Agenda item

Shared Services

It was moved by Councillor Andrew Sangar, seconded by Councillor Colin Ross, that this Council:-

(a)       stresses that a time when budgets are reducing the Administration need to work innovatively and find ways of doing things differently;

(b)       notes that there are clear financial benefits to be delivered from sharing services with other local authorities and highlights in particular:

(i)         the Tri-borough initiative in London which aims to save £40 million by 2015-16;

(ii)        the joint working of Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, which achieved savings of £3.79 million in its first full year; and

(iii)       the co-operation between Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire, which achieved staff savings of £3.9 million in the first two years of sharing services;

(c)        notes research from the Local Government Association that shows there are only fifteen shared services projects in Yorkshire & Humber compared to sixty-four in the East Midlands;

(d)       recalls the main opposition group’s budget amendment, which was signed off by finance officers with a modest savings target for shared services, but confirms that the potential for savings is far greater;

(e)       regrets that despite consistent calls from opposition councillors the current Administration have failed to deliver significant savings from additional shared services;

(f)        believes the current Administration simply prefer to blame someone else, rather than looking to more innovative ways of reducing costs; and

(g)       calls upon the Chief Executive to hold an immediate review into the potential for shared services, which will report back to this Council within three months.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Ben Curran, seconded by Councillor Cate McDonald, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the substitution of the following words therefor:--

(a)       regrets that the reason that “budgets are reducing” is that the Government are making unprecedented cuts to the Council’s budget and by 2015/16 the Council will have had an overall reduction in Government formula funding by 50%;

(b)       confirms that since this Government came to power, the Council has had to make savings of over £230 million with more cuts to come in future years and regrets that at the same time as Sheffield has to make these savings some of the wealthiest areas of the country receive just a fraction of the cuts;

(c)        welcomes that the present Administration have attempted to deal with this unprecedented budget gap as far as possible through finding efficiencies within the Council including:

(i)     reducing spending on computers and technology by 30%;

(ii)    reducing the number of offices occupied by the Council, saving £34 million;

(iii)  reducing staff in corporate services, for example the finance department’s budget has already been cut by 45% since 2010/11; and

(iv)  saving £1 million through a review of senior management in addition to the management savings that are made year upon year;

(d)       resolves to continue to work innovatively to make savings that reduce the impact of cuts on front line services, however, regrets that the level of cuts that the Government have made to the Council’s budget means it is not possible to achieve the savings targets through efficiencies alone and believes it is impossible to take the amount of money the Government is cutting from the Council without impacting on front line services;

(e)       recalls that when the previous Administration entered into a shared service with Rotherham Council for the Emergency Planning Service, there was an increase in costs not a reduction and is shocked at the hypocrisy of the main opposition group who criticise the present Administration for not reducing costs through sharing services, when they increased costs through sharing services, not reduced them;

(f)        notes that despite claiming that their budget would save money through sharing services, the main opposition group failed to identify a single service where savings could be made through this practice and fears that like all of the policies of the main opposition group when you “read the small print” you discover the gap between the rhetoric and the reality; and

(g)       resolves to continue to do everything to make savings to reduce the impact of cuts on front line services as the Council continues to deal with the unprecedented and unfair cuts imposed by the Government, however, will take no lessons from the main opposition group who have not put forward a single service that could be shared.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-

RESOLVED:  That this Council:-

(a)       regrets that the reason that “budgets are reducing” is that the Government are making unprecedented cuts to the Council’s budget and by 2015/16 the Council will have had an overall reduction in Government formula funding by 50%;

(b)       confirms that since this Government came to power, the Council has had to make savings of over £230 million with more cuts to come in future years and regrets that at the same time as Sheffield has to make these savings some of the wealthiest areas of the country receive just a fraction of the cuts;

(c)        welcomes that the present Administration have attempted to deal with this unprecedented budget gap as far as possible through finding efficiencies within the Council including:

(i)            reducing spending on computers and technology by 30%;

(ii)          reducing the number of offices occupied by the Council, saving £34 million;

(iii)         reducing staff in corporate services, for example the finance department’s budget has already been cut by 45% since 2010/11; and

(iv)         saving £1 million through a review of senior management in addition to the management savings that are made year upon year;

(d)       resolves to continue to work innovatively to make savings that reduce the impact of cuts on front line services, however, regrets that the level of cuts that the Government have made to the Council’s budget means it is not possible to achieve the savings targets through efficiencies alone and believes it is impossible to take the amount of money the Government is cutting from the Council without impacting on front line services;

(e)       recalls that when the previous Administration entered into a shared service with Rotherham Council for the Emergency Planning Service, there was an increase in costs not a reduction and is shocked at the hypocrisy of the main opposition group who criticise the present Administration for not reducing costs through sharing services, when they increased costs through sharing services, not reduced them;

(f)        notes that despite claiming that their budget would save money through sharing services, the main opposition group failed to identify a single service where savings could be made through this practice and fears that like all of the policies of the main opposition group when you “read the small print” you discover the gap between the rhetoric and the reality; and

(g)       resolves to continue to do everything to make savings to reduce the impact of cuts on front line services as the Council continues to deal with the unprecedented and unfair cuts imposed by the Government, however, will take no lessons from the main opposition group who have not put forward a single service that could be shared.

(Councillors Jillian Creasy and Robert Murphy voted for Paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) and abstained on Paragraphs (e), (f) and (g) of the Substantive Motion and asked for this to be recorded.)