Barnet UNISON Service Improvement Plan

Barnet UNISON Service Improvement Plan

5 January 2015.

“A best value authority must make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency, and effectiveness.”

(s3(1) Local Government Act 1999)

The parts of the Duty can be summarised

as:

i. Continuous improvement in functions

ii. Having regard to a combination of:

a. Economic value

b. Efficiency

c. Effectiveness

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 also places obligations on local authorities in England and Wales to consider how to improve social, economic and environmental well-being.

However, it does not change the Duty, it simply adds to it.

The new statutory guidance for England talks about social value in terms of procuring or commissioning goods and services, perhaps deliberately overlooking in-house service provision.

“…authorities should consider overall value, including economic, environmental and social value, when reviewing service provision. As a concept, social value is about seeking to maximise the additional benefit that can be created by procuring or commissioning goods and services, above and beyond the benefit of merely the goods and services themselves.” (Best Value Statutory Guidance (Sept 2011) [I don’t understand how this quote exemplifies the paragraph preceding it]

 

Barnet UNISON argues that social value should also be considered when looking at in-house services.

To view service improvement plan click here

New Year message for Barnet UNISON members

New Year message for Barnet UNISON members

Dear Members

Five years of “Austerity” has delivered a direct attack on public services and Council services have taken the biggest hit.

The Autumn Statement announced that there are going to be bigger CUTS to all public services.

Once again Councils are the biggest target.

The level of CUTS & outsourcing in response to the Autumn Statement are so great that unless there is a coordinated national response from the Trade Union movement, Council workers will disappear either as a consequence of redundancies and/or outsourcing.

No doubt, short term solutions such as Mutual’s & Social Enterprises will be offered up as an alternative to straight forward privatisation.

HOWEVER, these options will simply not be sustainable and will, like the 1990’s Bus Company Mutual’s, all be taken over by private contractors.

In the name of austerity our members and workers across the UK are being targeted.

“Northamptonshire County Council reduce its workforce from 4,000 to 150 people in a bid to carve £148 million out of its budget within the next five years.”

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/budget-cuts-of-148-million-will-result-in-northamptonshire-county-council-outsourcing-95-per-cent-of-staff-1-6463894

Camden £73 million cuts

http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/content/news/2014/december-2014/camden-sets-out-73m-savings-plan-to-balance-budget.en

Cardiff council planning £32m cuts in 2015/16 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-30058107

Birmingham city council to axe thousands of jobs as part of ‘dire cuts’

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/10/birmingham-city-council-axe-thousands-jobs-cuts

Manchester facing £60m council cuts – while 20 areas in the south GAIN spending power

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-facing-60m-council-cuts-8071156

Funding crisis leaves Newcastle facing ‘impossible cuts’ and social unrest

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/24/funding-crisis-newcastle-impossible-cuts-social-unrest

Coventry City Council’s plans  for service cuts ‘horrify’ residents

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-30173689

Leeds faces up to ‘brutal’ council cuts

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/leeds-faces-up-to-brutal-council-cuts-1-6994471

Business leaders hear impact of £102 million council cuts

http://www.theargus.co.uk/business/11654697.Business_leaders_hear_impact_of___102_million_council_cuts/

The Autumn Statement makes it very clear that public services funding will be reduced to 1930’s levels. I have checked, there were not many public services in 1930’s, which does mean the end of local government. However,   this is not stopping with local government as 70% of NHS contracts have already been handed to the private sector.

http://www.publicsectorexecutive.com/Public-Sector-News/obr-warns-a-million-public-sector-jobs-will-be-lost-by-2019

This is a critical moment in the future of public services.

You do not need to have a degree in economics to see the pattern of the attack. If services are outsourced they are done so on the basis of reducing Pay, Pensions and Terms & Conditions. Meanwhile the services we all need and enjoy will become extinct or attract charges.

No one is safe, except for the consultants who earn lucrative sums of public money from peddling “Austerity”.

FINALLY now the cries of “no more” are coming from Council Leaders who now see the end of local democracy. The first cull of councillors will be the reduction of numbers per ward but it is inevitable that if “Austerity” continues this will mean the end of local Council elections. After all why do we need Councillors if services are no longer under local control or have ceased to exist?

The end game of “Austerity” will see local democracy replaced by big corporate multi-nationals and next it will be free to finish the job by taking control of the NHS.

It does not have to be this way.

The Trade Union movement does stand in the way of the “Austerity” propaganda which is why the Coalition Government are constantly seeking to restrict the ‘rights of the workers’ through anti-trade union legislation.

Now is the time for a coordinated national response from the Trade Union movement.

This is not just a view of a few angry union reps but a repeated question from members who see what has happened to other colleagues and see what is looming for them and their services.

The Autumn Statement is a declaration of war on public services and the workforce that delivers them. Across the public services there have been pockets of resistance, some local and some national, to the concerted attempt to reduce public services. We have seen Firefighters, Teachers, Lecturers, NHS & Council workers take some strike action in the last five years; but it has not been coordinated across the whole of the Trade Union movement.

The Trade Union movement was built on solidarity and working together in the face of adversity. Mitigating the Cuts, Redundancies & Outsourcing is not a sustainable strategy.

The challenge has been thrown down by “Austerity” and it is for all members of the Trade Union movement to demand a change, “doing the same” is no longer an option.

In Barnet we have been on the frontline of a political ideology which views in-house services as inferior to outsourcing, despite the evidence to the contrary.

Our branch will continue to promote the in-house services and seek to defend our members’ Pensions, Pay and Terms & Conditions.

In the case where the employer refuses to change its approach to delivering Council services we will call on our members to resist these attacks by calling for an industrial response.

Best wishes

John Burgess

Branch Secretary

Barnet Council response to UNISON 13 Questions on privatisation plans

Barnet Council response to UNISON 13 Questions

Barnet UNISON submitted 13 questions to senior management in order to understand how much evidence had been gathered in relation to this proposed outsourcing project.

You can view our questions here http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/sites/default/files/Barnet%20Education%20Skills%20Update.pdf which are contained within an update report we provided for our members in December 2014.

BELOW ARE RESPONSE TO OUR QUESTIONS

In relation to questions 1 and 2, please find below a table that shows the income and an indication of the number of schools buying each of the traded services in each of the last three years. I’ve attached the traded service booklet where you’ll see that some of the services on offer have a range of products for schools to buy, some require schools to buy a package and some are available to spot purchase. The figures in the attached table give a reasonable indication of the current and previous buy back but obviously at any one time, the number of customers vary.

Service area

12/13

13/14

14/15

Gross

income

Number of schools purchasing at least one element of the service

Gross

income

Number of schools

purchasing at least one element of the service

Gross

Income

(projected)

Number of schools

purchasing at least one element of the service

BPSI

£726k

Primary: 90

Secondary: 3

£856k

Primary: 97

Secondary: 3

£761K

Primary: 94

Secondary: 3

NQT’s

£124

All schools: n/a

£131k

All schools: n/a

£135k

All schools: at least 21

Catering

£6,800k

Primary: 72

Secondary: 10

£7,287k

Primary: 77

Secondary: 11

£7,134K

Primary: 75

Secondary: 12

Ed psych (incl behaviour support)

£112k

All schools** : n/a

£80k

All schools** : 40

£286K

Primary: 90*

Secondary: 12*

All schools**46

EWO

£44k

Primary: n/a

Secondary: 4

£64k

Primary: 81

Secondary: 4

£118k

Primary: 81

Secondary: 4

Foreign Language Ass

£182

Primary: 2

Secondary: 12

£166k

Primary: 2

Secondary: 13

£165k

Primary: 2

Secondary: 12

Governors clerking***

£287

All schools:76

£300k

All schools: 74

£295k

All schools: 62

NLSIN

£67

Primary: 167

Secondary: 24

Special: 14

£75k

Primary: 124

Secondary: 21

Special: 12

£56k

Primary: 110

Secondary: 19

Special:11

14-19

£85k

Secondary: n/a

£125k

Secondary: 5

£85k

Secondary: 6

*education psychology service only – new service 2015/16

**behaviour support

*** purchasing at least 3 meetings

Each year, the customer base also varies as new schools are opened (five free schools in Barnet) or as schools amalgamate as has recently happened at Edgware infant and juniors, St Joseph’s infant and juniors and Underhill infant and juniors. The current customer base includes;

· Nursery schools = 4

· Primary schools = 88

· Secondary schools = 24

· All through = 1

· Special schools =4

· Pupil referral units =3

For the table above, primary covers nursery and primary special, unless indicated. Secondary includes PRU’s and secondary special, unless otherwise indicated.

In relation to question 3, there is only one Barnet school that does not buy any traded service at all from the council – Millbrook Park Academy has recently opened and as it fills, it may choose to buy services from the council in the future.

In relation to question 4, we do not hold information that would indicate why any particular school has chosen to no longer purchase council traded services.

In relation to question 5, we do not know hold information about what services schools buy from other providers or the providers that each school chooses to purchase services from.

In relation to questions 6 and 7, each year schools decide on the traded services they wish to buy from the council. During our consultation, schools have indicated that their decision to purchase will be determined by the quality and value for money of any service offered. The quality of the offer and the value for money of any new services will be for any future delivery model to develop and market directly to schools.

In relation to question 8, we do not keep a list of the competitors for the council’s traded services.

In relation to question 9, the straightforward answer is that to avoid service reductions, the Education and Skills service overall needs to generate savings of £1,550m over five years through efficiencies and/or growth. In relation to income through growth, it is assumed that income represents 20% of any additional monies bought in through increasing or new trade.

In relation to question 10, the financial modelling that will be set out in the outline business case will model potential income over the next five years for catering, other traded services, part traded services and non-traded services. It will model growth from selling more services to existing school customers and to new school customers, selling services to other councils and developing new services for both schools and councils.

Questions 11,12 and 13 will be explored during any procurement process.

 

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