09:39 Tuesday 23rd September 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
PAUL STAINTON: Marion’s been on. Morning Marion. She says, “Paul, some of the managers in the NHS just need to go. There are so many of them now. Surely money can be saved in that way. No way should the NHS be means-tested.” But how do we find this £30 billion? When do we stop pouring money in and find a different way? Or should we? Or should the Government just direct money from somewhere else? Julian says, “There’s a substantial waste of financial resources inside the NHS, and a culture of only selecting candidates for the top jobs from people already working within the system.” says Julian this morning. ” How on earth are they going to get new blood in the system? It really needs a shake-up from the top downwards, and rooting out dead men’s shoes, automatic promotions. Let’s face it, Marco Cereste was in charge of our patch at one time and that didn’t work either.” says Julian this morning. Keep your comments coming in on the NHS. How do we work it out? How do we find a way to fund it properly? And talking of funding, it seems to be the in thing at the moment for local authorities to mention bankruptcy when talking about their dire financial situations. Indeed, the much-mentioned Marco Cereste told me that the Peterborough City Council was looking at every area of finance in order to avoid bankruptcy, and that his staff are selling their expertise just to try and balance the books.
(TAPE)
MARCO CERESTE: It’s the money that worries me. And we’ve done a lot of things in the city to train our staff, so that we can sell their expertise. We’re not only just saving money in the Council, we’re actually selling the Council’s expertise. We’re doing this where lots of other cities don’t really know where to start. And so that’s doing really really well. I wish we’d have started earlier. I wish we’d have had this drive earlier. But we didn’t, and we are where we are.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: That’s the Leader of Peterborough City Council, Marco Cereste. They’ve got a £22 million budget shortfall. Cambridgeshire needs to save £150 million. And Cambridge itself needs to save £30 million over the next five years. Well the Local Government Association says local government is nearing crisis point. So what would happen if a local authority actually went bankrupt? Would assets be seized? Would dustbin lorries be carted off – the street sweeper? What would happen to our services? Well let’s talk to Cambridge City Council Leader Lewis Herbert. Lewis, good morning.
LEWIS HERBERT: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Are local councils just scare-mongering? Are you scare-mongering a bit?
LEWIS HERBERT: We’re certainly not. We haven’t said we’re going to go bankrupt. Our job is to work for residents and to make sure that we deliver quality services. We’re not a poor city, but as you’ve introduced, we have to save £6 million a year by 2020, and that’s about a quarter of our budget, and that’s after we’ve taken all the easy wins and cut our spending in line with the Government’s spending cut of 30% in the last few years.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes, it’s a lot of money, isn’t it? You can understand then why some councils are using the B-word. But equally, financial experts we’ve spoken to say local authorities could never go bankrupt.
LEWIS HERBERT: Well they have in America, and they have in other places. It is possible.
PAUL STAINTON: Would the Government not just step in?
Continue reading “Lewis Herbert Cambridge City Council on Coalition cuts, bankruptcy and council borrowing”
