Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Assistant Chief Executive that provided an update on the progress made at the end of June 2015 on the delivery of the 2015/16 Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP5) (for copy see file of minutes).

The Head of Planning and Performance reported that the MTFP5 was agreed by Council in February 2015 and for 2015/16 the savings target was just over £16m. This forms part of the overall savings target for the period from 2011/12 to 2019/20 of around £260m.

By the end of June 2015 over 65% of the savings target for MTFP5 had been met with £10.6m of savings having been achieved which amounts to the total savings delivered since April 2011 to over £147m.

Councillor Hopgood referred to discussions as part of the County Council’s budget proposals in February 2015 to reduce member’s car mileage and asked if the proposed savings incorporated the reduction in members or just employee car mileage.  The Chairman advised that after discussions with Trade Unions, the mileage rate paid to members would reduce to 45p per mile at the same time as the reduction is applied to employees.

Councillor Adam commented that 71% of the staff leaving through voluntary redundancy were female and asked whether this was reflective of the make-up of the workforce. Councillor Boyes suggested that the percentage of females in back office roles should be explored as the majority were predominantly female. The Head of Planning and Performance advised that the figures were monitored and the results were in line with the overall workforce profile. The Chairman requested that HR compile the workforce information and report back to the Board. Councillor Hillary requested that future reports include the overall headcount of the Council as context.

Members requested a breakdown of figures on the number of posts lost from budget reductions and the number related to previous Local Government Reorganisation in order to differentiate. The Head of Corporate Finance clarified that the figures in the report related only to budget reductions.

Resolved:

That the information contained in the report and the progress made in delivering the MTFP5 be noted.