• Question and Answer Session

BUDGET CONSULTATION: Tracey Smith informed the forum that over the next three years about a third of the Council’s funding from Government [equating to around £100 million] will be removed.  On 10 September, the Council launched a consultation exercise , ‘What Really Matters’, asking members of the public what they think the Council’s priorities should be and to express their views on the decisions needed to transform and improve the Wirral’s services to its residents.

People’s views are vital and will make a difference and it is important therefore that as many people as possible participate in the consultation.  Paper copies of the questionnaire are available at Council One Stop Shops, Libraries, and other public buildings, or the questionnaire can be completed on line on the Council’s website. 

The questionnaire comprises nine questions.  The first question focuses on the Council’s three main priorities to protect vulnerable adults and children, tackle poverty and inequalities in health, and create jobs and attract investment.  Members of the public are being asked to state their top three highest and three lowest priorities. 

The second part is about services and whether charges for services should be increased or charges should be made for services which are currently free, or whether the private or community sectors and the voluntary organisations could provide a more efficient service for some Council functions.

Members of the public are being asked to suggest services which they believe the Council should stop or reduce to make the savings needed.  No decisions have been taken yet; it is a genuine consultation.

Community engagement officers have visited supermarkets, cinemas, a number of community groups and over a 100 events in the last five weeks, and 11,000 questionnaires have been issued.  So far, 6,000 responses have been received – 227 from residents in this area forum.  Some innovative ideas have been put forward for improving Council services and for saving money. 

The area co-ordinator strongly urged those who had not done so, to fill in a questionnaire and to encourage friends and family to do so.  The consultation ends on Friday, 19 October, the results will be analysed and the ideas on how to make savings will be fed back to the relevant departments.  A further consultation on the options will take place with residents.

Q: What services are more costly for Wirral?

A: We have made no decisions, we know where the high spending is all this information is available on the website and the areas are Adult Social Services and Children’s Services and again these are our priorities.

Q: We can put our comments down, but we feel decisions have already been made? Can you reassure is this is not the case.

A: We have not made any decisions and we still have £200 million to spend/allocate on services after the end of this process, so this consultation is important to help direct that future spend too.

Q: Before you decide on cuts to services, you still need to deliver statuary services before cutting services, but what is happening internally to address this?

A: Review of all management throughout Wirral Council - this will be reduce by 33% bearing in mind we shed around 1,200 staff two years ago. We will be looking at partnership working with other organisations. If we cut services, we will definitely reduce staff and there will be fewer staff working for the council.

Q: Some services have to be done by law don’t they?

A: The questionnaire is general. We have a list of statutory services. It is all open for debate.. Statutory services do cost a lot of money. “Some of the nice stuff we do will have to go.”  We are making a budget plan not just for today but for the future.

Statements:Cllr John Hale: The Council meeting we had on Monday night – looked at the £100million saving. As a Council we have to spend money on statutory services and look after the elderly and children’s services and it also has to be to a certain standard.  We have to be more efficient and improve all our services. Non statutoryservices (pot holes, dogs in parks etc) will be under review. We have to balance the budget by law. “No decisions" have been made. "Consultation” is genuine and we will be looking at theconsultation results and will be using them.

CllrDavid Elderton also said that as a council we are looking at alternative ways of working with voluntary groups to maybe provide services. All options are open.

Q: Not certain about the actual 100 million saving?

A: The 100 million is included within the growth element until we see full details of budget over the next 3 years.

Kevin Adderley informed the forum that for year 1 and 2 we know what we have to achieve and although the required 100 million is not necessarily all due to reduced allocations from Central Government, there is an acceptance that the amount is correct.

The next steps are that the consultation report will go to Cabinet in November and this will help set the budget this needs to be done by 10th March 2013

Q: How much has it cost for the suspended officers.

A: Kevin Adderley advised the resident that he was unable to answer that question.

Q: We need to learn good practice from other councils and costs per head for services and compare this.

A: Kevin Adderley advised that you have to be careful using comparisons as some council's have different services in each service area.

Q: Suggested that Council Tax could go up a small amount and for everyone to contribute as we are proud of Wirral and don’t want to lose vital services

A: This will be looked at.