As
indicated yesterday,
we're publishing this morning - a week prior to actual Budget Day - the full
and final draft of our
revised budget proposals for 2015/16.
You can read about the record-levels of public feedback, which we received to the consultation on our
draft proposals, in this
earlier blog-post and the links therein.
The actual Reports for the Budget debate are now all
available here, along with the Coalition Motion including all the background figures -
here!
And I'll now simply replicate the 'main text' of our final draft motion for 2015/16 below.
I
think the motion speaks for itself ... and it will now be debated
at the Budget Day Council Meeting, 10am on Thursday 12th February, to be
webcast here.
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MOTION by the CAPITAL COALITION
Report Title: - Revenue Budget 2015/16, Capital
Investment Framework 2015/20, Housing Revenue Account 2015/16 and Financial
Strategy 2015/18
1.
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Introduction
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There is little doubt that these are extremely
challenging times for Councils and their partners with growing service
demand and reducing resources. Due
to changes in grant distribution to Councils, Edinburgh’s grant allocation
in 2015/16 is £13 million lower than in the current year, despite
additional demography funding of £10m included within the budget. It is clear that we, as a Council, need
to focus on what the people of Edinburgh want us to deliver and with this
in mind have embarked on the widest consultation on financial matters that
has ever been undertaken. We asked
and people responded in their thousands:
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•
1,719
responses to the online planner;
•
129
submitted budget leaflets;
•
782
telephone calls, emails and letters;
•
457
social media comments;
•
31
group activities with stakeholders and staff;
•
Plus
an additional 289 signatories to submitted petitions;
•
30
articles in print and broadcast media.
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And we listened…..
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As a direct result of this year’s consultation
we have now agreed to amend our budget proposals by:
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·
Maintaining funding for commissioned homelessness services;
·
Continuing to collect winter garden waste;
·
Working
with Edinburgh Leisure to ensure sports facilities remain open;
·
Limiting
the rent increase for 2015/16 to inflation – the lowest rent increase for
over a decade;
·
Reviewing
Licence costs to ensure that local communities are not deterred from
holding events;
·
Not increasing allotment charges in line with the proposals which
were put out to consultation, however there will be talks with allotment
holders and FEDEGA over the coming months to discuss ways of increasing
income and reducing costs across the Council’s estate. The Council will begin these negotiations
from 31 March 2015;
·
Agreeing to implement savings of £300,000 for 2015/16 as part of a
review of the closure of public toilets.
There will be ongoing discussions with Lothian Buses and potential
partners around the development of a community toilet scheme whereby sports
facilities and businesses will open their toilets up to members of the
public;
·
Reviewing taxicards. In an
effort to improve equalities and mobility for people who rely on this
service we will review the operation of the taxicard service. The proposal is to implement a charge of
£20 over 3 years to cover administration charges. The benefits of this revised scheme will
be to offer unrestricted travel with a 20-25% discount on fares to
cardholders;
·
Developing an energy services company (ESCO) in order to mitigate
the impacts of fuel poverty, improve efficiencies and reduce carbon
emissions. We will therefore, seek
to secure £150,000 of Government/Scottish Enterprise funding, matched by
£150,000 from the Council, to support the project in 2015/16;
·
Using the additional dividend of £2m from Lothian Buses to increase
investment in roads and pavement repairs and to devolve more of this
function to a local neighbourhood level;
·
Reducing the savings required from Children and Families Third Party
Grants by £614,000 to ensure continued support for vulnerable children;
·
Ensuring that the proposed reductions in community learning
development service budget will not result in the closure of any community
centre. However, community centre
management committees are encouraged to explore new ways of working and to
share resources to help maintain the present level of services provided by
individual centres.
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In spite of the financial pressures the
Coalition has continued, as highlighted in our Contract with the Capital in
2012, its work to promote Edinburgh as a vibrant international city whilst
protecting spending on key front line services, particularly those needed
by Edinburgh’s younger, older and more vulnerable residents. We will, as a Coalition, continue to work
with communities and neighbourhoods by providing funding to empower them to
prioritise works. By allocating an
additional £100,000 to each neighbourhood local people will have an even
greater say in how their area can be improved.
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Performance across the Council is improving,
however it is getting harder to provide services with the budgets we
have. This is one of the reasons why
we need transformational change.
Over the next three years we will review every service the Council
provides to ensure that it is what people need. Stresses are however, beginning to
show. Even now Health and Social
Care are currently reviewing their position as they face a £4.7m budget
overspend in 2014/15, while all other areas of
the Council endeavour to provide fit for purpose infrastructure and respond
to continuously increasing demands for services. The Coalition is clear that Directors
have a responsibility to remain within budget and with this in mind, will reinforce
robust monitoring systems through the Finance and Resources Committee which
will provide an early warning system for identifying any budget pressures
and the opportunity to recommend subsequent actions.
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For the Council, staff is its
greatest resource and we will continue to work with all employees and their
representatives to support them through this period of transformation and
change. We are committed to paying
our employees the Living Wage with an increase to £7.85 per hour payable
from 1 April 2015. In developing
this further we will undertake a pilot project in 2015, amending our
procurement processes to firmly encourage companies, contracted to deliver
services on our behalf, to pay their workforce a minimum of the living
wage.
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Despite the difficult financial background
awards have been won. Employees have
been recognised for their commitment and hard work and initiatives such as
the Edinburgh Guarantee continue to support the city’s hunger for skilled
staff by supporting young people into work and of course, Edinburgh
continues to hold its own as one of the must visit destinations on the
planet.
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With incremental savings required of £22
million in 2015/16, £30 million in 2016/17 and £15 million in 2017/18 we
need to radically review the way in which the Council operates. In order to do this we will reshape the
Council, as set out in the ‘Organise to Deliver’ report approved by Council
on 11 December 2014, to offer greater flexibility to our citizens and
visitors. We will make getting in
touch with the Council easier, providing services where they are needed and
working with colleagues in the third sector to ensure the best possible outcomes
within a framework of best value.
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As part of the change programme the following 4
projects will be delivered from April 2015:
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1.
Business and Customer Services;
2.
Localities;
3.
Channel Shift/Digital and
4.
Payments
to Third Sector.
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Number 5 (Workforce) will be reported to
Finance and Resources Committee in March 2015 and 6 (Property) shortly
thereafter. Progress will be
reported, by the Director of Corporate Governance, through the Finance and
Resources Committee on a monthly basis from March 2015, with updates to
Policy and Strategy Committee every three months.
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Whilst initial savings will accrue from
2015/16, significant returns will be seen from 2016/17 onward. Indicatively the level of savings
attributable to each workstream by 2016/17 is as follows:
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2016/17
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·
Business
and Customer Services
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£5 million
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·
Localities
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£10 million
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·
Channel
shift/Digital
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£1 million
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·
Third
Sector
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£7 million
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·
Workforce
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March 2015
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·
Property
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To be finalised
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There is considerable pressure on the Council
to deliver the financial savings set out in each of the workstreams whilst
continuing to provide high quality front-line services.
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Capital
budget
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The Capital Coalition values the development of
the city’s infrastructure and to meet that pledge has instructed capital
works to the value of over £400 million (2015-2020) to be initiated to
improve the lives of its citizens.
In 2015, the focus of these additional resources will be a
£13.3 million investment on school
infrastructure, property, roads and pavements and the continuing work into
the redevelopment of Meadowbank sports centre.
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Capital Position:
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- Better
Outcomes Leaner Delivery (BOLD) Channel Shift Infrastructure
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£1m
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- Local
Development Plan investment
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£0.9m
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£5m
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£3m
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£3.4m
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At the same time, the capital programme
monitoring process has been improved and now 98% of all projects are
delivered on time and on budget.
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The following projects have been approved for
the period 2015/20:
·
New
High Schools at Portobello, Boroughmuir and James Gillespie’s;
·
New
St John’s Primary School and St Crispin’s Special School;
·
An
extension to the gym hall at Liberton High School;
·
New
gym halls at Blackhall, Cramond and East Craigs Primary Schools;
·
Water
of Leith Flood Prevention Phase 2;
·
Creation
of a heritage centre in Leith by purchasing Custom House through the Common
Good Fund;
·
Roads
and pavements improvements;
·
Development
of Central Library;
·
6th
New Care Home;
·
Autism
Day and Respite Centre;
·
Millerhill
Zero Waste Plant;
·
National
Housing Trust Phase 3 to deliver 400 new affordable homes;
·
Investment of over £40m in the Children and Families estate over the
next 5 years including an additional £5m for rising school rolls;
·
Feasibility
work into redevelopment of Meadowbank sports centre and
·
Feasibility
study into the extension of the tram line to Leith and Newhaven.
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We also have a
commitment to:
- A new high school at South Queensferry and
- A new high school in Craigmillar as a
catalyst for regeneration of the area.
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The Council, working
with the Scottish Government, has secured approval for a £850m investment
in the St James Quarter which will lead to the redevelopment of that area
of the city creating a new commercial centre with additional retail, hotels,
office and residential space.
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2.
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Savings
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The saving for
2015/16 is £23.1 million and the focus for delivery will be through:
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·
Continuous delivery of procurement savings
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£0.7m
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·
Transformational change
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£2.269m
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·
Reduction in carbon emissions and reducing fuel
poverty through the Council ESCO
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42% by 2020
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·
Support
to third sector
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£2.225m
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·
Maximising
income
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£2.232m
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·
Workforce
management
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£6.957m
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·
Property
rationalisation and disposal strategy
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£0.150m
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·
Efficiency
measures
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£7.517m
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·
Other
measures
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£1.094m
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£23.1 million
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3.
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Risks and Challenges
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The Council continues to face significant risks
and challenges which are clearly defined in the Council’s Budget 2015/16 –
Risks and Reserves Report No 4.2c and include:
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·
Health
and Social Care Integration;
·
Rising
school rolls;
·
An
ageing population with more complex needs;
·
Barriers
to generating income;
·
An
ageing infrastructure including school buildings, care homes and sports
facilities;
·
Uncertainty
over future financial settlements;
·
Achievement
of Transformation Programme and estimated budget savings;
·
Pay
and price inflation and
·
Austerity
measures imposed from Westminster government.
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4.
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Future budget development
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Council further agrees to:
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·
Deliver
savings of £67 million over the next three years by realigning the
organisation and working with partner agencies to deliver the highest
quality integrated services;
·
Restructure
the organisation, within the framework of the Coalition’s pledges and the
Organise to Deliver report agreed by Council, to ensure greater efficiency,
agility and effectiveness across all services;
·
Work
with Council companies to maximise returns received;
·
Review
the Council’s property portfolio to release maximum benefit and bring
forward a capital receipt on the sale of Atria in 2015/16;
·
Support
the Strategic Investment Fund with £4.5 million;
·
Continue
to support the redevelopment of Meadowbank sports centre by undertaking
feasibility work and seeking to secure a funding package making best use of
public and private sector support;
·
Reinforce
the workstreams, agreed by the Finance and Resources Committee in November
2014, as the spine for
transformational change in 2015 and beyond;
·
Work
with the Scottish Government and NHS Lothian to deliver better patient
outcomes and more efficient services through the integration of Health and
Social Care;
·
Reduce
carbon emissions by the Scottish Government target of 42% by 2020;
·
Continuously
review the implementation of the new Shared Repairs Service to ensure
quality standards and financial prudence allowing citizens to assume
responsibility for their own property but offering support when necessary;
·
Develop
further our work with partner organisations to achieve a more cohesive
approach to budgeting and to develop the role of the Checkpoint group to
support this process;
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·
Continue
to work to reach out to those who find interaction with the Council
difficult and to develop a model, involving partners, the third sector and
the Scottish Government, for a more participatory budgeting approach in
future years;
·
Work
with the Scottish Government on effective empowerment of communities in the
delivery of Council and partner services;
·
Support community policing through the Service Level Agreement with
Police Scotland at current levels but in negotiation with the organisation,
seek to reduce our financial commitment from 2016/17 onwards;
·
Working with the Green Investment Bank and others to provide revenue
neutral funding in cash terms for projects including the replacement of
street lighting following the successful contract with SALIX completed this
financial year;
·
Commit capital funding of £3m plus £2m of additional Lothian Buses
dividend to improve the city’s roads and pavements infrastructure;
·
Allocate an additional £5m of capital to support rising school rolls;
·
Reinstate Christmas trees and lights for local communities;
·
Maximise savings across the council from the introduction of a
robust management controlled purchase order system and where possible use
this funding to offset transformational costs;
·
Work with Health and Social Care to ensure that the challenges which
the department faces from demography and increasing needs are managed
within the level of allocated resources identified in the framework of the
2015/16 revenue budget;
·
Allocate £2.9m from the ICT efficiency fund to meet BOLD
implementation costs and
·
Commit £2m from Spend to Save Fund to meet upfront capital costs
relating to the Channel Shift business case.
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Conclusions
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Council notes:
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·
The
report by the Director of Corporate Governance setting out the Revenue and
Capital Budget Framework 2015/18;
·
The
report by the Director of Corporate Governance setting out the potential
equality and rights and carbon risks associated with the Revenue Budget
Framework and the mitigating actions to be progressed. Where significant mitigation measures are
required, or further work needs to be undertaken to meet equalities and
rights requirements, the results should be reported back to the appropriate
Committee;
·
The
appendix to the report by the Director of Corporate Governance detailing
the consultation undertaken on the 2015/16 revenue budget and the
continuing commitment to further increase engagement and communication in
setting future budgets;
·
The
review of the role of third sector funding and the mechanism agreed to
continue to improve work in that area;
·
The
work undertaken to restructure the organisation as laid out in the report
to the Council detailing the Organise to Deliver programme and its
implementation and
·
The
delivery of the six strategic workstreams by the Director of Corporate
Governance, highlighted in the report to the Finance and Resources
Committee in November 2014, will result in a more efficient and effective
organisation allowing both the continuing delivery of services where they
are most needed and the fulfilment of the Capital Coalition’s pledges made
to the people of Edinburgh in 2012.
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Council therefore approves:
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- The
Revenue Budget 2015/16 set out in the reports, subject to the
adjustments in Annex 1 to this motion;
- A
band ‘D’ Council Tax of £1,169 for 2015/16;
- The
Council Tax and Rating resolution set out in annex 2 to this motion;
- The
2015/20 Capital Investment Programme as set out in the report by the
Director of Corporate Governance subject to the additions set out in
Annex 3 to this motion;
- The
Charging Policy and schedule of charges for Council services as set
out in Annex 4 to this motion;
- The
prudential indicators as set out in Annex 5 to this motion and
- The recommendation by the Acting Director of Services for
Communities for a rent increase of 2% in 2015/16 and the outline 5
year Housing Revenue Account Capital programme for 2015/20.
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Moved by
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[Councillor] Alasdair
Rankin
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Seconded by
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[Councillor]Bill Cook
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