Agenda item

The report set out the draft revenue budget and capital programme of Central Services (comprising both Deputy Chief Executive’s Office and the Finance & Business Services Directorate) for 2011/12, along with indicative projections for the following three years.

Members were informed that the Council was looking to make significant savings of £22m. This saving target included an additional savings target of £2m for Area Based Grant (ABG) funded services which was added following the post election budget when a £3.6m in year cut was imposed by central government, and also included a £3.8m worsening of the estimated formula grant funding for 2011/12 caused by the front loading of savings.

The total savings for DCEO and F & BS was £4.151m. The development of savings proposals concentrated on more efficient delivery methods and the new operating model and focused on cores services. Front line services were not affected and as far as possible there would be no impact on the residents of the Borough.

Deputy Chief Executive’s Office

The key financial issues were:

·        DECO would continue to play a key role in developing a strong and robust core strategic support function for the Council and providing resources to carry out the transformation that would come out of Business Improvement Delivery (BID) reviews

·        The outcomes of BID reviews in 2010/11 had resulted in the centralisation and unification of a number of common functions such as the HR function, the Policy and Performance function and the addition of the Audit and Enforcement role

·        Hillingdon Homes had been incorporated back into the Council which had impacted on a number of services within DCEO

·        A number of significant restructurings had taken place with HR, Legal Services, the combining of the Registration of Electors and Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages Team under one manager, the combining of the Policy and Performance Teams which had resulted in the deletion of one Head of Service post, and the Corporate Communications Service

·        The reduction in ABG funding has had a major impact and has required a number of significant reviews of service provision in the Policy and Performance teams and the Learning and Development team

·        The outcome of the review of voluntary sector grants had resulted in savings proposals of £296k

Issues raised by Members were:

·        London Borough Grants Scheme – The current draft Development and Risk Contingency included this item which could generate a saving of £429k, subject to a majority agreement by the London Councils. Hillingdon would receive a share of this

·        Restructurings – It was re-iterated that as far as possible front line services to residents would be protected and these restructurings had contributed around £2m in savings. Efficiencies had resulted in better print management, the Training budget etc

·        Democratic Services and Legal Services – The restructurings in these service areas would not mean a reduction in service. In relation to Democratic Services, Electoral Services and Registrars had merged which had resulted in the loss of a manager post. Staff would be multi-skilled in both service area disciplines which would improve efficiencies  

·        BID – It was difficult for Members to understand this as the structure of Teams and their functions was not fully understood by Members

·        Health and Safety training savings – Officers reported this was about getting the Council the best outcome at the best price for these courses. Courses now took place when full and to those officers who required the training as a statutory requirement of their post

·        Corporate Communications - The savings of £220k in this area had resulted from an in-depth review of the team which would result in a number of posts being deleted. The services provided would be rationalised and focus would take place on the top priorities of this Council

Finance & Business Services Directorate

The key financial issues were:

·        F & BS would continue to play a key role in developing a strong and robust core strategic support function for the Council and providing resources to carry out the transformation that would come out of Business Improvement Delivery (BID) reviews

·        The main drivers for delivering efficiencies and savings would be through a planned investment in ICT, which would be developed through the Single Development Plan and a full review of all financial systems and processes

·        The outcomes of a number of BID reviews had resulted in the centralisation and unification of services such as ICT, Debtors and Creditors, the transfer of Business Services into the Directorate, Procurement and P2P teams and transferring out of the Internal Audit function and Business Support Services team

·        Hillingdon Homes had been incorporated back into the Council which had impacted on services within the Directorate

·        Restructurings had taken place within ICT, the Revenues services, Debtors and Creditors, the transferring in of Business Services

·        The Directorate included the Contact Centre where there was a continuing programme of service migration and the development of more effective and efficient technology to manage the contact the Council had with residents

Issues raised by Members were:

·        Internal Audit transfer to DCEO- This was welcomed and the service also included an Enforcement role which included the Housing Benefit Fraud team 

·        Under the proposed changes to the Revenue Budget 2011/12 for the Directorate “Corporate Items” of £530k was as a result of the non-payment of Local Area Agreement award grants

·        Savings on the cost of External Audit would deliver a saving of £71k – This was the saving for the first year and Members noted the high costs of the Council’s External Auditors

·        Retendering of the Insurance contract would deliver Directorate savings of £116k – This was being achieved through better management of the Council’s claims by having higher excesses and by putting aside monies for potential claims.

·        Cessation of Team Bonus fund – Staff at the Staff Road shows agreed that the Team Bonus fund be discontinued as it was felt that it was inappropriate to award staff bonuses when the Council was having to make huge savings 

·        Contact Centre – Members emphasised the importance of this service to all users and officers reported that the direction of travel of the service was to get service levels better. Progress of performance was monitored.

The Chairman thanked officers for their attendance and for answering Member’s questions. 

Members noted that as part of the budget consultation process, this Committee would consider all other Policy Overview Committee comments on their service areas, at a meeting to be held on 9 February 2011, before submitting all Policy Overview comments on the budget to the Cabinet.      

Resolved –

1.      That the budget projections put forward by Central Services be noted.