Business and central services key to County Council transformation in 2013/14

Thursday, 17 January 2013

2013/14 will see Hampshire County Council's business and central support functions play a vital role in the next phase of the Authority's transformation into a modern business delivering public services.

The Policy and Resources £95million budget proposals will be considered by the Council Leader, Councillor Ken Thornber at his Decision Day on 24 January 2013. Early and decisive action to respond to the national deficit reduction programme, achieving savings of £100million over the last two years, has put the Council in a strong position to tackle the tougher funding challenges expected from 2015/16. The Council will build on its transformation programme over the next two years to drive out further savings.

Streamlining central support functions and attracting income and resources through ongoing collaborative work with similar organisations, lie at the heart of this work to ensure residents continue to receive quality services at the lowest cost. The Council will move ahead with the next phases of important work to integrate its professional and support services to cut costs even further, as well as sharing those functions with Hampshire Constabulary and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The programme to make more efficient use of Hampshire's buildings estate aims to deliver £2million of savings each year, and the Council will continue to lead on work exploring the benefits and possible savings of similar work with other public sector partners in Hampshire.

£1.9million has been earmarked to provide early help and support to around 1,600 families under the Supporting Troubled Families Programme. The development of rural Broadband remains a priority and work will progress to help secure faster broadband speeds to areas that will not be upgraded by the commercial market.

A range of grant funding is also recommended to be set aside in order to benefit groups including voluntary organisations, as well as funding for improvements to Hampshire's village halls and community buildings.

Within the proposed capital budget, there is £22.4million for the maintenance and upkeep of school buildings. Capital funding will also be made available for conservation work to help find solutions to rising sea levels, increased flooding and erosion that threaten Hampshire's coastal sites.

Government will also provide revenue funding to support the County Council in delivering significant new public health responsibilities from April.

• Agenda and papers for the meeting of the Executive Member for Policy and Resources on 24 January 2013

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