Decision details

Cabinet RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL approval of the posts previously approved in principle, with effect from 1 January 2007 where appropriate, otherwise from 1 April 2007.

Cabinet AGREED:

(a)               to include in the Medium Term Financial Strategy to 2011 levels of future expenditure indicated in Table 2 of the report;

(b)               to retain current policies and programmes for the capital plan, as shown in Appendix 2a of the report, and to review the position further in the light of the outcome of the stock condition survey and the clarification of the future capital spending pressures in Appendix 1;

(c)               in principle, the targets in paragraph 16 (a)-(d) and (f)-(h) of the report to progress the Council’s three priorities in 2007/08, to request service heads and portfolio holders to work up more quantified targets, and to seek to retain the Council’s capacity to deliver these targets in the savings exercise;

(d)               adoption of the projections in Appendix 3A of the report as the basis for the Medium Term Financial Strategy to 2011;

(e)               to request portfolio holders and service heads to report to the November Cabinet with recommendations to meet the savings targets in Appendix 3A to the report, informed by the methodology devised last year;

(f)                 to request that the further areas for savings identified in paragraph 28 of the report (together with any further suggestions from Members) be pursued;

(g)               to make approaches to the Government and Cambridgeshire Horizons as suggested in paragraph 30 of the report;

(h)               to request all service heads to produce service plans for growth areas to provide greater certainty in financial planning; and

(i)                  in principle to reduce the number of council meetings to 50% of the current level.

Cabinet NOTED the scale of future spending pressures on the Council as indicated in Appendix 1 to the report.