Report to be circulated separately

A report by the Director of Finance updated the projected budgets for the years from 2011 to 2015 taking into account the Spending Review 2011-15 presented on 20 October 2010.

 

On a motion by the Leader seconded by Councillor Holbrook it was:-

 

RESOLVED:

 

The Director of Finance has now reported that with the savings requirement placed on the Council, including the ending of £10.3million of Working Neighbourhood Fund Grant by the previous Labour Government, the Council must save £117million between 2011/12 and 2014/15

 

Cabinet anticipates that the measures the current coalition Government will need to take to tackle the doubling of the national debt, the spending £120 million every single day just to pay off the interest on Labour’s debt and the biggest deficit in the G20 will increase the amount of savings required.

 

Cabinet believes we have a responsibility to the most vulnerable in our communities to ensure that high quality front line services are sustainable for the long term whilst doing all we can to minimise the burden of Council Tax on hard pressed residents.

 

Cabinet also believes that Wirral Council has a leading role in Wirral’s economy and a responsibility to help to rebalance the economy to attract new investment to the Borough, creating skilled and green jobs that will reduce worklessness and grow our economy.

 

Cabinet therefore commends to Council the strategy our administration has adopted of:

 

1. Informing, listening and engaging with Wirral residents, employers, Council staff and the voluntary, community and faith organisations through the ‘Wirral’s future – be a part of it’ consultation exercise which has delivered such progressive, clear and imaginative recommendations that will allow the Council, for the first time, to align its policies for Children and Young People, Adult Social Services, Living in Wirral and the Wirral Economy, to Wirral resident’s priorities.

 

2. Repairing and reinvigorating the Council’s Strategic Change Programme which seeks to fundamentally change the way the Council does business.

 

3. Offering Council staff the opportunity to leave Council service or reduce their hours if they so wish.

 

4. Our commitment to making every pound of the public’s money matter by focusing, with the Interim Chief Executive, The Head of the Council’s Strategic Change Programme and Director of Finance, on all areas of Council spending to identify where resources, including reserves, red tape, excessive back office costs and bureaucracy, can be released to keep Council tax minimised whilst investing in the services that matter the most to local people.

 

Cabinet thanks the Officers and staff of the Council, the independent Task Forces, Wirral residents and employers for the contributions they have made to the delivery of this strategy.

 

Cabinet notes that the formation of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat ‘progressive partnership,’ in May of this year, had at its heart a commitment to openness, fairness and responsibility and that Cabinet is confident that the decisions we are making tonight have been guided by these values.

 

Cabinet therefore recommends to Council the following changes to this and future years Council spending plans, noting that this amounts to savings of £48 million.

 

 

EVR/VS	£24.3 million
Additional savings (to those identified above) arising directly from the consultation exercise	£0.691 million
Strategic Change Programme	£10.725 million
Every Pound Matters*   * Cabinet instructs officers to continue the examination of reserves and departmental budgets for further savings opportunities.	1.6 million removal of CT discount 1.23 from reserves 1,4 pension fund review 4.2 zero inflation provision 3.9 none reinstatement of in year ABG savings   Total £12.3 million

 

Cabinet reaffirms its determination to driving down costs even further. We therefore instruct Officers to ensure the following Strategic Change Programme savings that relate to the running of the Council in 2011-2012 are delivered.

 

• Procurement  £2 million
• ICT Strategic Review  £0.5 million
• Asset transfers and disposals  £0.48 million
• Office Accommodation  £0.37 million
• Energy efficiency  £0.08 million
• Printing Review  £0.08 million
• Electronic Payments Development£0.20 million

 

We expect these measures to deliver further savings in future years.

 

Cabinet instructs the Director of Law, HR and Asset Management to identify and deliver efficiencies relating to office rationalisation, asset management and reduce duplication and introduce consistency in the delivery of facilities management functions through the Strategic Change Programme.

 

Cabinet requests the Lead Officer for the Council’s Strategic Change Programme (SCP) to bring an early report on the progress of SCP to the Cabinet. The Lead Officer for the Council’s SCP together with the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council report progress on the SCP to the Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Cabinet further requests that a seminar is arranged for the Lead Officer for the Council’s SCP together with the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council to brief all members of the Council on the content and progress of the SCP.

 

Cabinet is committed to delivering savings through better management of our assets and buildings.  Where there is clear mutual benefit for the community and Council this will include transferring assets to voluntary, community and faith organisations, where they request it, and a further reduction in the office space the Council requires in order to redirect further cash to front line services. 

 

 

Consideration and response to ‘Wirral’s future – be a part of it’ consultation Task Force Recommendations:

 

 

Response to Adult Social Services Task Force

 

This Administration will ensure that the Council continues to provide for vulnerable people who have been assessed as having substantial and critical needs.  We welcome the involvement and assistance of the Care Quality Commission, Department of Health and Local Government Association in tackling the weaknesses in this department and also welcome the improvements taking place in the quality of service delivery. 

 

We will place an emphasis on preventative services to help people live in their homes or in homes of their choice and ensure that benefits to vulnerable people are maximised and that the quality of service is improved and monitored. We will continue to work closely with service users and carers as we provide and modernise day time activities while monitoring them to ensure that they are suitable and cost effective and seek to extend choice through greater use of Personalised Budgets. 

 

The interim Director of Adult Social Services is instructed to implement the following service changes recommended by the Task Forces:

 

1. Cabinet has carefully considered the progress made with improvements in care services since they were last reviewed on November 2009. Cabinet recognises that Wirral currently has empty capacity in independent sector residential homes and that unit costs to the council are higher than our neighbours. Cabinet recognises that there is an opportunity to reduce unit costs and develop the range of care supplied by a wide range of providers

 

a)  The respite care and interim care currently provided at Maplehome, Pensall, Poulton, Meadowcroft and Fernleigh be reprovided by suitable voluntary, community, faith-based or organisations the independent sector under the terms of the existing Contract for Residential and Nursing Home Care together with appropriate care for the small number of long term residents in these homes and Manor Road. The Interim Director of Adult Social Services is also instructed to carry out further consultation with service users and their families, and with the small number of long term residents in these homes about the details of that re-provision. 

 

Budget saving: £2,765,750 (included in SCP and EVR/VS savings)

 

b)  Cabinet agrees with the Task Force that the amount the Council pays to independent care home services should be in line with that paid by neighbouring authorities and welcomes tonight’s report on this subject.

 

Budget saving: £5,368,000 (included in SCP savings)

 

2.  The Interim Director of Adult Social Services is instructed to reprovide personal support under the existing Supported Living contract for people currently supported by the Council in private supported living tenancies. 

 

Budget saving: £1,610,650 (included in SCP and EVR/VS savings)

 

3.  The Interim Director of Adult Social Services is instructed to re provide the enablement part of the HART service from the independent sector under the terms of the existing Contract for Domiciliary Care and amend specification to ensure quality of care is maintained and, where possible, enhanced.

 

Budget saving: £762,314 (included in EVR/VS savings)

 

4.  The interim Director of DASS be instructed to consult with people who use services and their carers and, having regard to the outcomes of the consultation, implement a staged increase in the Fairer Charging Policy, applied to people who are supported to live in their own homes, from 75% to 100% of disposable income over the next three years, to be in line with other local authorities.

 

Income generation: £200,000

 

5.  The Task Force recommended that the charge for meals on wheels be set at the actual cost of providing the meal.  Cabinet recognises the value of this service to vulnerable people and does not wish to take this recommendation forward at this time.

 

6.  The Task Force recommended that a nominal charge be applied to new users who do not have critical or substantial need and who opt to receive telecare technology to help them stay independent. The interim Director of DASS is requested to carry out the necessary consultations to apply a charge of £4 per week.

 

 

 

Response to Children and Young People’s Task Force

 

This Administration places the highest importance upon protecting Wirral’s children and young people from harm, and ensuring that vulnerable children and families are supported.  We welcome the Task Force recommendations that support must continue to be provided at an early stage in order to reduce costly demand for services in the future at the same time as improving outcomes for children. This work will include encouraging more residents to become involved in fostering and adopting.

 

We also note that the key Task Force recommendations relating to the provision and cost of support and services to schools are in keeping with the Coalition Government’s recently published White Paper. Cabinet agrees that School improvement should be more focused on school-to-school support with the Council fulfilling a co-coordinating and commissioning role.

 

Support provided to schools should be based on each school’s individual needs through the continuation and development of traded services, based on need, so we only provide what schools want, at cost, and at a price they are prepared to pay.

 

Cabinet instructs the interim Director of Children’s Services to:

 

1.  Ensure that the Council continues to provide support and sell services to schools cost effectively and efficiently in order to make best use of schools delegated budgets and reduce central expenditure.

 

This Administration places the highest priority of all upon protecting and supporting our most vulnerable children. We therefore instruct the interim Director of Children’s Services to:

 

2.  Implement the redesign of support for the education of looked after children to ensure greater focus on their needs within their school settings, ensuring that the Virtual Headteacher continues to champion the needs of this important group of young people.

 

Budget saving: £97,000 (included in EVR/VS savings)

 

3.  Implement the review of additional support provided for children with Special Educational Needs, including whether there could be more opportunities for other organisations to provide these services. 

 

Budget saving: £250,000 (£226,000 included in EVR/VS savings)

 

4.  Cabinet welcomes the completion of the new build children’s centre programme across Wirral and therefore believes that the interim mobile crèche facility is no longer required.

Budget saving: £71,000 (included in EVR/VS savings)

 

5.  As the Extended Schools programme is so embedded across the Wirral, Cabinet agrees that any funding requirement for the administration and support for the programme be transferred to schools.

 

Budget saving: £125,000 (£38,000 included in EVR/VS savings)

 

6.  As all Wirral schools have now achieved Healthy Schools status Cabinet agrees that the Council cease its contribution to this programme.

 

Budget saving: £94,000

 

7.  Cabinet welcomes the high response from the public with suggestions on how to increase the number of foster carers in the borough. Cabinet believes that families offer the best environment for raising a child. The interim Director of Children’s Services is requested to review the strategy in relation to fostering in order to involve communities more in identifying foster carers and notes that this is one aspect of the strategic change project to safely reduce the number of looked after children in Council care. 

 

8.  Cabinet also instructs the interim Director of Children’s Services to review its in-house residential provision and to implement any necessary changes to improve services and reduce costs including capital investment, which will also be delivered through the strategic change programme. This will include the closure of Brookfield Children’s home, on a timescale which takes account of the needs of the young people currently living there.

 

Recommendations 7 and 8 both relate to the strategic change project to safely reduce looked after children, a service area which is currently experiencing an overspend. This project will reduce expenditure by at least £1m in 2011/12, which will be significant in stabilising the budget and providing a foundation for revenue savings in 2013-15 (all savings included in SCP savings)

 

9.  This Administration recognises the importance of the Oaklands Centre to local children and Schools. The interim Director of Children’s Services instructed to establish the service on a full cost recovery basis to secure the Centre’s future.

 

10.This Administration also recognises the value of the Schools Music Service and instructs the interim Director of Children’s Services to ensure its quality is maintained whilst delivering the service in a more cost effective way. We note that the Secretary of State has instigated a national review of Music Services and any findings of this review should also be considered.

 

11.Cabinet instructs the interim Director of Children’s Services to review the pan-Merseyside Connexions contract in the light of the recent announcement of a national all age careers service and take all necessary actions in relation to future contracting arrangements.

 

12.Cabinet notes the Task Force recommended that the Council should find new ways of working with the voluntary and private sectors to develop alternative ways of providing youth services . In addition Cabinet notes the Task Force recommendation that the Council should find ways of delivering play services differently and more cost-effectively, making links where possible to other areas of activity. The interim Director of Children’s Services is therefore requested to review these services in the light of the Task Force recommendations.

 

Response to Living in Wirral Task Force

 

This Administration is strongly committed to reducing Wirral’s carbon footprint with, among other measures, improved recycling facilities and energy saving measures. We welcome the Task Force’s recommendation endorsing this area of activity and will continue to strive to deliver a 60% carbon reduction target by 2025.

 

1.  Cabinet instructs that the recommended renegotiation of the Biffa contract for refuse collection and street cleaning be taken forward as part of the Strategic Change Programme’s contracts review. However Cabinet does not support charging for garden waste collection, charging for the removal of graffiti from private property, reducing the frequency of garden waste collection or increasing charges for the Eric service above inflation.

 

2.  Cabinet welcomes the proposal to take a stronger approach to enforcement in relation to trade waste agreements and instructs the Director of Technical Services to implement this recommendation.

 

Budget saving: £10,000

 

3.  Cabinet endorses the view that the current pilot to safely dim street lighting to reduce carbon and save money on energy costs should be implemented across the borough through the Strategic Change programme.

 

Budget saving: £50,000 in 2011-12 (included in SCP savings)

 

4.  Cabinet recognises the proposal that Council should consider increasing fees for a number of optional Council services and requests that this be taken forward as part of the Strategic Change Programmes review of fees and charges. 

 

5.  Cabinet instructs the Director of Law, HR and Asset Management to examine the possibility of increasing on-the-spot fines for dog fouling and the dropping of litter. The Director is also requested to look at the potential for increasing income from these services by providing to partner and private organisations

 

Cabinet welcomes the Task Force’s strong support for continuing to undertake preventative maintenance on Wirral’s roads and maintaining the current programme of coastal and sea defence work. In light of the consultation, Cabinet will examine non-statutory Traffic Management services to establish whether money is being spent on the right things, while working to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on Wirral’s roads.

 

Traffic management budget saving: £150,000 (included in SCP savings)

 

6.  Cabinet requests that the recommendation from the Task Force to end differential charging, and introduce standard and fair fees in all of the Council’s current pay and display car parks, be examined as part of the Strategic Change Programme’s review of fees and charging. Cabinet recognises that this does not mean bringing all charges up to the current maximum charge and in reviewing car parking charges, maintaining the vitality of the Borough’s District Shopping Centres will be a priority consideration.

 

Cabinet will consider co-locating other Council services within libraries whilst continuing to offer a comprehensive library service across the borough. We will expand and invigorate the marketing efforts designed to maximise income through sport and recreation centres, seek private sector sponsorship for our galleries and exhibitions and will maintain the Book Start initiative.

 

7.  Cabinet instructs the Director of Technical Services to conduct value for money reviews in high spend areas within sport, recreation and open space services, and that savings achieved under PACSPE are maximised.

 

Budget saving: £1,200,000 (included in SCP savings and EVR/VS)

 

8.  Cabinet also instructs the Director of Technical Services to review the management of golf and leisure facilities to achieve potential savings and examine the possibility of introducing private tuition and holiday clubs to increase income. Cabinet reaffirms its wish to secure a long term sustainable future for the swimming and leisure centre offer within Wirral and requests the Director of Technical Services to bring forward a report on how this can be best achieved.

 

9.  Cabinet instructs the Director of Finance to bring forward and implement proposals to integrate the one stop shop service within libraries including the co-location of facilities where practicable. Libraries and one stop shops are to be managed as one seamless information service with staff inter-changeable between both functions.

 

This Administration will seek to accelerate partnership working to bring more empty properties back into use, to meet housing needs and reduce the number of people waiting for suitable homes.  We will work with partners to ensure a joined up approach to improving housing standards.

 

10.The interim Director of Corporate Services is instructed to ensure that the Housing Market Renewal and Housing Standards team maximise both external funding and partnership contributions to the funding and delivery of new housing.

 

11.The interim Director of Corporate Services is instructed to invest the Supporting People grant in prevention services for the most socially excluded, and renegotiate contracts where possible to achieve savings.

 

 

Budget saving: £200,000

 

12.The interim Director of Corporate Services is instructed to implement an alternative way to deliver the Home Improvement Agency Service, which makes adaptations to properties to support individuals being released from hospital.

 

Budget saving: £76,000 (one off saving)

 

13.The interim Director of Corporate Services is instructed to develop a sub-regional Choice Based Lettings Scheme in Merseyside.

 

14.The interim Director of Corporate Services to explore the introducing of charges for landlord accreditation as part of a shared service with neighbouring Authorities.

 

 

This Administration recognises the importance of the contribution the Council plays in protecting Wirral’s environment and enhancing the safety of local communities.

 

15.Cabinet instructs the Director of Law, HR and Asset Management to restructure the Community Patrol service and introduce a broader enforcement role for officers.

 

Budget saving: £110,000 (included in EVR/VS savings)

 

16.Cabinet instructs the Director of Law, HR and Asset Management to review and restructure Pest Control service to improve efficiency and flexibility.

 

Budget saving: £72,525 (included in EVR/VS savings)

 

 

Response to Economy and Regeneration Task Force

 

This Administration is committed to increasing employment in all parts of the Borough and working with the Government to tackle worklessness.  Cabinet supports regeneration of our dock areas through Wirral Waters ensuring that it is integrated into wider regeneration for Birkenhead and Wallasey and with economic benefits for the whole of Wirral.

 

Cabinet will drive forward the economic regeneration of the Borough by ensuring the continued implementation of the Investment Strategy. We will seek at all times to support and enable the private sector to grow. Initiatives such as the Construction Employment Integrator will ensure that business growth is linked to reducing worklessness.

 

We will tackle barriers to work and low skills so that people move from benefits into employment.  Council investment in this area will seek to maximise other fund such as European Social Fund.

 

We will work with partners such as Job Centre Plus,  the Skills Funding Agency and National Apprenticeship Service and only provide Council taxpayers resources to projects aimed at tackling worklessness that have clear targets for success that are directly linked to increased employment opportunities. We will maximise the investment made in the Wirral Apprentice programme ensuring even more local people benefit.

 

This Administration endorses the Task Force prioritisation of services that focused on job creation and tackling worklessness and deeply regrets the previous Labour Governments decision to remove the £ 10.3 million Working Neighbourhoods Fund Grant from the end of this financial year (2010/2011) which will leave any future programmes un funded.

 

Cabinet therefore recommends to Council £2.845 million of increased spending for 2011/2012 to deliver the taskforce recommendations to support the following activity (noting this includes £740,000 which is the subject of an external funding bid).

 

1.  Other than for those schemes that seek to address the requirements of those with special needs, Cabinet instructs that the funding of skills and training programmes that do not link directly to job outputs cease

 

2.  The interim Director of Corporate Services is instructed to work with Partners to deliver effective outreach and engagement activity and to commission work where there are gaps in provision and the targeted groups are ‘hard to reach’ or may not access mainstream services, or have specific multiple barriers to accessing employment.

 

3.  To support International trade links to maximise inward investment and Wirral businesses can access new markets and opportunities.

 

4.  The interim Director of Corporate Services is instructed to develop a single seamless approach to supporting investment to ensure that Wirral becomes the most business friendly Authority possible.

 

5.  Cabinet instructs the interim Director of Corporate Services to review the existing sub regional arrangements for securing inward investment and explores alternative methods that have the potential to deliver more effective job growth.

 

6.  The interim Director of Corporate Services is instructed to redesign the programme for delivery of the Wirral apprenticeship to reflect the taskforce recommendation.

 

7.  The interim Director of Corporate Services is requested to review the various grant funding to businesses to align with the taskforce recommendation.

 

 

Cabinet reaffirms its commitment to:

 

1. Delivering savings of £48.016 million from EVR/VS, the Strategic Change Programme and our focus on making Every Pound Matter

 

2. Identifying resources to ensure that from now on, resident insight and consultation are embedded into the Council’s budget and policy decision making

 

3. Reducing the Council’s carbon footprint and bringing forward recommendations at the earliest opportunity on how the public’s priorities for greater pace in this area of Council policy can be achieved

 

4. Wirral becoming a shining example of how a Council can work in close partnership with the Community, Voluntary and Faith Sector in the future for the benefit of local people. Cabinet recognises that this commitment requires a new way of working and thinking and that it will be at the heart of all we do in the future

 

5. The Council will provide support and help to enable the Voluntary, Community, and Faith sector to develop and grow. This will include the establishment of a robust performance management framework to ensure the quality of outcomes for service users are maintained or improved and robust arrangements to provide a seamless transition for service users.

 

6. Developing a fair charging policy to ensure vulnerable people are protected

 

7. Establishing a dedicated unit to support and encourage the development of the ‘Big Society’. This will focus on:

 

·  Increasing the involvement of Voluntary, Community and Faith sectors in Council service delivery.

 

8. Supporting Adult Social Services staff through the changes required to turn around the Department following the findings of the Care Quality Commission.

 

9. Recognising the need to ensure that particular groups and communities are not disadvantaged by any changes in service delivery. Cabinet recognises that, in implementing the resolution, Officers must give due regard to the local authority’s obligations under the Equalities Act 2010 and ensure that the impact of any changes on particular groups and communities is assessed and mitigating activity put in place where necessary.

 

10. Cabinet further requests that the outcomes of the ‘Wirral’s Future’ consultation are communicated across the borough, with particular attention given to ensuring the Council works with the wide range of voluntary, community and faith sector organisations and groups in the borough to engage with local communities about what action is being taken.

 

Cabinet recommends Council to:

 

1. Approve the reductions to the 2010/11 Budget arising from the current Council wide EVR/Severance programme; agree the proposed changes to the 2011/12 Budget arising from the current Council wide EVR/Severance programme; agree the proposed further changes to the 2011/12 Budget arising from the Strategic Change Programme; and agree the proposed further changes to the 2011/12 Budget arising from the Every Pound Matters initiative and other efficiencies; all summarised as follows:

 

EVR/VS	£24.3 million
Additional savings (to those identified above) arising directly from the consultation exercise	£0.691 million
Strategic Change Programme	£10.725 million
Every Pound Matters*   * Cabinet instructs officers to continue the examination of reserves and departmental budgets for further savings opportunities.	1.6 million removal of CT discount 1.23 from reserves 1,4 pension fund review 4.2 zero inflation provision 3.9 none reinstatement of in year ABG savings   Total £12.3 million

 

2. Instruct the Interim Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader and relevant portfolio holders, to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to secure the timely implementation of all the above Budget changes (including all appropriate consultation with service users, contractors and staff); and authorise the Interim Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader and relevant portfolio holders to minimise any restructuring costs and approve any consequential opportunities for further savings and efficiencies arising from the above Budget changes.

 

3. Recognises that the Budget changes will impact on staff and agree that, all staff who are materially and directly affected by the decisions contained in these recommendations, as determined by the Director of Law, HR and Asset Management, shall be entitled to be considered under the Discretionary Policy for the pensions Scheme which is in place until December 31 2010. 

 

4. That all existing 2010/11 Area Based Grant funding is included in the 2011/12 revenue budget at the 2010/11 level, with the exception of those savings which have been previously agreed.

 

5. Council instructs the Interim Chief Executive to ensure all necessary steps are taken to enable contracts with Voluntary, Community and Faith groups and organisations, which are due to end in March 2011 are extended by three months to facilitate service continuity during a period of contract review.

 

6. Cabinet recognises the scale of the savings that our strategy has achieved and that we have a responsibility to Wirral residents and staff to demonstrate that ‘we are all in this together’. Therefore, the Director of Law, HR and Asset Management be instructed to take all necessary steps to ensure that Councillor Allowances, including Special Responsibility Allowances are reduced from their current maximums by 5% at the earliest opportunity.