For the first time in a number of years the Council is looking to out-source a number of its services to the private sector which has and is causing anxiety amongst staff. Unlike in the past management are giving no opportunity to the in-house service to demonstrate that it is able to deliver up the quality and level of service required and to demonstrate that it can deliver efficiencies. The staff side believe that such an approach is flawed and risks the Council entering into contracts which will neither deliver the quality of service required nor the expected savings.
The staff-side would like to discuss and have reviewed the framework procurement agreement being used by the Council.
Minutes:
For the first time in a number of years the Council had been looking to out-source a number of its services to the private sector which was causing anxiety amongst staff. Unlike in the past, management had not been giving the appropriate in-house service the opportunity to demonstrate that it is able to deliver the quality and level of service required and to demonstrate that it could deliver efficiencies. The Staff-side believed that such an approach was flawed and risked the Council entering into contracts which would neither deliver the quality of service required nor the expected savings.
The Staff-side Secretary asked what measures were in place for staff/unions to bid to undertake services prior to outsourcing being considered. Before outsourcing took place there should be an open discussion about whether the service could be provided in-house which included details of the costings. There should also be an examination of external providers. This used to take place 12 to 15 years ago but seemed to have fallen into disuse. Prior to the 30 day ICES equipment consultation the unions had not been contacted.
Members were informed by the staff side that every service in Adult and Community Services was going to be the subject of market testing. With regard to providing medical equipment in the home, the Staff-side Secretary had spoken to the appropriate members of staff who had reported that they could bring back the service from outsourcing and could provide the equipment at the same cost. The Head of HR Operational Services said that the in-house option was being considered as it provided the benchmark, however it might not be the recommended option. The Council needed time to check the validity of such claims. The same situation applied to the Liberata bid. The Staff-side Secretary stated he would like to be in a position to propose a procurement protocol that would ensure that the staff and unions were consulted with at the beginning of a market testing process. A draft protocol had been started and he would be putting it to management for consideration in due course.
Councillor Owen advised that frontline staff had the best knowledge on how to provide their services and he was very interested to hear about the ICES staff idea. Members were reminded that the Chief Executive encouraged staff to bring their ideas forward for consideration.
The Head of Corporate Procurement advised that, in cases of major procurement, the Council has arrangements in place to consider all contracts on a Value for Money basis and there should be time in the process to consider other forms of contracting, ideas and other proposals and this usually happened. The Staff-side Secretary stated that whilst officers may believe this work was undertaken, it was not. Liberata was contracted to ‘keep it local’ but might, in the future, outsource to Barrow which would affect the quality of the service delivered to Bromley residents. It was not always about money but also about the quality of the service. The Staff-side Secretary also cited other examples of where Council staff could undertake a service in a more cost effective way.
Councillor Colin Smith broadly supported Councillor Owen’s opinion. Staff would always know the day to day operational requirements of their jobs/departmentbest but all options must be investigated.
The Assistant Chief Executive (HR) agreed that at the point of decision to outsource a service, staff views should have been heard. The investigation of all options on the different ways to provide a service should be embedded in the culture of the Council. Officers should look at the various options if they have time. He advised that a Corporate Departmental Representative Forum was to be held on Friday 23rd September 2011 and he would raise this subject at that meeting.
The Staff-side Secretary stated that he was not interested in introducing a bureaucratic process but the Council had legal obligations to consult at the earliest stage for instance, duties under the equality legislation etc and he felt that a protocol should be created for Officers’ use.
Following a question concerning the London Consortium, the Head of Corporate Procurement advised that it was a London-wide body that gained economies of scale and that when viewed overall, considering all associated costs, it would be expected to deliver value for money.
The Chairman concluded the debate by saying that the Committee was not opposed to the germ of the idea put by the Staff-side Secretary but was against a bureaucratic process. He asked that the Committee be kept informed of progress.