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Dear colleague,
As part of our preparations for setting the County Council budget for 2014/15, the Leader of the Council, John Hart, and I would like to invite you to attend a staff briefing where you will have the opportunity to hear more about the tough choices facing the authority.
A briefing will be held in the Council Chamber, County Hall, Exeter on Tuesday 5 November between 12.00pm-1.30pm – this will also be webcast live on the day here. (Please note that headphones are required for this).
We will also be holding a second staff briefing at Filleigh Village Hall, north Devon on Friday 8 November between 12.30-2.00pm.
Although we have all worked hard over the past four years to reduce our spending, the latest Government spending review means we now need to save a further £100 million over the next three years. This means we have to look very carefully at everything we do, and that there will be some difficult choices to make.
The target budget will be discussed at Cabinet on 11 December, which will be followed by the Scrutiny process and consultation in the New Year, with the Cabinet set to agree the budget on 12 February before it is discussed at Full Council on 20 February.
I would like to stress that no decisions have been made about how individual services will be affected by this budget, and that I am working very closely with our senior leadership team to carefully consider our options before discussing these in more detail with the Members.
At the briefings John and I will go through the financial challenges facing us, explain more about the budget setting process, and about the work taking place to support you through these difficult times including a new HR Strategy and workshops, and we will spend some time answering your questions and concerns.
We hope to see you there but if you are unable to make either of the briefings and have a question you would like us to consider, please email centre@devon.gov.uk.
Kind regards
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