1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th tiers Reply to Jan Ormondroyd

Bristol City Council Telephone (0117) 922 2640

Minicom
Fax (0117) 922 4877
E-mail jan.ormondroyd@bristol.gov.uk
Our ref JO-CW-
Your ref
Date 3rd November 2009

Dear colleague

I am writing to bring you up to date with the impact of the recession on current and
future public sector spending, and outlining what immediate and future action is
going to be required of us all in order to maintain high quality services in challenging
financial times.

If I begin with looking at the medium term financial plan for 2011/12 and beyond you
will be aware from consistent national media coverage that public sector spending
will need to be reduced in order the balance the national budget. No matter which
government is returned at the next election, they have all been clear in articulating
the need for public sector funding cuts. This will affect a wide range of organisations
including local authorities. We are anticipating a significant budget gap in the
medium term but this could well become larger as our income streams reduce and
the demand for our services increase.

In order to prepare for this, I have asked strategic directors to prepare for scenarios
which could see 10%, 15% and 20% reduction in budgets. We are not alone and
you will be aware that other local agencies are also taking a hard look at their
financial position. I am encouraging directors to think creatively across our own
services but also drawing partners into solutions that help to maintain high standards
of service to our city.

I hope that you will actively take part in discussions with your management teams to
contribute to the solution.

C h i e f E x e c u t i v e ' s O f f i c e

The Council House Jan Ormondroyd Website

College Green Chief Executive www.bristol.gov.uk
Bristol BS1 5TR
Looking at the current financial position, it is clear that as expected, the recession is
biting in terms of demand for service as well as having an impact on our funding
streams. As a Strategic Leadership Team we have been planning for sometime to
deal with this in-year pressure and I am now asking for your leadership in two areas
to address a potential £2million gap.

Firstly, I would like you to think very hard before authorising any discretionary spend
for the rest of this financial year. Each directorate has significant budgets assigned
to costs such as: conference, subsistence and hospitality expenses, office stationery,
equipment, furniture and fittings and other general supplies. I expect that all
managers can make savings in these areas and ask that you liaise with finance
business partners to identify these.

Secondly, we also need to think hard before we recruit staff to fill vacancies. We
need to consider all options before recruiting externally and in order to consider the
corporate priorities I am establishing a Corporate Recruitment Management Panel.
This will require all managers to submit any vacancy requests to this panel, which will
sit on a weekly basis. The panel will commence on November 9th and a more
detailed note explaining the process will be sent out shortly. This builds upon the
tighter control we are placing upon the recruitment of interims and consultants.

Alongside this we need to think about how we develop the talent within our workforce
to fill the vacancies we do have and encourage staff who have positive attitudes and
attributes to apply for posts where it may be possible to fill gaps in their skill set
through training. We will also be issuing further guidance about how we can support
and encourage staff to look at reduced working hours, unpaid sabbaticals etc. in an
effort to promote both work life balance and have a positive impact on Council
budgets rather than having to resort to redundancies.

These short and medium term strategies will not in themselves deliver us the savings
we require - it will take clear leadership, good decision making and passion to
achieve the same high standards in challenging financial times. However, I am
certain that we will all step up to the mark to ensure that Bristol keeps performing.

Yours sincerely

Jan Ormondroyd
Chief Executive