Issue - meetings

Report by the Chief Executive.

37.1     The Chief Executive introduced the report. The report highlights the savings proposals for 2018/19 for the services that are within the remit of the Committee (pages 112 – 115) and provides the Committee with the opportunity to consider whether there is any further information it would like presented to the RPPR Board in December. This is to ensure the Committee is sighted on the proposals and is aware of the opportunities to engage with the budget setting process. The Committee’s RPPR Board is invited to make comments on the budget proposals, which will be included in the budget Cabinet meeting papers in January 2018.

37.2     At the September Audit, Best Value and Community Services (ABVCS) meeting, the Committee requested further information on income generation work (commercialisation) and an update on the Property Investments Strategy. This information will be presented to the RPPR Board, together with the revised draft Portfolio Plans and Savings Plans, at the meeting which is being held on the 12 December 2017 after Cabinet.

37.3     The Committee discussed whether it should be setting criteria for savings. The Senior Democratic Services Advisor clarified that the purpose of the RPPR Board was to focus on the savings proposals for the services within the remit of the Committee; examine the impacts of the savings and; propose any areas for further investigation where savings could be made. The ABVCS Scrutiny Committee has two functions; one as an audit committee which examines the governance arrangements for the Council and; the other as a scrutiny committee which scrutinises a range of services centred around back office functions, corporate and community services.

37.4     The Committee asked whether the impact assessment in the savings plans related to the impact on services or the impact on residents. The Chief Executive clarified that the impact assessment is based on impact of the savings proposals on residents of East Sussex. As part of the RPPR process the Committee will form views and make comments on the savings proposals to feed into the budget setting process.

37.5     The Committee noted the information in the Treasury Management report and identified that it may wish to examine the possibility of longer term investment for some of the money the Council holds for longer term reserves. The Committee added that if it is considering a review of the approach to investment in the Treasury Management Strategy, it should also consider this alongside property investment and the Property Investment Strategy.

37.6     The Committee confirmed that it was happy with information provided for the RPPR process and acknowledged the role it has in looking at back office savings to support front line services.

37.7     The Committee RESOLVED to note the report and investigate further whether there are opportunities to change the approach to investments under the Treasury Management Strategy.

A report by the Chief Executive.

30.1     The Director of CET introduced the report and described the corporate position. For CET, the savings required for 2018/19 mainly come from libraries, grass cutting and waste services. The Committee has established a Review Board to examine the opportunities to make savings through the waste contract and the operation of the household waste recycling sites (HWRS). There is also a ‘task and finish’ Review Board looking at proposals for savings in highway grass cutting. The Director noted the important role Scrutiny has in shaping the savings proposals and examining impacts.

Savings plan

30.2     The Committee commented there were some uncertainties around the savings targets, and that it was not altogether clear whether all the proposed savings will be achieved. For the Libraries Transformation Programme the projected savings are £653,000 against a target of £750,000 if the draft Libraries Strategic Commissioning Strategy is implemented.

30.3     The Waste service has a savings target of £800,000. Work so far suggests some of the savings could be achieved from the review of the contract, and the balance from charging for non-household waste. There is some uncertainty around the potential income from charging, and it may be necessary to examine other ways of achieving savings.

30.4     The Director of CET responded that some uncertainty is inherent in the savings process corporately, but there is a need to include savings targets for planning purposes. If there is a shortfall, the department will have to look at how to plug any savings gap across the rest of the department before looking at the shortfall corporately.

Parking

30.5     The Committee asked if the parking surplus is an area that could be looked at in order to support the savings targets.  The Director of CET outlined that the shortfall in funding for concessionary fares is already being met from the parking surplus. The Assistant Director, Operations added that the parking surplus will also have to pay for the replacement of parking meters. This work is out to tender at present and it is estimated that it will cost around £2 million over the next five years. The Committee requested further information of what is being proposed for the parking meter replacement programme. The Assistant Director, Operations agreed to provide the Committee with further details after the meeting.

30.6     The Committee asked if there is scope to review or increase parking charges. The Assistant Director, Operations provided some background to the current charging levels and reminded the Committee that ESCC could not set charges to make a profit. The County Council must use any surplus over and above operating costs for transport related schemes. He explained that ESCC was also discussing the introduction of civil parking enforcement schemes with Wealden and Rother District Councils.

Savings Requirements for Future Years

30.7     The Director of CET explained that the department may need to find a further £1 million to £1.5 million of savings in future years. It is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve further savings. The Committee discussed the potential savings  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30