RESOLVED:

1.    That the draft deferred savings/income  proposals (Appendix 4) put forward by officers be agreed and referred to the Overview and Scrutiny panels and Commission in January 2021 for consideration and comment.

2.    That the savings and the associated draft equalities analyses for the savings noted in November (Appendices 3 and 5) be agreed.

3.    That the draft Capital Programme 2021-2025 be agreed and referred to the Overview and Scrutiny panels and Commission in January 2021 for consideration and comment.

4.    That the proposed Council Tax Base for 2021/22 set out in paragraph 2.6 and Appendix 1 be agreed.

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented the report which set out the draft Business Plan 2021-25 and thanked the Chair and Members of the Commission for their response and their flexibility.  He welcomed the endorsement of the approach to separate the last of the “austerity” cuts from those savings the Council may be forced to make as a result of Covid.  The Council would not know the extent of the savings to be made until just before Christmas when the financial settlement would be announced.

The Cabinet Member addressed the savings raised by the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission in his presentation and advised that the Equality Analyses of those savings were now available.  There were no new savings proposed in the business plan due to strategy to separate out Covid and non-Covid savings, however there were draft Equality Analyses for all savings appended to the Plan.  Officers were still assessing the impact of the recent Government spending review.  The overall gap had reduced to just under £12m however this would have a significant impact on services if the Council was required to make those savings and the Council would await the final settlement figure due just before Christmas.  There had been a slight change in the timetable to reflect that further savings would not be known until that final settlement figure had been announced and therefore additional meetings of both scrutiny and Cabinet had been scheduled to ensure full oversight.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for his presentation and the officers involved.

The Director of Corporate Services advised that further detail was expected with the financial settlement and the assumptions would be revised with further work carried out on the impacts of any savings proposed.  Further advice was awaited on the public sector pay freeze and which staff would be affected.

The Chair echoed the comments and emphasised that Council officers should be paid the same as other public sector workers in recognition of their work on the front line in the pandemic.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Education welcomed the discussion on the proposed savings at the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel and advised that the impact on partners would be looked at but residents must be prioritised and the emphasis should be maintaining and protecting services to vulnerable parents and children.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health recognised that the proposed savings could cause concern and hoped that the Equality Analyses helped to address some of those concerns.  The review of day centre provision would be subject to consultation and an assessment of need and the dementia service would be recommissioned with less of a focus on a physical building and more on how the service can best be delivered in the community, with more of a focus on outreach, subject to consultation.

The Director of Community and Housing advised that the children centres saving was proposed for 2022/23 which would give time to review the buildings and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7