County Treasurer's

Budget consultation

Hampshire has a population of 1.28 million equating to 525,000 households, and is the 3rd largest shire county in England. At present Hampshire County Council:

  1. provides 535 schools, and help around 6,000 children and family clients on a constant basis

  2. provides information, advice, services and support to over 95,000 vulnerable adults per year and in many cases provide support and advice to their carers

  3. runs residential homes, day centres, and 10 nursing homes in partnership with the health sector

  4. repairs and maintains 5,000 miles of roads, 1,400 road bridges and 450 foot bridges

  5. runs 24 household waste recycling centres, dealing with 650,000 tonnes of household waste in 2009/10

  6. provides and maintains 150,000 street lights and illuminated signs and bollards

  7. runs 50 libraries, 3 Discovery Centres, 19 museums, 7 country parks, 4 arts centres and maintains 3,000 miles of rights of way

  8. altogether registered 20,000 births, deaths and marriages in 2009/10

 

  • The County Council has a good record of increasing efficiency, having achieved savings of £55 million over the last three years and forecasting savings of £29 million in the current financial year. These improvements have enabled the County Council to adapt to increased service demands, in particular to the growing numbers of vulnerable children, adults with disabilities and elderly people, as well as to cope with effects of the recession. Thus despite the lowest government grant per head in the country, Hampshire has been able to offer protection to service spending.

  • However the impact of the banking crisis and the ensuing recession in the United Kingdom has resulted in an unprecedented peacetime increase in the public sector deficit. The County Council has been planning for Government grants to reduce significantly over the next four years, as the Government seeks to eliminate the structural element of the deficit.  The Spending Review announcement confirmed that Government grants to local authorities will be reduced on average by 7.25% per annum over the next four years, with a reduction in excess of 10% in 2011/12. As the grant distribution formulae are likely to continue to disadvantage the County Council, a bigger than average reduction in grant can be anticipated in 2011/12.

  • In view of the substantial reductions in Government grant over the next few years, the County Council has introduced an efficiency and cost reduction programme, designed to limit the impact of spending reductions on front line services. The areas of activity covered by the programme are as follows:

    • reducing senior management costs – reductions of at least 25% are being sought in recognition of the importance of reducing management overheads as the Council’s spending contracts

    • a moratorium on recruitment –  was introduced in September designed to achieve staffing reductions by freezing vacant posts wherever possible, other than in key front-line jobs

    • reviewing communications, marketing and publications spending

    • the democratic process, spending by and support for councillors – reviewing how decisions are made by councillors including the mechanisms for engagement with local communities, support for members and grants allocated by individual councillors

    • grants – considering whether improved value for money from the allocation of grants to voluntary organisations and other community bodies can be obtained

    • programmes supported by specific government grants, mainly in Adults and Children’s Services – planning for the withdrawal of this support

    • inspection and regulation – reviewing the extent costs can be reduced following the new Government’s plans to lighten the burden of inspection and regulation

    • contract negotiations – looking at the scope to negotiate cost reductions in major long and medium term contracts

    • new expenditure commitments – ensuring that major new commitments are reviewed in the light of the County Council’s current financial position

    • income and charging – reviewing contributions for all services to ensure that taxpayer’s money is focussed on providing services to the most vulnerable and that, where the County Council has the power to charge for the provision of services, that those residents who can afford to meet the cost of the services that they receive should do so

    • rationalisation of assets – seeking opportunities to rationalise the County Council’s land and buildings, working in partnership with other public bodies, and for accelerating the programme of land sales

    • Support and administrative costs – reviewing the County Council’s main business processes

    • Integration of professional functions – reviewing the options for centralisation of functions currently devolved to individual departments

    • staff related expenditure – mainly focussed on equipment, furniture, IT and travelling

    • business and shared services – reviewing the current mix of in-house and private sector provided services and to assess the scope for increased efficiency by means of shared services with other local authorities and public bodies

    • learning, training and development of staff – funding levels and its organisation within the County Council

    • joint commissioning services –  reviewing opportunities for achieving efficiencies by joint commissioning within the County Council and with external partners

    • IT costs – reviewing the scope to reduce operating costs

    • departmental mergers – examining the benefits of merging Property, Business, Regulatory and IT Services with Culture, Communities and Rural Affairs, together with the corporate functions based in the Chief Executive, Human Resources and Treasurer’s Departments

  • The various reviews within the corporate expenditure reduction and efficiency programme are being undertaken by cross-departmental groups of managers within the context of an overall budget planning strategy, in which departments are examining the options for the required reductions in expenditure over the next four years. The overall objectives for the programme are to:

    • protect efficient frontline services (and redesign the way services are delivered where cost effective to do so)

    • rigorously pursue improved value for money

    • avoiding new commitments where prudent to do so

    • ensure that before any organisational changes are implemented, efficiency, productivity and cost reduction assumptions have been verified

    • ensure that the Council retains adequate capacity to deliver future core services

    • make the most of the Council’s investment in IT systems maintain strong performance in the delivery of services.

For further information about the Hampshire County Council's plans to develop a framework for further efficiencies and expenditure reductions, view the Cabinet report (26 July 2010) "Efficiencies and Expenditure Reductions: Transforming the County Council". This report followed the Coalition Government’s Emergency Budget proposals signalling a much greater reduction in public expenditure than had been previously expected.

Let us know what you think? We welcome your comments and suggestions.