Members are asked to consider whether they have personal or prejudicial interests in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state what they are.

Members are reminded that they should also declare, pursuant to paragraph 18 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, whether they are subject to a party whip in connection with any item(s) to be considered and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of the whipping arrangement.

Members were asked to consider whether they had personal or prejudicial interests in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state what they were.

Members were reminded that they should also declare, pursuant to paragraph 18 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, whether they were subject to a party whip in connection with any item(s) to be considered and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of the whipping arrangement.

No such declarations were made.

At the meeting of the Cabinet on 16 October 2008 (minute 217 refers) a number of budget savings were proposed and the following resolution was agreed:

“(1) Cabinet recognises that these are difficult times financially for everyone and that it must do all it can to ensure that Wirral’s Council Tax Payers are not faced with the additional burden of high Council Tax increases. Cabinet understands the need to make urgent savings in order to close Wirral’s budget gap and therefore recommends the following...”

Cabinet asked that these items be referred to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee for urgent consideration. There are five proposals which fall within the remit of this Overview and Scrutiny Committee. These are:

·  Information Technology Services – £100,000

·  ITS Hardware Review – £50,000

·  Housing and Council Tax Benefit improved use of technology – £600,000

·  Review of Cash Handling – £10,000

·  Treasury Management – £500,000

The Director of Finance reported that at the meeting of the Cabinet held on 16 October 2008 (minute 217 refers) a number of budget savings were proposed to close the budget gap and had been referred to relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committees for urgent consideration. The Director provided details in relation to the five proposals which fell within the remit of this Committee, viz: -

·  Information Technology Services – £150,000

The creation of the Corporate IT Unit which had involved employees transferring from other departments had enabled savings to be delivered in the current financial year and a further £100,000 saving in staffing costs was projected for 2009/2010. In addition, the contract for the Information Technology hardware and storage capacity was due to be re-tendered and with the refinements made as part of the IT Strategy and changes in the IT market, a £50,000 saving was anticipated.

In response to comments from members as to why the saving had not been identified at budget time, the Director, indicated that the restructure of the Corporate IT Unit had been a phased integration of employees from other departments, and savings had only been identified with each phase of the restructure. He commented also that the creation of the Corporate IT Unit should have no adverse effect on services provided to members.

In relation to staffing implications, the Director commented that the proposal had resulted in three job losses, in addition to six posts that had been lost in earlier phases of the restructure.

·  Revenues, Benefits and Customer Services – £610,000

The Director reported that in terms of Housing and Council Tax Benefit there had been continuing improvements in service delivery, especially in processing claims via the customer access channels including the One Stop Shops. Allied with the work around the National Fraud Initiative, the improvements had attracted increased Government Subsidy and a saving of £600,000 was anticipated in 2009/2010.

The savings had been as a result of reduced staffing, reduced IT costs and an increase in Government subsidy of £300,000. He commented that although some 15 posts had already been lost due to natural wastage, with a further 15 anticipated in 2009/2010, the service had improved, largely as a result of the integrated IT system and recruitment was still ongoing. In response to a comment from a member that the saving could have been anticipated at budget time, the Director indicated that this was not the case. Although, £1.8m had been identified as the maximum potential saving over three years, it had not been possible to anticipate savings more than a year in advance.

He commented also that with the award of the new banking contract in 2007/2008 the opportunity had been taken to review the existing cash collection arrangements. Those changes had now been implemented and a saving of £10,000 was achieved.

·  Financial Services – £500,000

The Treasury Management Annual Report presented to the Cabinet on 26 June 2008 highlighted the changes in activities which had improved the management of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.