Where the council should wield its axe

 On Monday Pembrokeshire’s councillors came face to face with the reality of George Osborne’s ideologically motivated austerity programme. They were considering a crucial phase in the council’s budget setting process for 2016-17, requiring them to make savings of £16.7 million. The question is where to make the cuts.

This is against a background of major cuts over for the past three years and more to come for another three years. As Jon Haswell, Pembrokeshire’s Chief Finance Officer, put it in his report on Monday, the 2016-17 budget comes “against the backdrop of the three most difficult financial settlements since the Council’s inception in 1996”. 


These are words we need to remember when we hear Pembrokeshire’s AM Paul Davies bemoan the rundown of essential public services like those at Withybush hospital. At root the responsibility lies with his own party and the actions of his own Chancellor of the Exchequer. But it’s amazing what a smooth talking politicians like Paul Davies can get away with.

It's amazing what smooth talking politicians like Paul Davies get way with

In his report Jon Haswell warns that the continuing cuts to the budget will inevitably lead to reductions in levels of service provision. Indeed, they threaten “the cessation of services” with the challenge being “to protect those services which impact on the most vulnerable.”

Monday’s meeting was just one stage in the process the council has been going through in setting its budget. There will be further consultations in the coming weeks with another meeting of the full council to consider a revised budget on 22 February. The final budget will be agreed in March, just ahead of the financial year. So there is still time to influence the decisions, but probably only at the margins.

As ever, the devil is in the detail of where the cuts are being made. To my mind the main question is whether the council is complying with its own edict to protect the most vulnerable. The first decision being recommended is that council tax should rise by 5 per cent, the maximum the council can undertake without it being capped by the Welsh Government. This will raise £2.5 million and I think it is justified given that Pembrokeshire has consistently enjoyed one of the lowest council tax levels in Wales for many years. But that still leaves a funding gap of £13.7 million on its overall budget requirement of £202.2 million.

So where is Jon Haswell proposing to find the savings? Looking down his list most of the headings are taking a relatively modest hit. So, for instance highways are losing £637,000, planning £519,000, corporate services £557.000, and housing £193,000. On the other hand, the most vulnerable people are taking the biggest hits: adult social care £3.9 million, and children’s social care £1m.

I think this is unacceptable and inconsistent with the council’s own values. Jon Haswell reports that the council currently has reserves of £45.1 million. These are due to be depleted by £15 million during 2015-16 to contribute to the 21^st Century Schools investment. There will be other calls on the reserves in future years. Jon Haswell’s account of them is pretty difficult to follow. However, there is a strong case to dip into the reserves by say £3 million to offset the cuts being proposed to its services for vulnerable adults and children during 2015-16.