Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Customer Services will give an update on the implementation of his priorities for this municipal year.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Customer Services attended the meeting and provided an end of year update together with details of his priorities for the forthcoming year.

He reported the main areas of interest as:

Budget 2014/15

A balanced budget had been delivered in February for 2013/14 and a 2 year budget had been set which would deliver significant reductions. He referred to increasing future challenges and to lessons learnt which meant that a stronger watching brief would be kept on budgets to ensure that they did not go off track.

Rewiring of Public Services

It was confirmed that the Rewiring of Public Services currently being undertaken would tie in with the national programme, with the main focus being on transformation. He outlined the key areas being examined as business efficiency, community and resident engagement, placed based services, Children’s and Adults Social Care and Young People’s Services. As lead Cabinet Member for the programme he would be the single point of contact for each of these work streams.

Customer Service

With a number of recent changes to the benefits system having had a much greater affect than had been anticipated, he acknowledged that there had been delays in dealing with claims although these were now back on track. The priority in this area for the forthcoming year was to improve the quality of the service. Work was also ongoing to provide online residents parking forms in order to provide an improved service at a reduced cost.

Financial Inclusion

With the co-location of services in West Offices this had greatly assisted with partnership working. The York Financial Assistance Scheme had been set up to help residents in genuine financial hardship and provided up to 3 grants over a 12 month period. Further promotion of the scheme was required and a review would be undertaken on which member’s comments were welcomed.

Customer Service

The Cabinet Member referred to the extensive work undertaken in the Customer Services department to improve customer response times. Following an inspection by the Department of Work and Pensions this work had been recognised nationally in a case study. 

Members thanked the Cabinet Member for his report and went on to question a number of areas including:

·        The need for cross party involvement with the transformation and change work being undertaken, particularly in relation to rural areas. The Cabinet Member acknowledged that further input would be welcomed.

·        Work around early intervention would be required to ensure improvements in Adult Social Care, however much of this was not delivered in-house. The Cabinet Member again acknowledged these comments and confirmed the need to examine how this worked in other authorities. Services could involve a mix of bodies, including those in-house.

·        Reference to completion of service forms and the need to ensure that this could be undertaken by all Customer Service personnel.

·        Concerns at the loss of the Head of Children’s Services and the need to ensure that work in this area did not lose its priority and monitoring.

·        With the creation of the Yorkshire Purchasing Association as a Limited Company it was essential that the new board comprised of both Members and Officers to provide both a financial and monitoring role. The Cabinet Member confirmed the need for board members to have business and financial expertise.

Following further discussion it was

Resolved:           That the Cabinet Members report be received and noted.

Reason:              To provide the Committee with an update on the implementation of his priorities for the municipal year.