- Four areas are selected by a majority as being ‘very important/ essential’ – ‘collecting bins and keeping the city clean’, ‘Ensuring older people and vulnerable adults are looked after and supported to live independently’, ‘Supporting education, early years and children with special educational’ needs’ and ‘Keeping children safe and families together’
- Providing planning services is the least important priority for respondents
- Residents think that portfolio budgets should be allocated differently
- Residents think that five portfolios should receive less funding, ‘health, wellbeing and social care’ has the largest negative difference of – 11 percentage points, taking the spending in this area from one third of the total controllable spend down to 22%
- Residents think that four portfolios should receive more funding, ‘housing and preventing homelessness’ has the largest positive increase, respondents think should be allocated more of the controllable budget by a 6 percentage point increase
Prioritising council services
Summary
Respondent rating on importance of core businesses
Base: Total sample (2,319)
This chart shows how respondents rated a variety of council services.
For ‘collecting bins and keeping the city clean’ – 59% rated this as very important, 33% as important, 6% as moderately important, and 1% as slightly important.
For ‘ensuring older / vulnerable adults are looked after and supported to live independently’ – 57% rated this as very important, 31% as important, 7% as moderately important, 3% as slightly important, and 1% as not important at all
For ‘supporting education, early years and children with special educational needs’ – 53% rated this as very important, 33% as important, 10% as moderately important, 3% as slightly important, and 1% as not important at all
For ‘keeping children safe and families together’ – 52% rated this as very important, 34% as important, 10% as moderately important, 3% as slightly important, and 1% as not important at all
For ‘maintaining our roads, parks and open spaces’ – 36% rated this as very important, 48% as important, 14% as moderately important, 2% as slightly important, and 1% as not important at all
For ‘offering housing services’ – 33% rated this as very important, 38% as important, 20% as moderately important, 6% as slightly important, 3% as not important at all and 1% had no opinion
For ‘providing benefits and collecting council tax and business rates’ – 32% rated this as very important, 39% as important, 19% as moderately important, 6% as slightly important, 2% as not important at all, and 1% had no opinion
For ‘encouraging economic development’ – 26% rated this as very important, 43% as important, 22% as moderately important, 6% as slightly important, 2% as not important at all, and 1% had no opinion
For ‘shopping culture, museums and libraries’ – 20% rated this as very important, 36% as important, 27% as moderately important, 11% as slightly important, 4% as not important at all, and 1% had no opinion
For ‘providing planning services’ – 11% rated this as very important, 34% as important, 36% as moderately important, 13% as slightly important, 4% as not important at all, and 2% had no opinion
Results of the budget allocation exercise
| wdt_ID | Areas of spending | Current budget breakdown (%) | Respondent average (%) | Difference (percentage points) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Children, Families and Education | 26 | 20 | - 6 |
| 2 | Climate Change and the Green Recovery | 8 | 10 | 2 |
| 3 | Culture, Leisure and Economic Development | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| 4 | Community Safety and Environment | 12 | 8 | - 4 |
| 5 | Health, Wellbeing and Social Care | 33 | 22 | - 11 |
| 6 | Housing and Preventing Homelessness | 3 | 9 | 6 |
| 7 | Planning Policy and City Development | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| 8 | Communities and Central Services | 12 | 8 | - 4 |
| 9 | Traffic and Transportation | 10 | 9 | - 1 |
This table shows that
With the children, families and education area, 26% of the current budget is allocated to this while on average, respondents say that 20% of the budget should be allocated to it
With the Climate Change and the Green Recovery area, 8% of the current budget is allocated to this while on average, respondents say that 10% of the budget should be allocated to it.
With the culture, leisure and economic development area, 5% of the current budget is allocated to this while on average, respondents say that 8% of the budget should be allocated to it
With the community safety and environment area, 12% of the current budget is allocated to this while on average, respondents say that 8% of the budget should be allocated to it.
With the health, wellbeing and social care area, 33% of the current budget is allocated to this while on average, respondents say that 22% of the budget should be allocated to it.
With the housing and preventing homelessness area, 3% of the current budget is allocated to this while on average, respondents say that 9% of the budget should be allocated to it.
With the planning policy and city development area, 1% of the current budget is allocated to this while on average, respondents say that 5% of the budget should be allocated to it.
With the communities and central services area, 12% of the current budget is allocated to this while on average, respondents say that 8% of the budget should be allocated to it.
With the traffic and transportation area, 10% of the current budget is allocated to this while on average, respondents say that 9% of the budget should be allocated to it.
