Agenda item
Decision:
DECISION:
·
Reasonable
steps, under challenging circumstances, had been taken to draw up the Savings
Plan
·
That the
savings proposed are reasonable and achievable
·
That the
risks and implications of the decision are clear
·
That the report was adequate to enable the
Cabinet to make a decision on the Savings Plan
·
To
present observations from the discussion on the report to the Cabinet for their
consideration when discussing the 2023/24 Savings at its meeting on 20/2/24
Note:
That a clear communication plan is in
place.
Minutes:
Submitted – the report of Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn, Council Leader,
asking the Committee to consider the propriety of the process of identifying
the savings, and submit observations to the Cabinet to consider before they
reach a decision at their meeting on 20-02-24. It was reported that it was not
the Committee's role to express an opinion on what the size of the savings
should be, or the merits of individual proposals being recommended as savings,
but rather to ensure that the Cabinet was clear about the facts that were presented
to them, so that the decision taken was based on robust information.
Presenting the background to the work, it was noted that the Council had now been achieving savings
continually for 15 years, and the challenge of achieving those savings without
harming services to the County's residents was getting more difficult. The
Leader reported that the Council was now aware of its level of Revenue Support
Grant (RSG) from the Welsh Government for 2024/25 (a 2% increase), and that it
would be significantly lower than the inflation level and well below what would
be required to maintain the current level of services.
The Chief Executive added that the Council also faced a situation
where departments were overspending, mainly due to a continued increase in the
demand for their services; it was now impossible for some services such as
homelessness, children care services, adults care services and school transport
to be able to operate within their current budget. This would lead to overspend
this year of around £8m, and since there had been no time to plan
in advance for the deficit, they would have to use reserves to cope with
the situation. The consequence of providing an increased budget for the
departments that cannot cope with their current budget, and the low Revenue
Support Grant amount from the Government, was a funding gap this year of
£14.9m.
To identify savings, 135 proposals were presented by the Council's
Departments. Every proposal had been assessed by the Chief Executive or by one
of the Corporate Directors and had been placed in four categories to assist
Members to prioritise savings schemes for 2024/25, with an awareness of what
the level of risk would be from implementing any individual proposal. During
the workshops that were held with the Members, the proposals were all
categorised so as to prioritise them from the most
'acceptable' to the least 'acceptable' proposals. It was reported that the general consensus amongst all the members who had
participated in the workshops (which included Cabinet Members, Scrutiny Chairs
and Group Leaders) was that approximately £5.2m of the proposals could be
implemented over the next two to three years.
The
Leader referred to the two parts of the process – part A included schemes that
could be progressed to implementation following the Cabinet's approval, whilst
part B reflected schemes that were subject to statutory action or further
decisions before they could be confirmed. He reiterated that a legal
assessment, equality assessment, efficiency assessment and a high-level
financial assessment had been completed on each individual scheme to ensure
that they were deliverable, and in the interest of planning prudently, a
reasonable risk assumption would be included in the Savings Plan. It was
recommended that £0.52m (10%) of the total £5.2m that will need to be found, be
designated as an amount "under risk".
The
members expressed their gratitude for the report.
In response to a question, accepting that a risk assessment had been
conducted on the entire savings plan, and therefore had a risk assessment been
done for individual schemes, the Chief Executive noted that an equality
assessment had been completed, but following the Cabinet's decision (20-02-24)
a specific assessment for each scheme would be implemented. He reiterated the
possibility that the savings might not be deliverable following a full
assessment, therefore there would be a need to consider a contingency provision
Observations arising
from the ensuing discussion:
·
Accepted that the process had been challenging
·
A detailed, thorough and proper process had been carried out
·
The briefing sessions had been beneficial
·
That
the members, when prioritising proposals in future, should
have information regarding the costs of each scheme against
raising the Council tax
·
Proposals
for 'reducing community art activities'
and 'reducing children's summer fun activities' – there were opportunities
here to reduce costs by working with local Partners
/ sponsors.
In response to a comment
regarding the need to ensure that there
was a clear communication
plan in place so that the County's
residents and the Council
staff were aware of the changes and that everyone was 'going in the same direction',
the Chief Executive noted that several
discussions had been held with staff, and that managers' network meetings were held every
quarter. He added that they had been
cautious before publishing final schemes to prevent causing fear amongst
residents and staff, but by
now the schemes were public and the information was honest, transparent
and fair. He also noted that communication
had been undertaken through the press, social media and staff on-line, with an
opportunity to share and obtain feedback. He added that the communication effort was continuous, and when moving to realise savings there would be difficult conversations down the line.
In response to a comment regarding the logic why the risk percentage
was 10% whereas in the past
they had seen a risk percentage of 20%, the Head of Finance stated that should the increase in the provision be higher the gap would be greater, therefore there was a need to ensure balance. He added that work was being
done to challenge the schemes to ensure they were realistic,
and that consequently the provision reduced; the ideal percentage would be 20%, but 10% was enough this year.
In response to a question on whether the increase in the demand on services
had been justified / assessed and whether savings could be achieved from these
assessments, the Chief Executive noted that every effort
had been made to deliver services in an alternative
manner, and if the situation persisted, then we had to accept the situation. He added that every scheme
was challenged so that public money
was used appropriately. He noted, for example,
that there had been an unexpected
increase in children's services where the demand must be met, and with services for the elderly and homeless, there was no element
of choosing not to provide services for them.
Although work was being done to assess
situations, it was not an option to not provide care – they therefore
had to look at other services to seek savings.
The Council Leader thanked the Committee for their comments
and for the points to consider for 2025/26. He added that they
must communicate clearly with the public, and with all Authorities across north Wales in similar positions, he noted that
it was aimed to issue a joint statement explaining the situation. He noted that in
future, Local Authorities' arrangements would change significantly with increased reliance on volunteers
and the third sector.
RESOLVED:
·
That reasonable steps, under challenging circumstances, had been taken to draw up the Savings Plan
·
That the savings proposed were reasonable and achievable
·
That the risks and implications of the decision were clear
·
That the report
was adequate to enable the
Cabinet to make a decision on the Savings Plan
·
To submit observations from the discussion on the report to the Cabinet for their consideration when discussing the 2024/25 Savings Plan at its meeting on 20/2/24
Note:
That there is a clear communication plan in place
Supporting documents:
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