Agenda item

1.1

The Chair of the East Local Area Partnership, Councillor Pat Midgley, and the Leader of the Council, Councillor Julie Dore welcomed members of the public to the meeting. Councillor Dore commented that this was the fourth year of the Cabinet in the Community meetings. They had been introduced as it was recognised that members of the public often did not get the opportunity to meet and speak to Cabinet Members within their local area.

1.2

Councillor Dore added that one of the biggest decisions currently facing the Council was to agree a budget for the 2015/16 financial year. By next year the council’s main Government grant will have been cut by over 50% since 2010 and the Council were facing difficult decisions as to how to manage the budget cut, as they were faced with making a further £60 million of cuts next year.

1.3

Councillor Ben Curran, Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, then provided an overview of the impact of the budget cuts on the City. Across the Council Equality Impact Assessments were being maintained to assess the impact of decisions on all groups which was no longer a legal requirement but the administration believed it was important to try and mitigate the impact of decisions as much as possible.

1.4

The Council Tax support scheme was being maintained at 23% whereas most Council’s around the country were making cuts in this area. It was acknowledged that, in the light of the budget cuts, the Council could not protect everybody for everything but were working hard to mitigate the impact.

1.5

In terms of health, better partnership working with colleagues at the NHS was helping to mitigate the impact. The Better Care Fund would limit the cost of health provision by assisting people to stay in their homes. The care package which people received was also being reviewed to see whether a more efficient service could be provided.

1.6

Regarding transport, the contribution to the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive had been reduced. There had been better partnership working across culture, sports and leisure. However, those who benefited from the services needed to contribute to ensure the services were maintained. Smarter working had been developed between departments and public realms merged. Savings were being negotiated on many contracts and detailed consultation would be undertaken where changes were made.

1.7

In Children, Young People and Families more work was being undertaken on a regional level such as Youth Justice. The Cabinet Member, Councillor Jackie Drayton, was reviewing the Short Breaks and Respite Services. Schools had been relatively protected from the cuts.

1.8

The libraries review had received a lot of positive feedback. There were few authorities across the country who had managed to keep all their libraries open. There had been an extensive consultation before the final decision was taken and many libraries had remained open with longer opening hours.

1.9

The Council would continue to protect services where it could. Although a 1.99% increase in Council Tax was proposed for the forthcoming year this was on the back of a freeze for the past four years.