The following have been received as press releases from Oxfordshire County Council outlining proposed changes in the services provided by the County as it attempts to find the massive savings it is going to have to make in the coming years.
Fire and Rescue and Children’s Social Care to receive protection
Fire and Rescue and Children’s Social Care are the services to which Oxfordshire County Council is proposing to give the highest levels of protection as the authority reveals detail of how it currently plans to make £155m of savings up to 2015.
The authority is already on course to make £35m of the estimated £155m savings up to 2015 in the current 2010/11 financial year. The council’s pay freeze and driving down the cost of contracts with suppliers over a large range of services are helping deliver those £35m savings.
Oxfordshire County Council provides around 80 per cent of local government services in the county. The district councils provide the other 20 per cent. The county council receives around 65 per cent of its overall budget from central government grants, which were cut following the Government’s Spending Review as part of its drive to bring national budget back in to balance.
Changes may yet happen to savings targets
The council expects it may need to readjust its £155m savings target when all councils hear in detail what level of grant they will receive from central Government on Local Government Settlement Day, which will happen during the course of December.
Council tax freeze
The county council continues to propose that there will be no council tax rise in the 2010/11 financial year.
Fire stations and children’s social workers
Both the Fire and Rescue Service and Children’s Social Care would be expected to make small efficiency savings. The Fire and Rescue Service would reduce spending on training, keep fire engines for longer before replacing them and remove one fire engine from Faringdon meaning 34 appliances across the county instead of the current 35 (the appliance in question has already removed from Faringdon on a temporary basis and this is to be made permanent). There would be no fire station closures – 24 fire stations would remain.
In Children’s Social Care, there would be savings of around one per cent out of a total budget of £36.3m and these will not involve cuts to frontline work or posts.
Councillor Keith Mitchell, the Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: “Fire and Rescue and Children’s social care are the two areas we have proposed to protect. They are highly important and sensitive services and we did not feel able to make large cuts in these services. Both services will be expected to make some savings. However we have been determined all along that no fire stations will close and that there should be no cuts in the numbers of children’s social care workers.”
Family/youth related services and libraries
Announcements relating to these services were made on Friday, November 26.
Trading Standards
It is proposed that there should be a reduction in prevention work with the withdrawal of two out of four community liaison posts – these posts work with communities to deliver events and projects designed to raise awareness of consumer issues such as debt and money advice, awareness of scams and rogue traders.
There is also proposed to be a review of options for partnering with other councils or contracting out to another council to create economies of scale. Discussions have already taken place with other councils – however this would not be implemented immediately. A managerial restructure is proposed to add to savings.
There is a further proposal to transfer consumer advice to Consumer Direct (subject to national decision on the future of that organisation).
Waste Recycling Centres
There is a proposal to reduce the number of Waste Recycling Centres in Oxfordshire from eight to five. The five would include the planned new modern waste recycling centre in Kidlington which would also serve people in Oxford.
Ardley, Dean, Alkerton, Stanford and Redbridge in Oxford would close. However the Redbridge site would be maintained as a trade waste only centre and a replacement would be sought for Alkerton in the Banbury area.
The thinking behind the move is that with more and more recycling now possible at home due to improved district council waste collection services, waste recycling centres have become slightly less relevant at the same time as having high overheads to maintain.
Education
Funding for schools has been ring-fenced by central Government and local councils are not allowed to spend it on other services.
However there are changes proposed in a number of areas:
The ending of national funding streams A significant number of the Government’s national strategies and their associated grant funding will cease from the end of March 2011. The Government’s recent white paper stipulates that the primary responsibility for school improvement will in the future rest with schools and that there will no longer be a requirement for every school to have a local authority school improvement partner (SIP). The county council is therefore currently planning for reductions to the current school improvement team and for a transition which will build the capacity of schools to become increasingly autonomous in this area. This is happening simultaneously at councils across England.
Contributions to schools budgets The county council currently makes an additional contribution of £3.3m per annum to schools budgets above the level required by Government regulations. A total of £1.2m of this additional contribution relates to providing places for pupils aged above 16 in the county’s special schools. This budget is proposed to increase for 2011-12. The remaining money supports several functions within the schools budgets including behaviour support and support for ethnic minorities. Government regulations anticipate that these budgets will be fully funded from Dedicated Schools Grant without an additional contribution from the local authority, therefore it is planned to withdraw the additional contribution of £2.2m over the four year period up to 2015. It is planned to seek increases in resources from the Dedicated Schools Grant to support these functions, however this is subject to discussion with the Schools Forum.
Outdoor Education Centres: Centres at Hill End near Wytham, the Oxford and District Sailing Association at Farmoor, Kilvrough Manor near Swansea. Woodlands at the Brecon Beacons and Yenworthy Lodge in North Devon will be required to become self financing by 2014/15.
Home to School transport: A saving of £2.2m is planned in this area – however £1.5m of this is already on course to be achieved through driving down the costs of contracts with suppliers of transport such as bus companies. The remaining £700,000 will be achieved as a result of previously announced changed arrangements for home to school transport for faith schools and out of county pupils – widely covered in the media at the time. This was announced in January 2010 and will be phased in from September 2011.
Special educational needs. Savings would be achieved from 2012 by reducing the number of out of county placements. Plans include more provision locally for highest need children – who have been educated out of county in the past.
Early years and Children’s Centres: Savings would be made through re-structuring, efficiency, and working closely with the new Early Intervention Service for family related services (details announced on November 26) to ensure services aren’t duplicated. The council is likely to propose renegotiate the size of some grants and subsidies to providers. There are no plans to close any of the county’s Children’s Centres.
Museums and Heritage Services
There are no proposals to change the services offered at the Oxfordshire Museum or Museums Resource Centre, Standlake, however the council would seek to use volunteers more than at present.
The council will withdraw all funding from the Oxford Film and Video Makers, the Oxford Playhouse, Chipping Norton Theatre and the Oxford Literary Festival. The council will cut funding from £98,000 per year to £58,000 per year to the Pegasus Theatre, Oxford and will not make any grants available to organisations that request one-off support.
Under the proposals, Oxfordshire Studies, a local history resource, would move from Central Library to the Oxfordshire Record Office at St Luke’s Church, Cowley, where the services will combine to provide an enhanced service to the public.
Property
The council proposes to aim to reduce its amount of property by 25 per cent – this would be achieved by reducing the number of offices/properties used by the council with the focus being on having a lower number but higher quality of offices/properties. The council already has a strong record in this area. This would lead to fewer overheads in terms of carbon/energy reduction in future years. There are also plans to reduce maintenance spend on buildings.
What happens next?
Meetings of Oxfordshire County Council’s Scrutiny Committees will meet to discuss the proposals on December 20. Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet will meet on January 25 to make recommendations to the meeting of the full council on February 15 at which a final budget will be set.
Tough times ahead
Councillor Keith Mitchell, the Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: “It was an immensely difficult task to formulate these proposals – undoubtedly the most difficult process I have been involved in since I became leader of the council in 2001.
“Nobody at this council or any council wants to make these cuts. We are all in a position of having to do so because of the nation’s parlous financial situation and its efforts to rectify that. What we will see in Oxfordshire will play itself out in every corner of the UK, we are far from alone.”
Better outcomes for less spend in adult social care
Oxfordshire County Council is proposing to move forward with its existing strategy to deliver high quality social care and more choice to vulnerable adults across the county , despite funding reductions that are a result of cuts the council will receive from central Government as part of its drive to bring the national budget back in to balance.
The council receives around 65 per cent of its funding from central Government and adult social care is the authority’s biggest area of spend outside schools – (where money is ring fenced by Government) .
The council has a strategy which is very much in common with measures being introduced at similar authorities throughout the UK – all of whom have the same budgetary constraints to deal with. It covers older people, adults with learning and physical disabilities and mental health issues.
Personal budgets
Over the last year the Council has been gradually giving individual budgets to vulnerable people to enable them to have greater choice in the support and help they receive. This is known as a personal budget and is part of national government policy that is happening across the country.
At the same time the council needs to reduce its costs. The authority knows that people can buy care more cheaply than the council can and so is helping them to do that with their personal budget. This means that the total it would be spending in future years would reduce although individuals would be guaranteed to continue to receive the care that they need.
The council also knows that local authority services tend to be more expensive than those of other providers. A lot of services are already provided by a variety of organisations under a contract with the council. Under the new system individuals are being helped to source and buy their own support at the best possible price available. The council expects the price of care to fall over the coming months. This strategy aims to help the council to achieve efficiency savings while creating good outcomes for local people.
A personal budget is calculated using a Resource Allocation System (RAS) formula, which takes account of local financial conditions, and the amount that the council can afford to pay for services.
People requesting an assessment would still receive one and those who are entitled to social care would receive an annual review of their care needs. Anyone who is at risk of abuse or neglect would receive advice and support straight away.
A growing number of older and disabled in Oxfordshire are already receiving personal budgets.
Staff reductions
As increasing numbers of local people are given personal budgets they are finding different ways of getting the support they need, including employing their own personal assistants. As a consequence the council is finding there is less demand for the services that it provides directly and we will be reducing the number of staff we employ. Employing fewer people will contribute to the savings Oxfordshire County Council has to make.
Keeping down contract costs
Work to keep down the costs of contracted services would be undertaken – in common with other councils across the UK. Service providers would be expected to make efficiency savings of their own.
Provision of transport for day services
The council would continue to make day services available to vulnerable people if they chose to buy it with their personal budget. However the authority would expect people to make their own transport arrangements or use voluntary transport organisations. People may choose to use part of their personal budgets to cover transport costs.
For anyone who currently has transport provided a transition plan is under development to manage this change .
Care home placement reduction
The Council works with the NHS and Public Health to help keep people fit and healthy and living in their own homes for as long as possible. Spending money on supporting vulnerable people at an early stage can reduce the need for more intensive and expensive services later on. The council proposes to step up these services which will lead to fewer expensive care home placements. This includes maintaining a high level of support to family carers. Keeping people safe will still be paramount for the council.
By reducing the number of people needing to be admitted to care homes and providing alternative services to people in their own homes, it is believed that better outcomes can be achieved for individuals at the same time as achieving efficiencies for the council. Again, Oxfordshire County Council is line with developing national practice on this issue.
Forging ahead with a new system
Councillor Keith Mitchell, the Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: “A huge amount of thought has gone in to how to reduce spend in adult social care while maintaining high quality services across the UK to vulnerable people.
“Oxfordshire County Council is following the same pattern as all other councils in trying to provide better and more personally tailored, bespoke outcomes for individuals – which at one and the same time also cost less.
“The fact is that social care departments across the UK have effectively always been very prescriptive in telling people what their needs are and how they can be met, and then quite often paying big sums of money to deliver that.
“The idea of providing very personalised outcomes for people while at the same time saving money is something that is attracting all social care departments across the UK and Oxfordshire is no different in this.
“Given the austere times in which we live, now is unquestionably the time to forge ahead with this new system of adult social care both in Oxfordshire and across the country. I look forward to seeing the new system grow and thrive for the good of everyone involved and for the good of the public purse.”
More choice on highway maintenance and no cuts in gritting
Local communities are set to be given more of a say in where priorities should lie in the field of highway maintenance as Oxfordshire County Council prepares for to save an estimated £155m up to 2015 as a result of the Government reducing the amount of money provided in grant as part of its drive to bring national budget back in to balance.
A total of £1million is proposed to be put into an Area Stewardship Maintenance Fund so that local communities themselves can decide which type of work are their priority at any given time. It is envisaged that these decisions will be made by communities in conjunction with local councillors.
No changes to winter work
There are no proposals to reduce funds for winter maintenance work such as gritting roads and snowploughing in future years – services levels will continue as they are at the moment with 43 per cent of roads (1200 miles) being gritted.
What is the new highway repair plan?
The county council is proposing to be more flexible in its arrangements for dealing with pothole repair bringing it in to line with the national code of practice on such matters. The current 24-hour response time will remain as will the 28-day response time – which is the legal requirement.
The removal of a current seven-day response time would allow the council to repair defects proactively along sections of road at a time rather than reactively repairing individual potholes as they are reported. The new system will lead to some potholes that would have been repaired within seven days now being repaired within 24 hours, though most would be repaired within 28 days.
The council spent an extra £2m in 2010/11 repairing potholes and in 2010 signed a deal with a new contractor that means potholes can be repaired at a 20 per cent cheaper rate than previously, meaning the same work can be done for £3m less by 2015 than would have been the case under the previous contract.
In summary, more efficient operations and planning of work would mean that repairs to potholes would be kept to the same level as currently even though less money will be spent in achieving this.
As part of the general reduction in highway maintenance budgets there would also be less to spend on services such as weed control, grass cutting on highway land, the creation of dropped kerbs, minor improvement schemes, highway signage replacement and repair, road line repainting and highway drain/gully emptying. However there would be more choice about the nature of work undertaken in localities thanks to the Area Stewardship Maintenance Fund.
Streetlighting
The county council is proposing to accelerate plans to introduce part-night streetlighting in the county in line with proposals or plans that have already been implemented in many other parts of the UK.
This means street-lighting being switched off in some areas between 12.30am and 5.30am, when the fewest people are out and about on the roads. There are already around 1,000 streetlights operating this way in Oxfordshire. Proposals had already been made for a further 14,000 streetlights to operate to these times and the council is now proposing the figure should be 28,000 – or around half of Oxfordshire’s streetlights.
Bus subsidies
The council is proposing to make further efficiencies in the area of bus subsidies – however it is hoped that this can be achieved with limited impact on local bus services given that a number of bus services that are currently subsidised are close to being commerically viable. The council has an excellent track record of driving down the costs of contracts for subsidised services.
Parking and Park & Rides
Proposals are also being made to re-introduce on-street parking charges in Oxford on Sundays and in the evenings in Oxford. Oxford City Council already levies charges for off-street parking.
A further proposal is being made for the re-introduction of charging at Oxfordshire’s park and rides. The county council introduced free parking when it took on responsibility for all park and rides from the city council (previously the county council only ran some of the park and rides). That decision was taken in far better financial times and the county council absorbed all of the costs.
Councillor Rodney Rose, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “Given the need to provide levels of protection for services such as Fire and Rescue and children’s social care it was obvious that other county council services would need to find extensive savings.
“Our proposals would achieve those savings while giving greater choice to local people, seeing streetlights switched off only at times when most people are in bed, squeezing every last bit of value for money out of the finance we have available for highway repair and bus subsidy and preserving resources for our gritting operations in the cold winter months.”