Issue - meetings

Having considered an officer report, and presentations by the Chair of

Overview & Scrutiny, Councillor Alan Hall, the Cabinet Member for

Resources, Councillor Kevin Bonavia, Councillor Barnham in respect of

saving Q1, Mr John Collins of Unison in respect of saving H1 and Ms Toyin

Adeyinka in respect of saving A8, the Mayor agreed that:

subject to proper process and consultation where appropriate and if required:

(i) the decision made on 12 November 2014 to endorse previously agreed

savings of £1.480m for 2015/16 be noted

;

(ii) the decision made on the 12 November 2014 to delegate to officers,

subject to proper and consultation where appropriate, the implementation of

£11.833m of savings, of which £8.558m are for 2015/16 be noted;

(iii) the comments of the Public Accounts Select Committee of the 5

February 2015, which incorporates the views of the respective select

Committees be received;

(iv) the following savings be approved:

• A1: Adult Care cost effective care packages £2,480k – App 2

• A2: Learning Disability care packages £1,500k – App 3

• A3: Reconfiguring sensory services provision £150k – App 4

• A6: Public Health part I £1,500k – App 6

• A8: Public Health part II £1,154k – App 6

• B1: Reduction and remodelling of supporting people support £2,523k –

App 8

• E1: Reorganisation of Regeneration and Asset Management £600k –

App 9

• K2: YOS reorganisation, intervention changes, contract reduction £200k

– App12

• L1: Review of main voluntary & community grants programme £1,500k –

App 13

• L3: Community Services development £240k – App 14

• L4: Broadway theatre £180k – App 15

• N1: Reduction in maintenance of some parks, highways enclosures &

management – management element only to be taken £108k –App 16

• N2: Reduction in street cleansing frequency & mngt. Costs £400k – App

17

• Q1: Improve triage for Childrens’ social care services and re-design

Children Centre early intervention offer £5,515k (£3,208 CYP budget

and £2,307 LFP saving) – App 19 – but there will be consultation on individual

Children Centres which will be reported back to Mayor & Cabinet.

• Q2: Reduction in Youth Service provision option 1 £1,406k – App 20 –

agreed in principle and officers asked to bring a report back dealing with

options for the future of youth service provision to include a detailed appraisal

of the establishment of an employee led mutual.

(v) the following saving be rejected:

• O1: End of discretionary freedom pass scheme £200k – App 18

(vi) the following saving be reconsidered at the meeting to be held on

February 18 2015:

• H1: Restructuring of enforcement and regulatory services £800k – App

11

(vii) the following savings return to Mayor & Cabinet for decision following

consultation:

• A1: Meals on Wheels Contract £200k – App 2

• A4: Remodelling building based day services £1,300k – App 5 (NB see

Decision 2 above: Remodelling Lewisham Council’s Day Service Offer and

Associated Transport including Evening Club Provision)

• A9: Review of  ...  view the full decision text for item 137

The report was presented by the Cabinet Member for Resources, Councillor

Kevin Bonavia, who lamented the downward spiral of public finances since

2010, saying Local Government had been hardest hit by the Coalition

Government’s austerity approach to the global financial crisis.

Councillor Alan Hall, Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, added he

believed this was a sad day and as a lifelong borough resident he particularly

noticed the impact of the Coalition’s continued cuts programme. He presented

to the Mayor the written submissions of the Select Committees, as co-

ordinated by Public Accounts Select Committee, and the full findings of two

scrutiny task and finish groups on the Youth Service and Public Health. He

also welcomed compilation of a briefing note on the Blue Badge scheme

which had been requested by the Public Accounts Select Committee for

consideration at Mayor & Cabinet.

The Mayor was addressed by Ms Toyin Adeyinka regarding Saving A8. She

said she was a volunteer in a baby café and was part of a group that had

collected 800 signatures in an effort to save their breast feeding programme

and peer support group. The Mayor sought clarification on the proposed

saving from the Director of Public Health and the Executive Director for

Children and Young People who explained the reduction from £77,000pa to

£49,000pa would still allow the programme to achieve UNICEF accreditation.

The Mayor said he believed this was a fantastic project only made possible by

wonderful volunteers and he felt reassured that it would still be a success

story after remodelling. He asked Councillors Best and Millbank to oversee

the project and report back to him only if something went wrong.

Councillor Barnham submitted a written paper and spoke on saving Q1.

He acknowledged that the new structure of 4 area based children centres

rather than 17 centres did not involve widespread closures, as all but one of

the existing centres would still be operational and offering services, albeit to a

reduced target audience. The Mayor pointed out the process was ongoing

and gave a commitment to consultation on all the individual centres.

With regard to saving H1, the Mayor received advice from the Cabinet

member for the Public Realm, Councillor Rachel Onikosi and he listened to a

presentation from Mr John Collins of UNISON. Mr Collins explained he had

been asked to speak by officers affected by the reorganisation who believed

the proposals were flawed and represented a clear risk as the authority ran

the risk of not meeting numerous statutory responsibilities. The Mayor

responded by agreeing to defer the saving for one week to allow further

discussion to take place with the trade unions.

The Mayor considered each saving individually, taking advice from

the relevant Cabinet Member as appropriate and reached the conclusions

shown in the recommendations below.

Having considered an officer report, and presentations by the Chair of

Overview & Scrutiny, Councillor Alan Hall, the Cabinet Member for

Resources, Councillor Kevin Bonavia, Councillor Barnham in respect of

saving Q1, Mr John Collins of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 137