To consider any requests received in accordance with Standing Orders.
Minutes:
Sean Fox addressed the Cabinet in his role as chair of the employee side and set out the Unions concerns about the scale and nature of the budget reductions and the affect they would have on the communities in the borough. In particular, the Unions raised on behalf of their members, concerns about:
· Black and ethnic minority communities, women, and the lower paid. The EQIA was indicating a disproportionate impact of the savings on these groups and in turn the unions felt there would also be an impact on vulnerable service users.
· Staff - 633 positions would be affected over three years by the proposed savings .The workforce plan was indicating likely future changes to the voluntary redundancy policy and the intention of this caveat was questionable. An unacceptable voluntary reduction policy would test industrial relations.
· Savings proposed to the Adult Services and Children’s Services which indicated a stop in direct services with a deliberate reliance on the private sector to provide services which the council, in this area had not been successful with, in the past.
· Apparent scaling back of children centres which would affect vulnerable families.
· Reduction in Youth Services which the Unions felt had already been significantly reduced in the past and would have an impact on community tensions.
· The future of Pendarren House which was a long running school and youth resort
· Frontline services and vulnerable services users.
The Employee side recommended stopping the use of consultants and finding more internal solutions by instead working with existing staff and also bringing the ALMO back in house.
In accordance with committee procedure rules, the Leader asked Cabinet Members to put forward questions to the deputation.
The Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration reminded the Employee’s side that the council did not have any control over making the required £70m budget reduction which was due to Central Government reduction in funding. Children’s and Adults services were the biggest spending areas of the council’s budget and would inevitably be part of budget reduction proposals He asked what alternatives/suggestions the Employee side could put forward to making the required reductions. In response the employee side that they were putting forward the concerns of their members and the community and had already highlighted their alternative actions at the end of their presentation.
The Leader further responded to the points raised in the deputation. There were large parts of the budget proposals which the Cabinet had no pleasure in putting forward but there had already been £117m of budget reductions over the last 4 years and there were no palatable reductions left. There was also a need to keep available in the council’s financial resources some flexibility for the council transform and make the necessary service changes so that the council does not manage decline . The Leader reiterated that the council could not set a deficit budget as some other public agencies and neither could they go forward with a yearly budget exercise. Bringing together the corporate plan, workforce plan and three year budget plan allowed the council to provide an idea of what the council will look like in three years time and the journey to get there on a three year trajectory, this was a prudent course of action and gave more choice to the council and its services in the future.
There were no impact free proposals as there will be no package that doesn’t impact on communities and staff. The Leader gave a commitment to work together with the Unions and to have focus on the residents of the borough.
The Cabinet Member for Resources and Culture re- iterated that the Cabinet did not take any delight in the reductions but the national economic policy had forced the council into this position. There were a number of different decisions to take regarding the budget which would lead to job losses but the Cabinet would work with the Unions on limiting the negative impact of the reductions.
The council’s aim was to work with community organisations in an effective way, taking into consideration outcomes, using external expertise where appropriate to make sure the council go beyond the traditional savings method of ‘salami slicing’. The Cabinet Member for Resources and Culture underlined that before consultants were recruited there was a requirement to have a robust business case, outlining the difference that they will make to the organisation.
The Cabinet Member for Resources and Culture undertook to work with the unions in an open and collaborative way and despite the difficult situations facing the borough; the Cabinet will aim to make decisions that will leave the authority in a better way.