Lancashire County Council’s Director of Finance has been invited to discuss the County Council’s Budget proposals for 2011/12.
Minutes:
The Panel received a verbal presentation from Gill Kilpatrick, the County Council’s Director for Resources on the County Council’s Revenue Budget and Capital Investment Proposals for 2011/12. At the meeting members were given a summary of the proposals to accompany the verbal presentation.
The Director for Resources thanked the Panel for the invitation and advised that she would ensure that any comments regarding the budget proposals would be fed back to the County Council’s Cabinet at its next meeting. The Panel were advised that the County Council’s budget was facing similar issues and processes to those occurring at the city Council. The County Council anticipated having to make £179M in savings over the next 3 years, which represented a reduction of one quarter of the annual budget. The reasons for this were reduction in funding from central government and significant increases in costs.
Members were advised that the County Council’s cabinet’s overriding priority was to protect vulnerable members of the community.
It was noetd that the County Council’s Cabinet had resolved to maximise the ‘below the line’ savings which would reduce the management and administration costs of the Council, without impacting on services. Over a three year period ‘below the line’ savings were estimated to generate over £55M. Savings from service efficiencies were estimated at approximately £12M over the same period of time.
It was proposed that reductions in services would amount to approximately £97M, and would affect a broad range of services and areas. The Director for Resources outlined some of the more significant proposals in detail, including working with the private sector to negotiate social care fee reductions, and it was advised that the County Council currently paid one of the highest rates in the North West. It was also proposed that the Fair Access to Care eligibility be amended, and that care would no longer be available for those assessed as having ‘moderate’ needs.
The Panel were advised of the proposals relating to libraries staff and service rationalisation. It was reported that the intention was not to close libraries, but to move towards self service and attempt to recruit more volunteers.
The Director for Resources discussed the proposals relating to Children and Young People. It was advised that there were a number of proposals which affected shape of services for young people and the Panel were given details regarding some of these proposals.
Following the verbal presentation, the County Council’s Director for Resources answered extensive questions from the Panel and stakeholders. The issued raised by the Panel and stakeholders were:
· Reduction in public transport information and removal of Real Time information service.
· The future of Sure Start Children’s Centres.
· The potential cost of the M6 Link Road.
· Regarding Transforming Care Services - the reduction in the number of authority residential places for children and young people.
· The change in assessment of care needs for the elderly, including the proposal to remove all services for those assessed as having ‘moderate’ needs.
· The rationale behind the reductions in service for Children and Young People given the number of difficulties facing children and young people in the district.
· Given the proposals that no front line staff would be made redundant, how was front line to be defined for this purpose?
· The high dependency of Lancaster District on public sector employment, and the impact that a reduction of public sector jobs could have for young people in the district.
· The proposals relating to revised charging policy for day centre care for the elderly.
· The proposed reduction in specialist Special Educational Needs and Disability Transport (SEND).
The Director for Resources advised that she would ensure that these comments would be fed back to the County Council’s Cabinet.
Resolved:
(1) That the Director for Finance, Gill Kilpatrick be thanked for her presentation.