Agenda and minutes

1.1       Councillor Philippa Roe, the Leader of the Council, welcomed those present.

To receive declarations by Members and Officers of the existence and nature of any personal or prejudicial interests in matters on this agenda.

1.1       There were no Declarations of Interest.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2014.

3.1       RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on Monday 7 July 2014 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman accordingly.

Report of the Chief Executive.

4.1      Charlie Parker (Chief Executive), introduced the report which set out a range of measures to establish a new operating model which would place Westminster City Council on a more robust footing to address funding reductions and meet the growth in demand for services. Over the past three years, the City Council had reduced its annual expenditure by £100M, through a combination of initiatives which included sharing services through Tri-borough working; driving out inefficiencies; and focussing on back office savings. The Cabinet noted that reductions in central government grant funding meant that the City Council would have to find a further £100M of savings over the next three year period from 2015 to 2018, and it was anticipated that the trend of funding reductions would continue into the next decade.

4.2       Over the coming years the City Council would need to find innovative ways of raising further capital and revenue funding, and prioritise resources so that they were aligned towards supporting the delivery of Westminster’s Better City, Better Lives vision, and address the future budget reductions and demographic pressures.  In order to deliver these objectives and meet this range of challenges, the City Council’s organisational structure needed to change, and it was proposed that the new structure focussed on public sector reform, driving growth, and creating better connected communities.

4.3                   To create the new structure, it was proposed that a Tri-borough Corporate Services function be established subject to a detailed business plan being signed off by all three local authorities and a new Growth Housing & Planning Department be created from the existing Built Environment and Housing, Regeneration & Property Directorates. Other changes included realigning the City Management Directorate as a City Management & Communities Directorate; and establishing an integrated City & Corporate Policy function. In order to ensure the City Council had the right senior leadership team in place to move the organisation forward, it was also recommended that a new Executive Management Team (EMT) be created, to drive forward departmental and cross-cutting initiatives in a sustainable way. The Cabinet noted that the structure which had been outlined in the report still needed to be finalised, particularly at the level below SEB Director.

4.4      The changes outlined in the report would be accompanied by a revised internal change initiative ‘Better Together – the Westminster Way’, which was currently being developed by the Chief of Staff. The employee programme would be launched in the autumn, and would seek to establish a strong and shared approach to delivering services, and provide better support for staff to deliver the savings in what would be a critical period for the City Council.

4.5      The prioritisation of resources would support the delivery of the Better City, Better Lives plan, which sought to reform public services; support economic growth; and achieve connected communities. 

4.6                   Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg (Leader of the Opposition Group) commented on the proposals for growth, and highlighted the need for residents to be involved in determining place shaping and the services they received. Councillor Dimoldenberg  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.