(a)

the VFM programme was initially set up in response to National Indicator 179 and had ensured the council had a plan and commitment to deliver VFM and achieve savings and efficiencies;

(b)

there were three major projects being delivered by the council that aimed to achieve improved VFM. These were the Accommodation Strategy, the Procurement project and carbon management;

(c)

the Accommodation Strategy was now in its second phase and was progressing well with current revenue savings being £529k per annum;

(d)

the procurement project incorporated both the purchase to pay (P2P) and Category Management projects, which aimed to deliver more control of expenditure across the council and over the course of a three year programme achieve savings of £3.6m by 2013 – 2014;

(e)

the procurement service now had six dedicated buyers in place and purchasing had become more effective through this system and had realised savings of £510k for 2011 – 2012;

(f)

the Category Management project focused on higher spend purchasing above £75k and throughout its operation savings were estimated to be £339k in 2012 – 2013 rising to £1.165m in 2013 – 2014;

(g)

the Council had made a commitment to deliver an ambitious ICT shared services programme, which was being headed up by Neville Cannon, in an attempt to deliver efficient services that can be utilised by other businesses and organisations;

(h)

the VFM team were reviewing CIPFA reports on a number of departments within Corporate Services to identify if any service improvements could be made;

(i)

one area that required review and improvements identified from the CIPFA reports was the council’s property costs and energy consumption;

(j)

the council were far exceeding its target in the Carbon Management Plan, which had been assisted by the development of the Plymouth Life Centre and implementation of the Accommodation Strategy.

(k)

the council had the cost of securing buildings once they had been vacated unless they were being demolished, this cost was considered necessary especially on sites such as the Former Pluss Factory Site, Clittaford Road, Southway, which was currently being marketed for sale;

(l)

currently the Schools Library Service was located at Chaucer Primary School and until this service was relocated to a suitable building the school site would not be demolished;

(m)

the council had a responsibility to become more efficient and in order to help achieve this the council’s online transactions would be improved;

(n)

the council were on course to deliver 95 per cent of its budget delivery plans and were identifying further areas to achieve the remaining 5 per cent of the £15m savings for 2011 – 2012.

(1)

a copy of the Powerpoint presentation is emailed to all those present at the meeting;

(2)

any future Powerpoint presentations are provided to panel members via email prior to the meeting.