Councillor J. Kent, Cabinet Member for Finance and Strategy, introduced the report and, in doing so, highlighted the following key points regarding communication:

·         That effective communication – both with internal officers and front-facing with residents – was important at a time when the Council had to make challenging decisions regarding budget cuts and reducing the services it provided.

·         That over the coming months the Council would need to increase its communications to speak face-to-face with as many people as possible in order to explain the changes that were anticipated.

·         That a “core minimum” service was being planned for that was “capacity focused” and digital.

·         He recognised that not all residents were familiar with computers and technology, and therefore it was important not to solely rely on offering a digital service.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Strategy reported that a balanced budget had been achieved for a fifth year in a row and that further funding had been identified in order to help change the way the Council works, with some finances from reserves to mitigate the impact of proposed cuts to some services – such as the environment.

In relation to the financial challenges faced by the Council, the Cabinet Member for Finance and Strategy made the following observations:

·         That in the case of the Environment service the budget cuts had been too deep and too quick; in response additional funding was being put back into the service in order to ease the transition.

·         He reiterated that it did not mean cuts would not come, rather cuts would be delayed and the money would need to be replaced in the various reserves.

·         That Thurrock’s external auditors noted that “Thurrock is facing significant financial challenges over the next three to four years” and that “external funding sources are reducing and are subject to change and uncertainty”.

·         That five years ago Thurrock Council’s budget was £124 million, since then additional responsibility had been taken on in Public Health, that had totalled £8 million, and Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation responsibilities had been brought back in-house – totalling an additional £3 million.

·         That in 2010 this equated to a budget total of £134 million.

·         It was reported that the budget set in February 2014 was for around £109 million, and that with further cuts anticipated, the Council was expected to have a budget in 2018/19 in the range of £80 million. 

·         It was estimated that the cumulative cuts from 2010 would be in the region of £105 million by 2017/18.

·         That refreshed corporate priorities had been agreed earlier in the year which reflected the need to change the way communities were supported and services delivered, which included greater partnership and, in some cases, using commissioning arrangements with the community and business sectors.

The Chamber were advised that Thurrock was highly commended in the prestigious MJ Awards category of ‘Best Achieving Council’ for its leadership role.

Members questioned the Portfolio Holder and received responses on the following matters:

·         Councillor Hebb asked the Cabinet Member to publish a breakdown of labour costs, to include a full list of the number of staff employed on a permanent, fixed term, agency and temporary basis.

The Cabinet Member advised that this was a matter that could be examined in more detail by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, of which Councillor Hebb was Chair.

·         Councillor S. Little questioned whether any new Council properties had been purchased in the past year, and felt that it was important the Council continued to make improvements to its assets.

The Cabinet Member reported that details of the properties purchased were documented in Cabinet Minutes.

·         Councillor Redsell questioned what was being done to look after assets in Thurrock to prevent properties from falling into a state of disrepair.

The Cabinet Member provided assurances that Council assets were being maintained and asked the Member to clarify which asset she was referring to.

·         Councillor B. Rice congratulated the Portfolio Holder and the finance team for their good work in managing the budget since 2010, which had faced cumulative savings of £83.2 million. She observed that with the challenging budget reductions faced by the authority, the Council had a responsibility to communicate effectively with residents.

·         Councillor Johnson expressed a view that the additional funding that had been found to mitigate the impact of savings on services such as libraries and the environment had not materialised by magic and instead was down to strategy, which he felt could be enhanced by the adoption of a zero based budgeting process. He felt that government cuts had proven that local authorities historically had not been spending money wisely.

·         The Cabinet Member observed that prior to 2010 the Council’s budget had been overspent.