Issue - meetings

This report sets out proposals for sustaining the More for York programme team over an extended period, to respond to the Comprehensive Spending Review and the 7.1% per annum cut in central government funding over the next four years, and presents a new structure for the Office of the Chief Executive.

RECOMMENDED:(i) That the Venture Fund be re-profiled as set out in Annex 1 to the report.

REASON:      To repay the Venture Fund for work undertaken to deliver Easy@york Phase 2 and More for York Phase 1.

(ii)That approval be given to the ongoing use of £600k savings generated from More for York in 2011/12 to fund the More for York programme team as part of the Office of the Chief Executive.

REASON:      To fund a programme team to deliver £50m savings over four years.

Members considered a report which set out proposals for sustaining the More for York programme team over an extended period, in order to respond to the Comprehensive Spending Review and the cut in central government funding, and presented a new structure for the Office of the Chief Executive (OCE).

The push to reduce the national budget deficit, and the announcement of a 7.1% cut in central government grant, meant that savings in the region of £50m would now be required during the period 2010-2015.  The More for York programme would be essential in delivering these savings, thus requiring investment to re-base the budget for the programme’s team by:

• Revising the Venture Fund repayment schedule over the next 7 years, with annual repayments of £100k, as set out in Annex 1 to the report;
• Investing £600k of the £8m+ savings to be generated by the programme in 2011/12.

As part of the Organisation Review, the OCE was being re-shaped to make it more streamlined and effective.  Services were being reviewed to ensure that the focus of the teams was on delivering savings and value to the customer-facing services.  The proposal was to revise the structure to create three teams - Strategy Partnerships & Communications, Performance & Business Change, and a Commercial Procurement Hub.  This would reduce the establishment by 13.1 FTE posts, delivering a cost reduction of over £638k.  Details of the current and proposed structures were set out in Annex 2.  Members were invited to note and comment on the revised structure.

Having noted the comments of the Labour Group Spokespersons on this item, it was

RECOMMENDED:(i) That the Venture Fund be re-profiled as set out in Annex 1 to the report.

REASON:      To repay the Venture Fund for work undertaken to deliver Easy@york Phase 2 and More for York Phase 1.

(ii)That approval be given to the ongoing use of £600k savings generated from More for York in 2011/12 to fund the More for York programme team as part of the Office of the Chief Executive.

REASON:      To fund a programme team to deliver £50m savings over four years.