Agenda item

Savings Proposals 2014-15 and 2015-16

Decision:

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

Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Alan Hall and by the Cabinet

Member for Resources, Councillor Paul Maslin, the Mayor agreed that

(i) the comments of the Public Accounts Select Committee of 16

December 2013, incorporating the views of the respective select

committees be received;

(ii) the previously agreed savings package of £17.0m be amended and

referred to Council following an officer review which identified that circa

£0.7m of these proposals were no longer achievable, meaning that the

previously agreed package of savings for 2014/15 is revised down to

just over £16.2mas detailed in Appendix A;

(iii) revenue budget savings of £6.258m be approved, of which £5.658m

relates to 2014/15 and £0.6m relates to 2015/16, as detailed in

Appendix E; subject to saving CYP13 being rejected and saving CYP12

being deferred;

(iv) the supporting report and recommendations for CYP12, the

Attendance and Welfare service be deferred to the February 12 meeting

to allow pre-decision scrutiny by the Children & Young People Select

Committee on January 29 2014; and

(v) additional efficiency savings of £2.5m, as set out in section 6.2 be

approved.

Minutes:

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

Paul Maslin who highlighted measures taken to achieve savings required for

what he believed to be the Government’s failing austerity policy.

The Executive Director for Resources and Regeneration’s representative then

reported and advised all savings would be fed into the Budget in February

2014.

The Mayor reported that he had attended the Public Accounts Select

Committee two days previously and had promised to withdraw saving CYP12

from consideration to allow pre decision scrutiny by the Children and Young

People Select Committee.

Councillor Alan Hall then addressed the Mayor as Chair of the Overview &

Scrutiny Committee and on behalf of the Labour Group. He commented on

specific savings as follows:

COM03 He advised future increases in voluntary sector funding might be

required as part of a restructuring of public services.

CUS07 He said the Overview & Scrutiny Committee would examine the

saving in greater detail the following evening.

CYO5 Staff consultation would be welcomed.

CYP12 Further pre decision scrutiny was supported.

CYP13 He believed the saving was premature.

CUS03 Further discussion on improvements to recycling collection was

required.

R&R02 Benchmarking results should be subject to the scrutiny process.

COM01 A large piece of work should be addressed in the round in the

Lewisham Futures programme.

The Mayor then considered each saving individually as follows:

CYP01 Approved

CYP03 Approved

CYP04 Approved

CYP05 Approved with the Mayor expressing concern that consultation

with staff had not been completed and stated if issues emerged

they should be reported to him.

CYP06 Approved

CYP07 Approved

CYP08 Approved

CYP09 Approved

CYP010 Approved

CYP11 Approved

CYP12 Deferred

CYP13 Rejected, as the Mayor was not persuaded it was sensible to

take a saving from a service recently restructured and still

bedding down.

CYP14 Approved

CYP15 Approved

COM01 Approved and the comments of the Chair of Overview &

Scrutiny be noted for future years.

COM02 Approved with the Mayor noting this effectively represented a

grant substitution.

COM03 Approved

COM04 Approved

CUS01 Approved

CUS02 Approved

CUS03 Approved, with the Mayor receiving an assurance from the

Executive Director for Customer Services that he would discuss

the issues involved with the chief executives of Registered

Social Landlords.

CUS04 Approved

CUS05 Approved

CUS06 Approved

CUS07 Approved, with the Mayor noting representations received from

the Housing Select Committee and Unison and asking for

reassurance that the saving was possible and about the

capacity of current providers.

CUS08 Approved with the Mayor expressing concern that consultation

with staff had not been completed and stated if issues emerged

they should be reported to him.

R&R01 Approved

R&R02 Approved with the Mayor receiving a tabled paper from the

Public Accounts on comparative charges made by other

boroughs and receiving an undertaking from the Executive

Director for Resources and Regeneration that the methodology

in determining supermajor costings would be provided

subsequent to the meeting.

R&R03 Approved

R&R04 Approved