Issue - meetings

Capital Programme Update

Meeting: 27/07/2020 - Corporate Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel (Item 19)

19 Capital Programme Update pdf icon PDF 104 KB

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Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director of Finance & S151 Officer introduced this item to the Panel alongside the Programme Director for Bath Enterprise Area/Zone. He stated that a rephasing of the programme took place early on in the crisis, especially during April and May when projects had to be paused due to restrictions in place.

 

He said that the Capital Strategy Group sets out the officer governance for managing the Capital review and providing oversight of the Capital programme.

 

The Programme Director for Bath Enterprise Area/Zone said that with 168 lines of project activity the approach that has been taken was to try to deliver as much as possible with reduced revenue impact on the Council. He added that a number of projects have had to be deferred or delayed.

 

Councillor Matt McCabe asked two questions on behalf of Councillor Lucy Hodge who had given her apologies for the meeting. He said that Councillor Hodge had noted that in all portfolios there are savings proposed through vacancy management (274 K (Resources), 270K (Children’s services), 16K (Climate Emergency and Neighbourhoods), £155k (Housing) and 99K (Communities)) – totalling £814K. In addition, £2.84 million of salary budget savings are to be found within Resources, specifically.

 

He added that Councillor Hodge was concerned that there is little further detail other than that all savings on staffing costs will be achieved “without compromising service delivery”.  

 

For example, within Children services, she was aware from personal experience that 40K of the savings was due to not recruiting to the director of music services post. She could confirm that this has already had a significant impact on the level of service provided.

 

Yet through the scrutiny process we have no idea of the detail relating to over £3.6 million of lost or deferred posts. The CEO’s response at last Committee informed us that as c. £82 million of a c. £200 million budget was attributable to staffing costs, cuts were inevitable but no further detail was forthcoming.

 

She asked how we can be assured of this without any information on where the cuts will be made.

 

The Director of Finance & S151 Officer replied that all current vacancies are being held to contribute towards the recovery plans have been proposed by the relevant Director and their services managers to ensure services can continue to be delivered. New recruitment requests are being corporately co-ordinated considering service need and impact.

 

Councillor Matt McCabe said that Councillor Hodge had noted that within the savings offered up by Adults Services, line RP20 - Review of Care Package Delivery, states that “a review of existing packages to identify efficiencies” will deliver £1.312 million of savings.

 

He said that Councillor Hodge had received a narrative response that a 2018/19 review of care packages for 18 – 64 year olds with learning and mental health problems, and those for older patients, had found our costs per package to be high and this forms the basis for proposing savings.

 

She asked what percentage of the total  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19

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