Issue - meetings

This report presents the 2010/11 budget proposals for Leisure and Culture.

RESOLVED:

(i)         That it be confirmed that the budget proposals are in line with the Council’s priorities.

(ii)        That the report be referred to the Executive for consideration

(iii)       That the written and verbal representations made to the Executive Member be taken into consideration when the Executive considers the final budget proposals.

(iv)       That officers consider alternate ways to support community arts provision in the city, in consultation with staff and other interested parties, in the event that this saving proposal needs to be taken.

REASON:

As part of the consultation on the Leisure and Culture budget for 2010-11.

The Executive Member considered a report which presented the 2010-11 budget proposals for Leisure and Culture including:

• The revenue budget for 2009-10 to show the original budgets;
• The base budget for 2010-11 including the 2009-10 budget rolled forward and adjusted;
• The cost of pay and price increases, increments and settlement of pay and grading appeals for the portfolio;
• Budget service pressure costs and savings proposals for the portfolio area; and
• Fees and Charges proposals.

The Director of Learning, Culture and Children’s Services thanked everybody for their verbal and written representations and advised that these would be taken into consideration. He explained that, due to the current economic situation, levels of funding to the authority had reduced and, due to huge statutory pressures within the directorate, it was necessary to make a distinction between statutory and non statutory services. In response to comments made by the Unison representative about a lack of consultation, he advised that they were still at the consultation stage.

In respect of the savings proposals listed in annex 3 to the report, the  Assistant Director (Lifelong Learning and Culture) stated that, wherever possible, cuts had been avoided and significant targets for generating additional income had been included, however they had to look at solutions that did not impact on service delivery and frontline staffing. He confirmed that now they had the opportunity to talk to users and staff affected. In respect of bowling green maintenance he advised that he would talk to the groups affected about taking on the maintenance themselves including looking at what the cost would be to them for the Council to provide the services.

The Finance Manager advised that this was a challenging year in which to produce a balanced budget and confirmed that pay increases and general inflation had been kept to a bare minimum. He advised that, other than the teachers pay award which had been set by Central Government and a few budgets with known contractual agreements, most budgets have been frozen or would reduce by 5%.

The Executive Member reiterated that officers were faced with the consequences of a worldwide recession with both national and local government facing touch decisions in prioritising funding and explained that it was essential that the Council concentrated its available resources on its core functions, statutory services and front line delivery. He explained that, even with an extra investment of a further £1.5m into the Children’s Social Care Budget which was required to manage the significant challenges around safety of children and the increase in numbers of children coming into care, in order to maintain cores standards, savings must be made across the department. 

The Executive Member drew attention to the positive aspects within the budget proposals including the continued funding of the Park Ranger services, funding for the archive manager post from within the core revenue budget and additional funding to continue the community sports coach programme. He added that  the proposed budget would see almost £800,000 invested in arts and culture within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18