Hampshire prepares for public spending slowdown

Hampshire County Council is facing up to a sharp slowdown in public spending at a national level, with a plan to make £15million in corporate efficiency savings from 2011.

Meeting on the 26 October, members of the Council’s Cabinet approved a strategy aimed at mitigating the effects of the expected reduction in Government grant, while keeping council tax levels for the coming year, below 2%.

This comes in the face of increased demand during the current recession for local services such as care for the elderly and the safeguarding of vulnerable adults and children, but the strategy will help to ensure that these vital frontline services continue without cut backs.

The plan which includes measures such as smarter procurement practices, good housekeeping and reviews of income and charges, has already been given the go ahead by the Council’s Efficiency Panel which was set up to look at providing more for less during the present economic climate.

In addition to the efficiency strategy, the Council has also undertaken a programme of corporate reviews looking at IT Services, Property, Business & Regulatory Services (PBRS) and Chief Executive’s Department functions. This has seen a focus to reduce senior management costs by taking advantage of people retiring and leaving. So far a total of eight posts have not been filled on a routine basis.

Departmental amalgamations have also gone ahead between IT Services and PBRS and the Chief Executive’s Department functions have been regrouped. This has resulted in full year savings of several hundreds of thousands of pounds which will increase the longer the posts remain vacant.

IT savings of at least £1million are also being implemented as a result of streamlining systems and support functions, economies of scale resulting from merging IT teams and creating a single IT function, and reducing the cost of IT management and administration.

Similarly, the County Council will continue to work closely with other Local Authorities, making extensive use of countywide and regional contracts through partnerships such as Improvement and Efficiency South East (IESE) and this approach will help to deliver significant ongoing efficiencies.