Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed all members to the meeting.

Apologies received from Cllr Brook.

To note any declarations of interest from the Councillors.  They are asked to indicate the relevant agenda item, the nature of the interest and in particular whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Any declarations of interest made at the meeting which is not on the register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion.

There were no declarations of interest.

To note any announcements from the Chair

The Chair referred the Board to the Directorate submissions which had been circulated in response to Members advance questions.

Referred to meeting on 9^th February to scrutinise the budget process.

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum.  The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.  Public Forum items should be emailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:-

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting.  For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office at the latest by 5 pm on 13 January 2017.

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received on the working day prior to the meeting.  For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on 18 January 2017.

Two public forum submissions were received and noted in respect of the Corporate Strategy 2017-2022 and the Savings Proposals. (Copies of the statements are held on public record by the Democratic Services team).

The Chair confirmed that an Extraordinary Cabinet meeting scheduled for 30 January, 6pm, was being held to consider the budget, originally scheduled for consideration at the 24 January 2017 Cabinet meeting. The public forum statements noted by Committee would be submitted to Cabinet and there was an opportunity for further statements to be submitted.

The Board considered the report on the draft five-year Corporate Strategy and Medium Term Financial Plan, along with a draft one-year 2017/18 Business Plan. Appended to the report was a revised Corporate Strategy, produced following the consultation period, and contained details of the City Council’s direction of travel for the next five years.

The Service Director for Strategy and Policy provided an overview of the consultation strategy and feedback received; and confirmed that as a result of the consultation £7.2m of proposals had been withdrawn and that the knowledge gained would contribute to the shape of future plans and proposals.  

In consideration of the Bristol City Councils Savings and Investment Proposals report, the Board received an introduction to directorate savings proposals from the Neighbourhoods, People, Place and Resources Cabinet Members and Strategic Directors.  Each Directorate referred to their responses to advance questions which had been circulated to Committee prior to the start of the meeting; and summarised the following points:

Neighbourhoods

a.      Delivery of discretionary services would be very challenging and require a different relationship with citizens and a recalibration of key neighbourhood services. 

b.      There was a need for business efficiencies, for example working with Bristol Waste Company to reduce cost to the council through proposals for savings in the waste contract. 

c.       A new approach to Neighbourhood Partnerships was needed as it could not be resourced at the current levels. 

d.      Increased income through expansion of licensing schemes.

e.      Housing Delivery would be a growth area for the Council and crossed a number of directorates with savings to be achieved through new service models not reductions.  It was noted that 3 bids for specific homelessness projects had achieved successful bids with match government funding and voluntary sector funding.

People

a.      Added Demographic pressures and Government policy The increased numbers of older people over 85 and the numbers of children, national living wage for home care workers and Deprivation of Liberty assessments were noted as some of the reasons for increased pressure on the People Directorate Budget.  A further £17m had been put into the budget through the social care precept. 

b.      There were efforts to preserve early intervention services., in an effort to reshape services to align with the three tier strategic framework and understand where reductions in discretionary services could tip people into statutory services.

c.       Full cost recovery would be pursued where appropriate and there was a need to develop a good framework to bid for work to take advantage of any government grants that came through.

d.      The Learning City partnership was a driver for partnership working for the Mayor and stakeholders across the city to meet the changing educational landscape. The West of England devolution deal would increase active work with neighbouring authorities.

e.      maximise trading with schools income.

f.        Members were referred to specific targeted investments at Appendices 5 and 6 to meet the rising demand of changing demographics.

Place

a.                  a corporate approach was required to achieve property savings working in a more joined up way.

b.                  Ambition through the business rate team to increase the temporary use of empty shops and encourage pop up entrepeneurs

c.                   The reduction of finance to key arts providers

d.                  Reviewing on street parking and resident parking income ensuring ringfenced for transport and administering the service respectively

e.                  Previous proposed savings for concessionary travel had not been progressed due to the high impact on people with disabilities. 

f.                    There was  a need to sustain renown arts and culture in the city efforts to sustain need more time to get other funding  museums already cut excellent already  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

9 February 2017.