Report of the Chief Executive.

A report by the Chief Executive updated the Committee on progress in respect of the Future Council Project and provided an opportunity for Members to engage with and influence the emerging options which were being developed in order to transform the Council and achieve the savings required.

The Committee noted that the emerging options would be further developed and then published by the Chief Executive, as Officer’s budget options, for full public, staff and service user consultation in September 2014.

Appended to the Chief Executive’s report for Members’ information were details of:

·  Enabling Services (Appendix 1)

·  Community and Neighbourhood Services (Appendix 2)

·  Specialist and Targeted Services (Appendix 3)

The Strategic Director – Transformation and Resources was in attendance at the meeting and made a presentation on the Future Council Project with the assistance of the Marketing and Engagement Manager.  They set the context by reminding Members of the major financial challenges that lay ahead and informing of the systematic, equitable, detailed review of all 81 Council Services, the information gathered to inform restructures and develop options to make savings and the whole Council approach that was linked to outcomes.

In terms of finance Members noted that:

·  Significant savings (£57million) already agreed with phased impact during 2014-2017.

·  A minimum of £45 million of new savings were required over the next two years to 2017.

·  Current projections indicated a further £25 million in savings were required in 2018.

·  Savings so far had been broadly equal across service areas on a pro-rata basis.

The Strategic Director made reference to the Corporate Plan and the three key priorities that the Council’s budget would be set around:

1.  Tackle health inequalities, poverty and disadvantage – narrow the gap between our richest and poorest communities

2.  Protect the vulnerable, making sure people are safe and feel safe – and can remain independent as long as possible

3.  Driving economic growth – investing in Wirral’s future

The Strategic Director set out the budget principles, the future direction of Council Services, the Council’s options and key project milestones. He then invited Members to consider their responses to the following questions:

·  What are Members’ views of the principles for the future direction of services, and the emerging budget options?

·  Is anything missing? Are there key outcomes and areas of need that are not being addressed?

·  Should anything be removed? Are there areas of Council activity that are not delivering valuable outcomes, or being delivered more effectively elsewhere?

·  Members will see full budget options in September. Would the Committee prefer to consider these options via formal meetings or in workshop sessions?

·  Would the committee like to invite other organisations or people to the detailed session to offer additional expertise?

The Chair informed the Committee that she considered the Future Council Project to be an important piece of work that required detailed scrutiny.  It would completely redesign the Council ensuring it was able to achieve the outcomes residents needed with the resources available to it.  The Chair asked Members to consider how this should be taken forward by all four Policy and Performance Committees. 

Members thanked the Strategic Director and the Marketing and Engagement Manager for their informative presentation and asked a number of questions which were responded to appropriately.  Matters raised included the following:

·  The Corporate Plan was going to require some investment to achieve a return over time as long term gains were important.  Officers had made no assumptions and set no targets for reductions across the 81 Service Areas.  Political decisions would have to be made.  The views of Members on this would be sought at the next Committee meeting scheduled for 3 September 2014.

·  The Council was clearly facing major financial challenges; by 2017 the level of Government funding which it received would have been cut by over 50% and a further £25 million of savings would be required in 2018. In the light of the significant savings the Council had to make in future years, Members queried how much funding would be left for investment.  They noted that this would depend on how the Council delivered its statutory responsibilities. It was not about whole scale reductions but about meeting the challenge of reductions.  The Council was in difficult circumstances and facing the budget challenge head on.  It wanted to be fair and equitable.  Members would make the decisions.  The difficulties would be acknowledged and dealt with in an appropriate and managed way.

·  The Council had been complimented on its strategic approach to the delivery of its Services by a number of organisations over the last few weeks.  Other local authorities were taking different approaches to the need to make savings but Wirral Council was taking a very sophisticated approach and Members were please to see this.

·  A strategy to consult all stakeholders had been formulated.  There would be two stages: a formal statutory staff consultation; and a Borough wide public consultation considering all budget options.  This would be a detailed process and the Committee would receive a presentation on it in September 2014.

·  The previous year’s Budget consultation booklets were very general and would require considerable revision to bring them to an appropriate standard for this year’s exercise.  They needed to be simplified but at the same time they needed to contain much more detail. 

·  The information provided needed to be accessible and easy to navigate.  The right balance must be struck and enough detail included so that it was very clear on implications and impacts.

·  Officers were advised to have regard to the Committee Calendar so that all the Constituency Committees who were meeting in October, this Committee that would meet in September and the other three Policy and Performance Committees who would meet in October were able to input into the consultation process before the Cabinet considered its report.  The Strategic Director agreed to ensure that the sequencing of the Committee meetings was appropriate and that it assisted the decision-making process.

·  Factoring timescales in was important particularly in respect of Council buildings and asset management. It was acknowledged that asset management had been slow in the past and the Council had made some small sales.  It required some investment as the changing Council required less of some of its assets and more of others.

·  It was noted that the rules changed in respect of capital assets next year and the Council would be able to invest capital raised through selling off its assets elsewhere.  The Strategic Director informed that progress had been slow but in terms of sales the Council would be able to make best use of receipts from asset sales next year.

·  It was important to encourage businesses to move to Wirral as this would increase the Business Rate base.  The Strategic Director agreed that in terms of business development, improving business rate opportunities was critical to the Council.

·  Members had regard to Economic Regeneration and Tourism noting that foreign tourism in Liverpool injected large amounts of money into the local economy.  The Strategic Director agreed that Wirral’s Tourism and Heritage possibilities would be taken into account.

·  Some Members considered that the Council should not act like a bank and lend money to other Councils.  They queried how much was tied up in investments and asked if the Council was going to continue to cut services whilst lending money to other local authorities.  They wanted to know how much the Council paid out and how much it got in. The Strategic Director informed that budget management and treasury management would be carried out effectively and would involve short term loans and investments to offset cuts elsewhere.  The Council needed to maximise its opportunities.

The Chair requested that Officers provide the Committee with a summary of the discussion just held in more detail than what would be in the Minutes, as a starting point.  She proposed that a meeting of Policy and Performance Committee Chairs, Vice-Chairs and Spokespersons or their nominees be convened before September 2014 to discuss how to deal with the Future Council scrutiny process and to determine the way forward/mechanism to be used to best scrutinise the Project.  Members agreed that this was a good idea and that it was crucial that good scrutiny was seen to be carried out this year.  The Committee wanted to be as inclusive as possible so it was also proposed that those best placed to assist in different areas of scrutiny be called upon to do so.

RESOLVED:

That the scrutiny of the Future Council Project be taken forward as proposed in the paragraph above.