Missed opportunities for savings at Newcastle City Council stretch back 9 years

The last 12 months have not been any easier than the previous 12, and as opposition spokesperson on health and social care, I'd again like to put on record our thanks to all the public health and social care staff who have continued to do an amazing job to try and keep the citizens of Newcastle safe, said Cllr Wendy Taylor during Newcastle City Council's Budget debate.
We recognise the financial difficulties facing the Council, however we remain highly critical of Labour Councillors for failing to push forward with measures we have suggested in the past for making savings. In particular the move towards shared services has been painfully slow and needs to gain some real momentum, yet it has the potential to save a huge amount of money. Perhaps the improved relationships with our neighbours that Cllr Forbes mentioned at the last Council meeting may help to push forward the move to some shared services, which is long overdue. Looking back I've found that it was in 2013 when I first raised the idea of pulling together the work of the Council, the CCG & Newcastle hospitals to provide an integrated approach to commissioning & provision of services. It's a shame that it took a pandemic to start to realise this aim via Collaborative Newcastle. We agree with the aims of enhancing the model to be more community-based and to increase personalisation. We also support ongoing work with health partners to better pool resources. However there's still a lot more to be done to fully integrate health and social care.
As regards the specific proposals on health and social care in this budget, we recognise the increasing demand for some of our services and the support people need because of COVID-19, for example, in areas including mental health and family support. We also understand the changing needs of our ageing population and an increasing number of people with complex or high needs and the uncertainty caused by the lack of detail about the recently announced health and social care levy.
We are pleased that new ways of working over the last few years have continued to lead to savings without serious damage to services. In particular the moves towards intermediate care and more extra care housing are welcome, as is the innovative Shared Lives scheme and the use of technology to help protect people in their own homes. The fact that better services are now being delivered as well as reduced costs just shows what can be achieved and I applaud the work done by Adult Social Care staff to achieve this. The consultation process demonstrated the concerns of unpaid carers, who play such a vital role in ensuring the well-being of so many of our residents. They expressed concern that unpaid carers may be left to make up for any ensuing shortfalls in care and support, leading to a negative impact both on their wellbeing and those they care for. We sincerely hope that the Council will agree with the request from Newcastle Carers for a duty to consult carers about any proposed change in a care package being built into care providers' service contracts. We are pleased their request for specific consideration of potential impacts of proposals upon carers to be included in the impact assessment was agreed.

On public health I'm pleased that no cuts are proposed and I very much welcome the emphasis on early years and on the wider determinants of health. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Eugene Milne for all his work, particularly over the last 2 years and to wish him all the best for his retirement.
Another group who have come under considerable strain over the last 2 years has been the voluntary sector. We rely so much on the excellent work done by charities and voluntary and community groups in our City and I believe that a lot more could be done by the Council working in partnership with the sector to facilitate joint working on common aims and helping the sector to obtain funding. They are a vital partner in improving the lives of Newcastle residents.
As a ward Councillor, I'm very concerned that the direction of travel of the Labour Council continues to lead to deterioration in the state of our local neighbourhoods. There is more litter, more dog dirt, less grounds maintenance and a lack of trees maintenance. And members are of course well aware of the Liberal Democrat view about the shocking failure to maintain our roads and pavements and the Labour Group's repeated refusal to invest in this network. Waste management has also been poorly handled. As Cabinet member some years ago, I was very proud about the marked increase in recycling the Lib Dem administration achieved, but there has been little progress since and the communal recycling bins in some wards have been a total failure due to the contamination. That is why I strongly support amendment 1, which would give local Councillors and residents more control over how money is spent in their local area. Local people know what their priorities are and should have far more say on how their money is spent. Area committees with real spending power will help redress the balance between central and local decision making. The Labour proposal to increase spending on neighbourhoods is I'm sure due to the belated realisation that their total failure to look after local areas is losing them votes. However residents don't want yet another centrally controlled top down imposition of changes, they want a proper say in what needs doing in their neighbourhood and by devolving funds to area committees, we would greatly improve local democracy.
Lord Mayor we have put forward sensible, financially responsible costed amendments and have explained how the Liberal Democrats would have a different approach to Labour. I'm proud to support our amendments.