Scane, Director for Environment & Economy, Mark Kemp, Deputy Director, Commercial; Bev Hindle, Deputy Director, Strategy and Infrastructure Planning, Graham Shaw, Deputy Director, Oxfordshire Customer Services, and Councillors Nimmo Smith and Carter came to the table.

Following detailed consideration it was agreed that the following point be made to Cabinet:

The Committee were exercised about the need to maintain the quality of Council services that are delivered through contracts, particularly where there is a need to make savings. They noted that it is important to ensure quality services are provided and not just to drive out value.

Children, Education & Families

Jim Leivers, Director for Children’s Services, Lucy Butler, Deputy Director Children's Social Care & YOS, Margaret Dennison, Interim Deputy Director – Education and Early Intervention, Gillian McKee, Finance Business Partner (CEF), Kate Terroni, Deputy Director Joint Commissioning and Councillor Ian Hudspeth came to the table. Councillor Melinda Tilley sent apologies.

During consideration of the funding for school transport it was agreed that the detail of the services provided could usefully be looked at by locality meetings.

In response to a query about the full day nursery fees for Day Care Provision at the Roundabout Centre (page 32) Jim Leivers undertook to provide information on the details and breakdown of the figures.

Following further detailed consideration it was agreed that the following points be made to cabinet:

·       The committee drew attention to the importance of ensuring that the reshaping of early help services is effective, not just in delivering savings but also in ensuring quality services for families and children.

·       The committee also noted the interdependency between the reshaping of early help services and the need for wider change to the shape and structure of services across the whole Children, Education and Families directorate.

OFRS & Community Safety

Dave Etheridge, Chief Fire Office and Simon Furlong, Assistant Chief Fire Officer and Councillor Ian Hudspeth came to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45

Cabinet Member: Finance

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/106

Contact: Stephanie Skivington, Corporate Finance Manager Tel: (01865) 323995

Report by Chief Finance Officer (CA8).

This report is the second in a series on the Service & Resource Planning process for 2015/16, providing councillors with information on budget issues for 2015/16 and the medium term.  The report sets out draft budget proposals to meet emerging pressures; provides an update on government consultations and sets out the review of charges.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)      note the report and addenda (that will be produced following the announcement of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement);

(b)      consider the pressures and savings set out in Annex 1 in forming its budget proposals in January 2015; and

(c)      in relation to the review of charges:

(1)      note those charges prescribed by legislation;

(2)      approve the charges where there is local discretion as set out in Annex 2.

Recommendations agreed.

Cabinet considered the second report in a series on the Service & Resource Planning process for 2015/16, that provided councillors with information on budget issues for 2015/16 and the medium term. The report set out draft budget proposals to meet emerging pressures; provided an update on government consultations and set out the review of charges.

Anthony Simpson, spoke in support of Community Action Groups CAGs, on behalf of the Sustainable Didcot? CAG, as the co-founder of theKidlingtonvs climate change CAG, and as someone who works for community energy social enterprise Low Carbon Hub (in partnership with both the county council, and the CAG team). He emphasised the role played by the modest but critical funding in getting projects such as his established.

Dan Betterton, Cultivate CAG project, spoke in support of the CAG funding stating that Groups such as his would have got started without it. It enabled them to lever funds from other sources. If the funding was to be removed then he asked that it be tapered to allow time and space to address the loss.

Councillor Hards, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance, highlighted the use of contingency funding, and commented that the pressures on children, education & families and adult social care were not abating. He queried whether if there was good news on the level of Council tax increase allowed before a referendum was required, the Council would take advantage of it to reduce pressures. He raised a number of detailed queries including the position on the £8m funding for adult social care, how robust were the savings figures for vacancies and use of agency staff and who would monitor. He indicated that he would like more information on the cuts in CEF and to see the detailed figures underpinning it. He expressed some concern about the depletion of the reserve pots. He referred to the funding for roads but noted that it was not guaranteed and even if received would be insufficient. He noted the increase in council tax base which was a welcome effect of the building boom.

The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance responded to the points made. The Leader suggested that if the referendum was raised then it might be possible to increase reserves. Councillor Stratford, Cabinet Member for Finance noted that the budget would be a challenge with hard decisions to be made.

During discussion Councillor Heathcoat commented that the £8m referred to by Councillor Hards was not new money. She had been very robust on the need for the money and would advise people once she had news.

Lorna Baxter, Chief Finance Officer, introduced the contents of the report and referred to the supplementary report following the Chancellor’s Autumn statement.

RESOLVED:           to:

(a)       note the report and addenda (produced following the announcement of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement);

(b)       consider the pressures and savings set out in Annex 1 in forming its budget proposals in January 2015; and

(c)       in relation to the review of charges:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 126