Council meetings were suspended for the mourning period following the passing of Her Majesty The Queen, with the exception of an extraordinary meeting of Leicestershire County Council to allow members to pay our tributes to the Queen’s lifetime of service.  I was very honoured to make my own tribute there.  Once normal business resumed, meetings returned at a pace and at the County’s Cabinet meeting on the 20^th September a report regarding the County’s massive financials pressures was discussed (details of this are below).  Whilst this is the most significant challenge to face local government in a generation, potentially ever, we are determined to do whatever we can to protect vulnerable people and, as far as possible, minimise the impact on the services residents value.