Big Community Conversation question and answers - Resources
NTSP Big Community Conversation Questions and Answers
Please see a list of the questions you can find below. Please scroll down to find the answers to each question.
1. How is the council improving efficiency and exploring innovative ways to save money, such as national audits, consolidation of offices, and other cost-saving measures?
2. Does North Tyneside Council provide good value for money, and why are both a CEO and an elected mayor needed?
3. What support will be available for the voluntary and community sector and for older residents in the coming years?
4. How can financial reports and spending breakdowns be made more transparent and accessible to residents?
5. Why isn’t the council working with other North East councils to demand better local government funding and reverse national cuts?
6. Why doesn’t the council generate more income from flagship events like the Mouth of the Tyne Festival instead of relying on taxpayers?
7. Why are there so many charity shops in North Shields, and how does this affect local business rates?
8. Why weren’t residents properly informed about the council tax bank account change, and why does the council bank with Barclays despite its fossil fuel investments?
9. Why is council tax always raised to the maximum, and what is it actually spent on, including subsidies for events like the Mouth of the Tyne Festival?
1. How is the council improving efficiency and exploring innovative ways to save money, such as national audits, consolidation of offices, and other cost-saving measures?
For a number of years the Authority has had to make difficult decisions as part of setting its revenue budget. The budget is extremely complex given the wide range of services that the Authority delivers and the uncertainty around its funding.
The Authority needs to ensure that its limited resources are prioritised effectively, in accordance with the Council Plan, to give the greatest possible impact for the residents of the Borough.
The Authority’s officers and Members continually review ideas to change the way services are delivered, to generate savings and improve efficiency. Proposals to do so are reflected in the Budget reports, which are published online and are typically considered by Cabinet from November through to early February, before progressing to Council in February for approval as part of setting the budget. All papers are published and available on the Authority’s website.
The Authority’s current approach involves 14 specific project areas, which include things like the approach to social care, improving the efficiency of its buildings, improving the way services are commissioned and reviewing the workforce. In 2024/25, these projects helped to deliver over £10m of savings and they are subject to continual review to ensure that the Authority continues to deliver efficient, effective services.
The Authority’s external auditors also review the overall approach towards value for money annually and have continued to issue positive conclusions in recent years, helping to provide independent assurance on the approach taken and its results.
2. Does North Tyneside Council provide good value for money, and why are both a CEO and an elected mayor needed?
The Elected Mayor and the Chief Executive Officer (Head of Paid Service) are separate roles, with different functions and responsibilities. The same individual could not, by law, fulfil both roles. The Authority is required by law to have a Head of Paid Service.
The Elected Mayor
The Elected Mayor is the political leader of the Authority and provides political direction and is the Authority’s principal public spokesperson, with an important role in promoting the interests and profile of the Authority.
The directly Elected Mayor and Cabinet model has operated within the Authority since 2002 with both Conservative and Labour Mayors.
There have been 2 referendums on this form of governance confirming this model was the electorates’ preferred form of governance:
- In 2001 a referendum was held to establish if there was support for the introduction of the directly Elected Mayor and Cabinet model of governance. Following the referendum outcome, which showed clear support for the change, the first directly elected Mayor came into office in 2002.
- In May 2016 a further referendum was held as to whether the Mayor and Cabinet model of governance should continue. 57.5% of the electorate voted to retain the directly elected Mayor and Cabinet model.
Any change to North Tyneside Council’s current form of governance would require a further referendum. The outcome of the referendum would have to show clear support for any proposed change before it could be implemented.
Chief Executive Officer (Head of Paid Service)
The Chief Executive Officer works closely with the Elected Mayor and Cabinet but must remain politically neutral and provide professional advice to all elected members.
The Chief Executive Officer leads the senior officer team and ensures that decisions of the Elected Mayor and Cabinet and decisions of Full Council are properly implemented.
In undertaking their statutory role as the ‘Head of Paid Service’ the Chief Executive role holds the power to formally report to the Authority on their preferred design for the delivery, co-ordination, and integration of the Authority’s functions. In addition to the responsibilities entrusted to them by the elected members, the Head of Paid Service is statutorily responsible for the numbers, grades, roles, appointment, and discipline of staff.
The Chief Executive Officer position (also referred to as the Head of Paid Service) is recruited to via the Authority’s Appointments and Disciplinary Committee which is made up of elected councillors. The Committee selects and interviews candidates. Following a successful selection process a report is taken to a meeting of Full Council for consideration by all elected members and to confirm the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer and designate them as the Head of Paid Service.
3. What support will be available for the voluntary and community sector and for older residents in the coming years?
Two different things
We will continue to support the VCS where we can but the majority of their funding comes from outside the council through other funding bids they might make
We are working with AgeUK to become an Age Friendly Borough which should help in the support of older people in the future.
4. How can financial reports and spending breakdowns be made more transparent and accessible to residents?
The Authority reports its financial information to Cabinet every two months, which is more frequently than most Authorities, who tend to provide updates each quarter. The reports are all available on the Authority’s website.
In recent years, the reports have included performance information as well as financial information as this helps to explain the key reasons behind the financial position.
Each report is also scrutinised and challenged by Cabinet, Overview, Scrutiny, Co-ordination and Finance Committee and the Authority regularly reviews the content of its reports based upon the feedback that is provided at these sessions.
The Authority prepares a range of summary information as part of the Budget engagement process and this process is also reviewed to reflect feedback from residents and key stakeholders. As a result of this, the Authority is planning on arranging a series of workshops as part of setting its 2025/26 Budget.
5. Why isn’t the council working with other North East councils to demand better local government funding and reverse national cuts?
The Authority already works extremely closely, with the other 6 councils in the Tyne and Wear region, with the Regional Mayor (covering the North East Combined Authority) and the wider Tees Valley councils.
The Authority has close working with the four MPs that cover the North Tyneside area. As part of this, MPs regularly represent the borough and wider region in their discussions with Government. They have been extremely supportive in enabling discussions to happen with Ministers and senior officials in Government, for example with the recent concrete issues experienced by three of our maintained schools.
The Authority also completes numerous formal consultations with Government, for example the recent proposals for a revised approach to local authority funding (known as the Fair Funding Review). We await a further update from Government on this, with details to be including in the forthcoming budget proposals that will be taken to Cabinet and Council over the next few months.
6. Why doesn’t the council generate more income from flagship events like the Mouth of the Tyne Festival instead of relying on taxpayers?
Mouth of the Tyne Festival generates over £1million for the local economy and is largely funded through strategic partnerships, sponsorship, ticket income and pitch fees. A large element of the festival is free to attend to ensure it remains open to as many people as possible.
Other events in our annual programme cover their own costs, for example the North Tyneside 10k Road Race and Tynemouth Food Festival.
We are continuously striving to find ways of funding events through ticketing, sponsorship and by bidding for financial support from external agencies like North East Combined Authority and Arts Council England.
In addition, we support dozens of independent, third-party events that expand our visitor offer, attract tourists and support the economy, without any direct financial investment from the council.
7. Why are there so many charity shops in North Shields, and how does this affect local business rates?
The Authority cannot directly control which organisations and businesses locate in different parts of the Borough. Many of the shops/premises are not in the ownership of the Authority, so these are commercial decisions reached between prospective business and the premise owners.
The level of business rates generated are determined by the Government, with the initial business rate charge determined by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). Some businesses will be eligible for relief from these business rates, sometimes determined by the size and type of business. Some voluntary organisations will be eligible for mandatory and discretionary relief, but for those that have trading operations (such as charity shops) will have these activities taken into account when the VOA assesses the business rates charge.
8. Why weren’t residents properly informed about the council tax bank account change, and why does the council bank with Barclays despite its fossil fuel investments?
There are very few banking providers within the market who provide services to Local Authorities given the nature of our activities and values of money involved.
The Authority chooses its provider as part of a commercial procurement process which considers a range of factors to ensure that the Authority gets the best value for money service but ultimately has no control over the investment decisions of its banking provider.
In common with a large number of Local Authorities, Barclays have been the Authority’s banking provider since 2014 and retained the service at the most recent procurement earlier this year.
9. Why is council tax always raised to the maximum, and what is it actually spent on, including subsidies for events like the Mouth of the Tyne Festival?
The Authority carefully considers its approach towards Council Tax each year as part of the Budget setting process as part of its responsibility to set a balanced Budget.
Council Tax is spent on delivering a range of services, alongside Business Rates collected from local businesses and government grants. The Authority’s net revenue budget is agreed each year, and full details are published on the Authority’s website, with a summary included within the annual Council Tax leaflet.
In recent years the Authority has increased Council Tax by the maximum level allowed because this is the assumption that is used by central government when they allocate grant funding to each Authority across the country. This position is adopted by the majority of Local Authorities.
Any reduction to this level would mean further direct cuts to the Authority’s services and would also increase the pressure in future years as the Authority would continue to receive less funding than the government assumes would be available to support service delivery locally.