Agenda and minutes

Apologies were intimated from :-

Councillor James Robb

David McCaughey – Strathclyde Fire and Rescue

Viv Smith – NHS

Morevain Martin – Senior Development Officer

George Watt – Chamber of Commerce

Tony Davey – Cardross Community Council

Nigel Millar – Helensburgh Community Council

Neil Black – Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park

There were no Declarations of Interest

The Minute of Meeting 20 September was approved as a correct record.

The Group was briefed by Councillor Morton on the process and purpose of the Budget Consultation.  The success of the online interaction was highlighted and Councillor Morton stressed the importance of a co-ordinated approach in the sharing of ideas and in identlfying needs.

Sally Loudon, Chief Executive, gave a presentation which detailed the measures proposed by the Council to address the required £74 m savings by 2014/15

Derek Leslie, NHS and Gillian Barclay, Third Sector also gave presentations outlining their spending profiles and the issues facing their service budgets.

Members of the public were then asked for their views and questions which were addressed by the relevant parties.

Councillor Freeman asked Derek Leslie, NHS, about the percentage of the budget allocated to staff related costs and a breakdown of the primary care, to which Mr Leslie replied that he would arrange to circulate a similar presentation containing this information.

Alastair MacBeth, Helensburgh Study Group, enquired as to what cognisance was given to the data collected by the HSG when drawing up the budget.

The Chief Executive responded to this by advising that any decisions would be made on a strategic level and that any new projects would be subject to the development of a business case which would demonstrate a need and that would fit into the Council’s Corporate Plan.

Bill Hassall, HSG, enquired as to why, when the Council had reduced staff, the staff related costs for this year were higher and if it would be reasonable to expect that these costs would be reduced once the redundancy payments were removed from the figures. The Chief Executive agreed to circulate the results of the employee costs and advised that severance costs had been vastly reduced in the past two years.

Alastair MacBeth asked if the Council would reconsider that strategic approach and that he would recommend that some expenditure be coded by area.  He also asked that if questions were submitted in writing, if he should expect a response.

The Chief Executive said that it would depend on the complexity of the request but that she would endeavour to answer any such questions.

Lawrence Slavin asked how much transparency there was in the £64million savings figure.  The Chief Executive responded that all the savings in this figure had been subject to Consultation and that the additional £10million which would include savings from performance improvement, ICT etc, did not require authorisation from elected members.  She added that it was essential to get a clear idea of what areas were important to people and that the budget calculator would give an indication of this.  An analysis of all the information would be given to the elected members.

She confirmed that all committee papers would be available to the public.

Decision

To note the content of the presentation by the Budget Working Group.

The Group was briefed by Inspector Paul Robertson, on the restructuring measures currently being implemented across the Helensburgh and Lomond area following budget constraints.  He gave assurances that there would be no reduction in complement and that there would now be a total of 40 officers based in Helensburgh, with three to five of these being sergeants. The Group were informed that ten officers would cover the Garelochhead area on a rotational basis giving increased presence on the peninsula and that the service would be enhanced by the new measures.

Inspector Robertson then took questions from members of the public and addressed any concerns raised.

Decision

Agreed to note the presentation by Inspector Robertson.

The Group was informed by the Community Development Manager, that the Better Community Engagement toolkit would be available on the Council website before Christmas and that hard copies of this were available in the local office.  She advised that various organisations were already using these toolkits and were finding them useful.  Morevain invited anyone who required assistance with these, to contact her.

Decision

To note the update from the Community Development Manager.

The Group was asked to note a report providing a brief update of the progress of the Social Affairs Thematic Group.

Decision

Agreed to note the contents of the submitted report.

(Ref: Report by the Executive Director of Community Services, dated August 2011, submitted)

The Group was asked to note the progress which the Environment Thematic Group has made in progressing outcomes from the agreed action plan and scorecard for the group.

Decision

Agreed to note the contents of the submitted report.

(Ref: Report by Andrew Campbell, Scottish Natural Heritage, dated 15 June 2011, submitted)

The Group noted a report providing them with a summary of issues covered at the last meeting of the Economy Thematic Group which took place on 25 May and they were advised that the group remains focussed on identifying and recording measures which will enable changes in the local economy to be identified and tracked or treated as appropriate.

Decision

Agreed to note the contents of the submitted report.

(Ref: Report by Douglas Cowan, Highland Enterprise, dated 8 June 2011, submitted)