Agenda item

(a)  That the current council projected revenue budget for 2011/12 to 2014/15 be noted.

(b)  That the savings plan for 2011/2012 as set out in Appendix A be confirmed and progress to date be noted.

(c)  That areas of savings allocation for elements of support services as summarised in para 5.7, be considered and agreed, and that officers be requested to implement them with immediate effect where possible.

(d)  That the adverse impact of the CSR settlement on some previously agreed ECS savings be noted. 

The Cabinet considered a report setting out the latest projections of the Council’s revenue budget for the period 2011/12 to 2014/15 following the previous Cabinet report of 13^th December, 2010 and the Policy Performance and Review Group on 10^th January 2011. 

The report had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 20^th January, 2011 and the Committee had noted the report.  The report set out progress to-date with reducing the future funding gap and members were asked to agree additional elements of savings opportunities for two further support areas (Property Services) incorporating Facilities Management and Procurement (and Finance).  The proposals presented for consideration represented total savings from these areas circa £1.16m and exceeded the required minimum of 20% for these areas in line with Members direction wherever possible savings have been secured by voluntary expressions of interest, the deletion of vacant posts and removal of temporary staff. 

In answer to a question the Director of Resources advised that the Employment and Appeals Committee would be receiving a report setting out an analysis of redundancies and success in redeployment. 

The Director of Resources indicated that she was not in a position to suggest options for closing the budget gap at this stage.  The Leader asked for clarification of when the final figures would be known.  The Director of Resources advised that the budget had to be set on the 21^st February.  The impact that the lack of information had would be that the Council would need to make provision to fund a greater degree of flexibility and assumptions.

Resolved -

(a)  That the current council projected revenue budget for 2011/12 to 2014/15 be noted.

(b)  That the savings plan for 2011/2012 as set out in Appendix A be confirmed and progress to date be noted.

(c)  That areas of savings allocation for elements of support services as summarised in para 5.7 of the report be agreed, and that officers be requested to implement them with immediate effect where possible.

(d)  That the adverse impact of the CSR settlement on some previously agreed ECS savings be noted.