Today the Scrutiny Committee will be considering proposals for the County Council Budget for the 2014/15 financial year.
The plan is to save £38m, out of the £156m 'budget gap' that must be closed over the next four. Over 20 different recommendations have been made. The main areas where savings might be made include benefits from the new Energy from Waste Plant at Great Blakenham (£9m); savings from Adult and Community Services (£5.4m); termination of the Council’s agreement with BT in the areas of IT, HR, finance and public access (£6.4m); cutting capital spending (£4m); reviewing Supporting People services (£2m) and reviewing the operation of Children’s Centres (£1.5m).
To understand fully the detailed situation with regard to the County Council’s financial position you can click on:-
and follow the link to the papers for the Scrutiny Committee for 23rd October. This 36 page evidence report gives a very lucid exposition of the challenge faced by the Council. Further details about the savings plans for next year can be found under Scrutiny Committee papers for today, Thursday 21st November.
With many of the 'easier' options exhausted, making the savings next year will be difficult. Rising to the challenge of saving a lot more in later years will be impossible without either causing significant damage to front line services or adopting a strategically based approach to the problem. This is what lies behind the announcement yesterday that more is to be done to co-operate to share services with Norfolk County Council. More details on this will be available in due course.
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