The Chief Executive provided a report and presentation to update the Forum on the progress of the Council’s Budget and Transformation Strategy. 

He explained that the Authority would be consulting on the draft Corporate Priorities in the autumn with the focus on transforming the business to create a sustainable Local Authority, which also means a smaller Local Authority.  He advised that a Medium Term Financial Strategy was being designed to support this. 

The Chief Executive informed the Forum of their priorities in achieving the Budget and Transformation Strategy which were:

Priority One: Supporting a Successful Economy –

·         Investment in Infrastructure in the three main towns;

·         Working with local businesses to help them support once another

·         Working with other South East Wales Councils to secure a Capital Deal for the Cardiff region

·         Ensure appropriate high quality local education for people aged 16-24 and influence regional training opportunities more broadly

Priority Two: Helping people to be more self-reliant –

·         Invest in targeted early help and intervention programmes for people

·         Provide early advice to people and communities so that they can make informed choices and have earlier control over the support they receive from the Council and others

·         To support carers by raising awareness of their roles, helping them to identify and design the support they need

Priority three: Smarter Use of Resources –

·         To streamline internal business processes to give customers more automated and web based ways to access services

·         Support communities and groups wishing to take on the running of facilities and services

·         To tap into existing skills of staff to deliver change, invest in some new skills and work with staff on how the organisation changes

Members questioned if there would be funds available for much needed repairs of schools in the Borough, and stated that many of the school buildings were old and in desperate need of repair to ensure they were fit for purpose.  The Chief Executive stated that there were sufficient funds available in the Schools Modernisation Programme.  He added that the funds would be used to repair and replace the old school buildings with modern schools and also to re-profile schools to reduce the number of surplus places in many of the schools in the Borough. 

Members questioned how the Authority would protect services with the funding cuts in Social Services until voluntary groups of support were in place.  The Chief Executive stated that BCBC currently provides a higher level of care than that set by Welsh Government.  He advised that the Authority would re-provision care services within the Borough and move to more cost effective solutions.  He added that the Authority would ensure that the public were able to access other methods of care if they were not instilled in the Authority’s care.

Members were concerned about external contracts such as Halo, V2C and the Cultural Trust and if they were providing as good a service as the Authority would if the services were kept in house.  They were also concerned if the contracts provided value for money and if it would be more cost effective and beneficial to use talent that already exists within the Authority.

The Chief Executive stated that it made strategic and beneficial sense to form the external contracts that currently exist.  He added that the Authority and its partners worked constructively together which was driven by a pragmatic approach, and further added that had it not been for the contracts, the Authority would not have been able to maintain the services at the current high standards.

Members questioned that in the interest of helping people become more self- reliant if the Authority had considered offering volunteering opportunities to local support groups.  The Chief Executive stated that the Authority works closely with the Association of Volunteers, Communities First and Flying Start and encourages volunteers to play an active part in the community

RESOLVED:               That the Forum noted the report.