1. SETTING THE SCENE - DISTRICT COUNCIL ISSUES Angela Brown Director of Corporate Services Carlisle City Council & President of SDCT CIPFA CONFERENCE - 24th JUNE 2009

2. Background n Recession - Severe Impact on Public Sector n Efficiency Programme - £9bn from public sector n Impact on Services and ultimately Customer n Positive Actions - preparing for Recovery

3. Perceived District Weaknesses? n Audit Commission/Government Reports: ÿReview of Financial Management ÿTreasury Management (Icelandic Banks) x2 n Technical - Expertise and Capacity (examples) uTreasury Management uIFRS uShared Services/Efficiency Reviews n Financial - Future Funding Levels uComprehensive Spending Review - Impact uReserves

4. So what are the SDCT doing? n Leadership Academy (with CIPFA) n Shared Services Toolkit (with CIPFA) n Increasing Technical Expertise (with CIPFA) n Impact of Future Funding Levels (Study)

5. Increasing Technical Capacity and Expertise: n CIPFA/SDCT Proposal: uExtended CIPFA Technical Enquiry Service (under direction of SDCT) uDedicated individual for Districts uEmphasis on Practical Advice uPotential for ‘Clinic’ Sessions u2 Year period initially uWould Districts pay more for the service? n Treasury Management (Select Committee) n Other Joint Work to Canvass District Councils around CIPFA Services and what would support us in the challenges we are facing

6. Impact of Future Funding Levels on District Councils: n Study ( Funded by SDCT ) n Proposed Brief: uAssess the potential gap between expected income and expenditure uInvestigate ways of reducing or mitigating the impact n Feed Into Settlement Working Group

7. CIPFA/SDCT Leadership Academies n Focus on leadership and personal impact for serving and (separately) aspiring s151 officers - not about professional finance skills n Input sessions on leadership and networking with senior elected members, chief executives, serving s151 officers and leadership experts n Action Learning Sets focussed on implementing theory and addressing real problems in workplace

8. Leadership Academies - Results and Programmes n First pilot for serving s151 officers completed with all but two electing to carry on the action learning for further 6 months n Superb feedback from serving s151 officers on completion of pilot –“greater confidence”, “better prepared”, “aware of impact on others”, “opportunity to reflect”, “chance to network with peeps outside normal circle with same issues” n Two new Leadership Academies launch in Autumn running through to Easter 2010 n A real chance to improve your leadership skills and impact on others n Contact (programme available from Brendan McCarron at CIPFA, brendan.mccarron@cipfa.org.uk or 01249 783 489)

9. Questions / Feedback n Views (particularly on work being undertaken / progressed) n Other suggestions n Volunteers for SDCT Executive ÿWebsite: www.socdct.co.uk