Issue - decisions

            The Cabinet Member for Finance, People and Performance and the Board Director, Resources submitted a joint report concerning the development of a strategic and financial context to enable the Council over the next four year period to progress the delivery of the Vision for Swindon, and setting out (a) the financial context within which the Council currently operated and the likely future position, (b) the Council’s intended direction of travel to achieve the delivery of its Vision, strategies, plans, priorities and corporate objectives in the medium term, (c) proposals for the Council’s strategic response involving establishing more financially sustainable delivery models to enable it to deliver its Vision and essential services in the future, including in terms of (i) “Growing Swindon’s Economy” and identifying new forms of funding, (ii) “Going Local”,  and (iii) “Building Resilience”, (d) proposals to engage and consult with residents, stakeholders and service users on the proposed strategic response, (e) Budget proposals for 2016/17 as part of the Council’s strategic response, (f)  the current forecast out-turn position of the Council's Revenue Budget, (g) the Council’s Change Programmes and their relationship to the Council’s finances, (h) The Council Tax Base and Collection Fund Surplus/Deficit,  (i) Council Tax, (j) the new Social Care Precept, (j) the Local Council Tax (Reduction) Scheme, (k) proposed changes to Council Fees and Charges for 2016/17, (l) One-off funding, and (m) proposed virements.

            Councillor Russell Holland, Cabinet Member for Finance, People and Performance, introduced the joint report and commented on its significance for the Council’s and Swindon’s future direction. He referred to the financial context in which the Council operated and the proposed strategic response to ensure that the Council could continue to deliver essential services to residents and achieve its Vision. He explained that the Government had made it clear that by 2020 it anticipated that local authorities would not be receiving a Revenue Support Grant and would be expected to fund local services from Council Tax and from retained Business Rates. He commented on the level of savings that the Council would need to achieve by 2020 and to his belief, this meant that the Council and its services would be very different by that time.  He outlined the proposals contained in the report that would now be the subject of consultation in the run up to the Budget Council meeting on 25^th February 2016. He emphasised that no Councillor welcomed making decisions that reduced services and imposed savings, but that difficult decisions now had to be made if the Council was to be able to continue to offer quality services to the most vulnerable and to Swindon residents. He commented on the implications of the Government’s recent announcement of a “Social Care precept” for Council Tax levels. He advised that, as with the retention of Business Rates, further details of the actual implications of the announcement for Swindon were awaited. He believed that the proposed strategic response and Budget proposals for 2016/117 would strengthen the Council’s ability to achieve its Vision and to deliver essential services in a sustainable way for the future.

            Councillor Jim Grant, Leader of the Opposition, commented on the disquiet felt by local residents at the Council’s proposals, particularly with regard to Lydiard House and Country Park and for Children’s Centres. He asked for clarification on the safeguards that would exist for future public access to Lydiard Park and drew attention to previous statements made by the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services regarding any future closure of Children’s Centres.

            The Chair and Councillor Garry Perkins, Cabinet Member for the Economy, Regeneration and Skills, responded to Councillor Grant’s comments and explained that clarification of the type requested would be difficult to provide until such time that the responses to the Expressions of Interest had been received. Councillor Perkins referred to the content of a proposed amendment to the report’s recommendations that he would be putting forward that would request that further reports on the Lydiard issue be submitted to the Cabinet. Councillor Fionuala Foley, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, responded to the comments concerning statements she had previously made regarding the closing of Children’s Centres.

            Councillor Russell Holland, Cabinet Member for Finance, People and Performance, expressed his disappointment that issues were being raised by the Leader of the Opposition that did not directly relate or were relevant to the report or that set out any alternatives to proposals for the Cabinet to consider. He asked the Chair to request the Director of Law and Democratic Services to submit a report to the Corporate Governance Review Working Group to seek clarification on the issue of Councillors speaking at meetings of which they were not a member.

            Councillor Stan Pajak, Leader of the Council’s Minority Group, referred to the difficult financial challenges facing local government and the difficult decisions that the Council had to make. He supported an increase in the Council Tax as proposed by the Cabinet Member and he hoped that the Council would also adopt the Social Care precept to enable the Council to access even more funding to provide support services for vulnerable people.

            Councillor Holland explained that further details on the Social Care precept were awaited, as was the detail of the Local Government Finance Settlement for Swindon. The Council had an existing £3m budget gap to fill prior to the Council Budget Meeting on 25^th February 2016, and he believed that there remained considerable uncertainties in the Budget Planning process that would need to be resolved before February.

            Councillor Brian Mattock, Cabinet Member for Adult Health and Social Care, referred to the financial challenges facing the Council. He commented on how the Council had achieved a reduction of the equivalent of £100m from its Revenue Budget in the last five years. He explained how services had been reshaped in Adult Social Care and had both reduced costs and improved services to individuals. However, it was increasingly difficult to identify ways that savings and re-structuring of services could take place without affecting service users and / or residents. He believed the proposals within the report offered a way forward, although he recognised that there were difficult decisions for Members to take.

            Councillor Carol Shelley, Opposition Spokesperson for Children’s Services, drew attention to the service provided by Children’s Centres and the importance of this service for families in some of Swindon’s most deprived areas. She believed that the new structure of Children’s Centre should be given a longer timeframe to deliver the improvements that were desired. She referred to previous statements made by Councillor Foley regarding the future of Children’s Centres and wondered why views had changed.

            Councillor Foley explained the changes in circumstances, financial pressures and service performance that had resulted in her supporting the proposals within the report. She highlighted the early years’ and specialist services that would still be available to all families across the Borough including the most vulnerable, should the proposal be accepted.

            Councillor Dale Heenan, Cabinet Member for Sustainability and Transport, highlighted the scale of the financial challenges that the Council faced over the next few years. Councillor Heenan asked Councillor Perkins, Cabinet Member for the Economy, Regeneration and Skills, to clarify the process surrounding a decision on Lydiard Park and referred to the amendment that Councillor Perkins had tabled.    He noted that a budget gap remained and that details of the Local Government Finance Settlement were still awaited. He asked whether consultation would subsequently take place on proposals to balance any remaining Budget gap prior to the February Council meeting.

            Councillor Holland referred to the consultation process that would now begin should the Council support the report’s recommendations. He would ensure that if proposals arose to meet any Budget gap that required consultation to take place, this would occur prior to the Council meeting. He asked Cabinet colleagues to endorse the report and support its recommendations.               

            Resolved – (1) That the medium term context of the Council be noted and the contents of this joint report be used to engage and consult with residents, stakeholders and service users on the organisational strategic response.

            (2) That it be noted that engagement has started with communities and existing parish and town councils on future operating models for community assets (including Libraries) and cleaning and grounds maintenance services within a financial framing of needing to reduce Council expenditure on these services by an estimated £6m by 2020, as set out in Table Two of the joint report.

            (3) That officers be authorised to continue to engage and consult where appropriate on more financially sustainable delivery models including specifically:

            (a) The introduction of more commercial approaches including consideration of car parking charges at cultural assets and all country parks;
            (b)  That further reports be brought to the Cabinet in February 2016, setting out progress towards achieving a sustainable future for Lydiard House and Park, and in April or June 2016 to determine the future model for the site’s on-going operation and that the Board Director, Service Delivery in consultation with the Cabinet Member for the Economy, Regeneration and Skills, the Board Director, Resources and the Head of Property Assets being authorised to request the submission of formal tenders from organisations that will help secure the overall objective of finding an acceptable, sustainable future for Lydiard House and Park within the Council’s ownership while reducing the annual cost to the Council Tax Payer by at least £450,000;

            (c) The development of specific Community Based Asset co-location proposals for implementation in 2016/17 for a range of local services, including Libraries in six pilot areas, as detailed in paragraph 3.24 of the joint report, which will inform options through this approach to save at least £200,000 in 2016/17 across the Borough;

            (d) The development of a service strategy for the Library Service for consideration by Cabinet in February 2016 to achieve a reduction in the budget for that service of at least £1.5m by 2020; and

            (e) A change to the provision of the Children’s Centre service offer by initially decommissioning all existing Children’s Centres, utilising the buildings for child care and wider community-based services and creating a new family support service to achieve a reduction in the budget for this service of £600,000.

            (4)  That the Board Director, Resources be authorised to agree the transfer of small land parcels with a de minimus value associated with service transfers to existing parish and town councils in consultation with ward members, and the Director of Law and Democratic Services be authorised, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Communities and Strategic Planning and the Board Director, Resources, to complete any necessary documentation to effect such transfers on such terms as he considers necessary to protect the Council’s interests.

            (5) That the Board Director, Service Delivery, be authorised, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Corporate, Customer and Digital Services, the Director of Law and Democratic Services and the Board Director, Resources, to proceed with the necessary next steps to enable the Highworth Recreation Trust to appoint a preferred bidder to take over the operation of the Highworth Recreation Centre within the expected terms set out in paragraph 3.41 of the joint report and a one-off budgeted sum of up to £175,000 be provided by the Council towards agreed backlog maintenance works to facilitate the transfer.

            (6) That the Director of Law and Democratic Services be authorised, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Corporate, Customer and Digital Services, the Board Director, Service Delivery, and the Board Director, Resources to complete all necessary documentation to transfer the Council’s interest in the Highworth Recreation Centre building on a lease to the Highworth Recreation Trust, which will facilitate the transfer of operations and staff to the preferred bidder, on such terms he considers appropriate to protect the Council’s interests.

            (7) That it be noted that:

            (a) The Council expects to deliver services within the overall cash limit for 2015/16;

            (b) The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2016/17 has yet to be published and therefore the funding assumptions in the joint report contain levels of uncertainty;

            (c) The current gap between the assumed funding levels for 2016/17 and the current proposed cost of services, as set out in Table Three of the joint report, and that work is continuing to identify further options to close this gap for consideration by Members once actual funding levels are confirmed and before the Final Budget is recommended to Council;

            (d) The implications for the Council’s Budget 2016/17 of the proposals affecting the Locality Fund, as set out in paragraph 3.38 of the joint report;

            (e) The impact on minority groups has been considered for all savings proposals and a full Diversity Impact Assessment has been undertaken where an impact was perceived;

            (f) The tax base for 2016/17 will be 69,545.8 and the estimated Council share of the Council Tax Collection Fund surplus used to support the 2016/17 Budget will be £1.462m and the deficit share for Business Rates will be £0.250m; and

            (g) Work continues to be progressed on those aspects of the Change Programmes previously reported to and endorsed by Cabinet and where previous Cabinet decisions give the necessary authority to do so.

            (8) That the Budget virements, as set out in Appendix 4 of the joint report, be approved.

            (9) That the proposed Council Fees and Charges increases for specific areas, as set out in Appendix 5 of the joint report, be approved, and that all other fees and charges be increased by 3%.

            (10) That the Local Council Tax Support (Reduction) Scheme in 2016/17 be unchanged from that for 2015/16, apart from the annual increases in allowances, applicable amounts and non-dependant deductions, which will be increased in line with the national scheme.

            (11) That one-off funding of £2m be earmarked from specific Council reserves to support the implementation and cashflowing of the 2016/17 Budget proposals.

            (12) That those new Budget proposals that do not directly affect front-line services be implemented by officers at the earliest opportunity, including undertaking consultation with staff where appropriate.

            (13) That consultation commences for Budget proposals affecting front-line services with the outcome of that consultation being reported to Cabinet in February 2016 prior to considering the final Budget to be recommended to Council.

            The reasons for the decision and alternative options are as set out in the report to the meeting.