Agenda item

The report (which is to be considered by each of the Scrutiny Committees on 20 December) forms part of a series relating to the Service and Resource Planning process for 2011/12 to 2015/16.  

Each Committee will meet in turn to consider the Business Strategies and savings proposed for their service areas.  Comments from each Committee will then be considered by Strategy & Partnerships Scrutiny Committee on 13 January 2011 prior to being fed back to Cabinet in order that they can take the comments into consideration in proposing their budget and Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) in January 2011.

The following annexes are attached:

The Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer will be available to respond to questions, together with the Leader and Deputy Leader..

Officers from Financial Services will also be present at the meeting to answer any questions that the Committee may wish to ask.

The Scrutiny Committee is invited to consider and comment upon the Directorate Business Strategy and proposed savings

The Committee considered a report (SYP5) containing the Business Strategies and savings proposed for their service areas.

The proposals were considered under the following main headings. It was noted that the areas discussed largely represent staffing restructures to reflect the changing shape and size of the organisation in the coming years.

Property Asset Management

Proposals were supported. There was some discussion on the previously agreed re-tendering of the property services contract in 2012 that will seek a delivery partner.

Responding to comments Huw Jones, Director for Environment & Economy explained that the proposals relating to the retendering were not new, having been discussed last year and were now being implemented.

It was AGREED that the Committee be kept informed as matters progressed.

Customer services (shared services, ICT, customer service centre, procurement)

There was overall support for the proposals put forward.

John Parry, Customer Service responded to individual comments relating to Human Resources, provision of ICT training and changes to postal services that affected only Unipart House.

Chief Executive’s Office (personal office, HR, corporate finance, Law and Governance and Policy, Partnerships and Communications)

Proposals were supported. There was some discussion on the profile of savings in HR and finance that reflect the tapering of the organisation in later years. The proposal to explore opportunities to ‘sell’ services such as internal audit to others organisations was supported. Responding to a concern about risks associated with the changes to internal audit the Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer gave assurances that it was about reshaping and providing the service differently rather than a reduction in the service provided. She noted that going forward there would be a smaller Council organisation.

Corporate savings (includes inflation savings, insurance, terms and conditions)

The proposals were supported. It was noted that the consultation on terms and conditions reflected staff suggestions and was proceeding positively with unions. A member expressed her concerns about the proposals relating to redundancy payments and was advised that they were still well above the statutory minimum.

Following a vote by a show of hands it was AGREED by 8 votes to 1 to support the proposals detailed in the report.