UNISON Regional Secretary writes letter to Leader Barnet Council

Dear Cllr Cornelius

URGENT – One Barnet

I write as a matter of urgency following the announcement that the Chief Executive, Mr Nick Walkley, has accepted an appointment at the London Borough of Haringey and is due to vacate his post at Barnet shortly.

Mr Walkley’s departure occurs at a critical point in the One Barnet programme. The final evaluation report concerning the NSCSO contract will be published in three weeks time and be considered by the Cabinet early next month, likewise the DRS report will be published and considered very early in the New Year.

Mr Walkley has played a – if not the – leading officer role on the One Barnet programme in the Council over many years, firstly as Assistant CEO with the Future Shape programme, and latterly as CEO with One Barnet. Moreover, most other senior officer roles concerned with driving the One Barnet programme are now being undertaken either by consultants or organisations external to the Council such as Agylisis and Impower. His departure will therefore inevitably result in the London Borough of Barnet relying almost exclusively on outside agencies to advise and make recommendation on the future of the bulk of the Council’s core services.

As you know, UNISON has consistently raised our concerns about the One Barnet programme, not just because we have major concerns for the workforce and our members, but also for the probable implications it will have for the standards of service and costs to the residents of the Borough. Now one of the chief architects of the programme will now no longer be remaining to see the project through or to take responsibility for its ongoing implementation.

For these reasons UNISON respectfully requests that the Council consider suspending the One Barnet Programme with a view to evaluating whether or not this now provides the best way forward for the Borough’s services. Further, UNISON remains fully committed to engaging in meaningful discussion

with the Council with a view to securing significant efficiency savings through service re-engineering whilst retaining high quality services in house, and would be very grateful if you would agree to meeting with us, and other trade unions should you find this appropriate, to explore this option as an alternative to the One Barnet Programme.

I would be very grateful for an early reply to this proposal.

Yours sincerely

LINDA PERKS

REGIONAL SECRETARY

UNISON GLR

cc All Barnet Councillors

Nick Walkley, CEO

Andrew Travers, Assistant CEO