Consultation on the budget began on 5th February, 2008.
In the next year, Nottingham will see
extra care for the children most in need;
older people making over 3 million extra journeys on the bus and trams for free;
doorstep recycling for 23,000 more properties;
cleaner neighbourhoods - with expanded programmes by action; teams, and by halving graffiti & fly-tipping;
more maintenance of play parks and open spaces;
more help for adults in need to live more independent lives;
The extra expenditure on public services to be provided by Nottingham City Council in the next year has been announced for consultation. Schedules of the proposed changes are available from the Council web-site. Significant extra grant has been used to match the significant government expectations, made possible only by the largest savings and efficiencies programme for the council that I can remember (see previous blog). The expansion in services has been shaped by the views of the Nottingham people taken from Labour Party canvassing & from MORI surveys and shared agreements with the Government, shaped by Labour's values including we can achieve more together than we can alone. More detail follows - Helping children who need most help help the children who need help most, to the new national standards, in a more consistent manner; help foster carers more, with bigger allowances; provide a placements service to improve the placement of children in well matched provision; Reducing the emission of greenhouse gases in Nottingham, including by the Council increase the collection of separated waste from the home, for recycling; 12,000 more homes will have the 2 or 3 bin doorstep system and doorstep recycling will be piloted for 11,000 inner-city households; meet the new tax demands on burying waste in the land, but seek to reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill; introduce more environmental management of services within the Council, including the energy certification of our buildings to help reduce the Council's greenhouse emissions; plan for the introduction of carbon trading in 2009; Helping people who need most help at home help more people to stay at home longer by providing more telecare equipment (with a one-year spend); help more people to stay at home longer by increasing carer's breaks; provide more of the better equipment that helps people live independently at home; provide extra help to services helping people; help 350 people with mental health problems each year, helping them as advocates in line with new Gov't expectations each year; provide a better night time home carer - sitting service, to provide more respite to carers, so that they can help people live at home longer; help 750 people a year determine their own support arrangements; Free travel in more places for older people and the less mobile provide free transport for all elderly and less mobile people catching a bus in Nottingham (at a gross cost of £4m); around 4 million extra journeys are expected to be made; we'll also support the start of Sunday services on the Robin Hood Line; Transform neighbourhoods build-up and expand the teams that will drive for the large scale transformation of our neighbourhoods; improve the design quality for family housing; Respect for Nottingham - a cleaner Nottingham become an even cleaner city, with expanded programmes by action teams, and by halving graffiti & fly-tipping, increasing the frequency of street cleaning; improve the service to meet challenges of heavier rainfalls (with a one-year spend); Improved help for customers improve further the good service provided by the new Customer Contact Centre, which has the public have valued; provide more support to meet the requests for information and to ensure that our information governance is improved; expand the publications, which informs the public about the services provided and encourages them to use them; try even harder to boost electoral registration (with a one-year spend); expand the "Proud" campaign, which shares the vision that the Council has for the city and which has already resulted in more people feeling engaged with the council; and provide better communications directed at young people; Improved parks and open spaces improve the maintenance of our play parks & open spaces in response to public opinion surveys, and support further capital investment to improve parks and sustain the number awarded green flags. first survey all trees in our parks, and then start a regular & cyclical programme of maintenance, picking up on public concerns about the quality of our parks; improve security at 5 or 6 allotments in the city and provide more support for the service; Improving neighbourhoods improve the capacity of Councillors to make a direct difference for their ward, by providing more support to manage issues & concerns as well as new analysis; support more local improvements directed by Area Committees; Respect for Nottingham - a safer Nottingham (further) reduce the rate of re-offending and the number of first-time offenders, by providing more capacity to manage the casework; support "Buy with Confidence"; plan for the forthcoming replacement of street lights under a PFI scheme with extra work in the next year; (with a one-year spend); further reduce crime by sustaining the production of successful products for crime prevention; Helping children & young people a 4.1% increase per pupil; provide better value for money in providing services for children and young people (with a one-year spend); continue to help young people engage with the careers advice service and continue to help those in St.Ann's & Sneinton with outreach support; Improving attractions contribute to the ongoing improvement of Wollaton Hall, helping preserve the building and open up 2 new rooms in the Hall; support the next 3 FA Women Cup Finals, increasing visitors and reorganising existing tournaments to happen at the same weekend (with a three-year spend); replace some of the existing Christmas lighting, and provide more (with a one-year spend); For the actual details, check Nottingham City Council's web-site. I'll write a separate statement on the capital programme which will be around £112m in the next year. TO BE UPDATED
efficiency savings The reward for finishing full Council early on Monday was to get home in time to watch the Local Government Finance Report debate in the House of Commons on the freeview channel. Oh yes. (No really, check the schedules, the choice was not that great.) Highlight of course was Neil Turner's contribution. The Wigan MP is chair of SIGOMA, the special interest group for metropolitan authorities outside of London. He pointed out how the settlements are being shifted to help the municipalities serving the people most in need. And plenty of Labour MPs reminded complaining Tories of the year on year cuts in grant at the end of the last Tory Gov't. John Healey, the local government minister, did pretty well too. But the notion that local authorities, like other authorities should be able to make efficiency savings of 3% each year is challenging. Nottingham City Council has made efficiency savings over a 3 year period of £24 million, or £4 million extra per year. (I'll check, but I think this is still less than 3% of our mainstream budgets.) For the next year, we're proposing savings and alternative income measures of £8 million. £3.3 million of this comes being able to manage corporate finances more effectively - rescheduling debt, cheaper insurance etc. Made possible only because of the stable, growing economy. The rest comes from our departmental spending. £2 million comes from doing the same for less resource, sometimes as a result of extra investrment. Nearly £1.5m from finding alternatives funds to support the services we need to provide. This year only 7% or so of the savings is on front line services. [First posted 2008-02-08; Last updated 2008-02-12]
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