The Mayor’s annual budget, the first since the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review slashed the level of government funding for the capital, imposes cuts in the funding of the Greater London Authority’s functional bodies and the Met police.
An estimated £100 million cut in the Met’s grant funding has left senior officers looking for £61 million of savings in addition to £158million of efficiencies already identified. The cuts are also creating uncertainty over the Mayor’s aspiration to maintain officer numbers “at or around” current levels.
Transport chiefs face a grant reduction of £2.17 billion over the next four years which, despite fare increases, will require TfL to find further savings.
Although the ‘back loading’ of cuts in the Fire Brigade’s budget means service chiefs need find only £10.9 million in savings next year, the Brigade faces uncertainty around the scale of future cuts, making it harder to plan ahead with certainty.
Last month the Assembly’s Budget and Performance Committee warned the capital’s emergency and transport services will find it “increasingly difficult” to maintain service levels in the face of budget cuts.
The meeting takes place at 10am, Thursday 10 February 2011 in the Chamber at City Hall.
