In 2008 the Audit Commissions published their report “For better, for worse” (their title not mine!) , providing a national analysis on Strategic Service delivery Partnerships SSP’s)

Yes, more jargon. SSPs are long-term public private partnerships (PPPs) through which contractors deliver a service or range of services for councils

“There are clear drawbacks for councils when SSPs do not succeed.”

• Private sector experience suggests that 60 to 70 per cent of strategic partnership arrangements between companies fail, and few meet expectations.
• Three of the earliest councils to adopt SSPs have terminated their agreements before their term, incurring additional costs.
• Even in continuing SSPs, purported benefits from economies of scale and transferred learning between sites have been slow to emerge.
• Some SSPs have proved inflexible, hindering councils’ ability to respond to changing external circumstances. (Audit Commission)

Of the many SSP’s we found there was one example of an in house bid being tabled. The in house bid was in Newcastle City Council.

Dexter Whitfield worked with the UNISON branch and the Council to prepare the in house bid.

The private contractor that tendered a bid was BT.

The in house bid won.

That is why we want Dexter to crucial support on the Future Shape consultation.

To view the details on Newcastle click here

400+

It was an incredible response from staff & Barnet residents on a bitter cold December evening……….hot drinks, mince pies and carol singing all helped fight off the cold.

So what happened in the meeting?

Well some of you may have seen or heard reports on the local TV & radio.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/tv/television/latest_stories/

And a link to photos taken at the rally – http://photos.snapsthoughts.com/p352281318

It appears from listening to the Leader both on the TV and in the Cabinet Committee that the Trade Unions have jumped the gun.

The new public service model which is described in the report is “NOT about mass privatisation of the Council!”

That is good news….but it really is not clear in the report….we are not the only ones to apparently misunderstand the report. A Barnet resident sent the Cabinet report to the Plain English Campaign and this is their response:

Plain English Campaign’s assessment of Future Shape report discussed at Cabinet 3 December 2008:

 “I think your suggestion that the council is planning to introduce outsourcing is correct although when they couch their plans in such gobbledygook, it is hard to be certain.

 “Paragraph 4.3 seems to suggest that they are thinking of using ‘organisations other than the Council’ while paragraph 5.3 suggests staff could be transferred to other employers. And, the Council also seems to have considered the legal implications of what it is doing.

“In answer to your question about whether it is in plain (enough) English to serve the public interest, the answer is definitely not. From a plain English point of view, it is an awful document. It is so full of jargon and management speak that the message is hard to find. It is quite possible to write complicated stuff like this in plain English – in fact, as everyone is entitled to receiving information in plain English, it should be common practice to write clearly.

“Whether the Council is writing in this style to try to disguise what it is considering, or whether it is just a case of not thinking about the residents of the borough I can’t say. What I would do however is ask for the information in an appropriate style so that you, and all the other residents of the borough, are aware of quite major changes that could affect the way your council is run. And, as there seem to be huge implications for staff, I am sure they particularly need to be kept notified of what is happening.”

Councillors reaction

Barnet residents & Trade Union members came up to me and complained that they felt the councillor’s comments were rude and playing to the gallery. I am afraid that this has been a feature of both local and national politics for a long time. It is not surprising that there is such poor responses to consultations with the communities.

Wednesday 3 December 400 people felt motivated to find time to come along and take part in something we call democracy. Democracy means the right for individuals and organisations to lobby and give their views. Just because you don’t like what you read is not grounds for disrespecting other people’s views. What we saw tonight was deliberate misrepresentation of the trade unions’ report.

Clearly there is a serious lack communication not just with the trade unions but with staff and most importantly residents, I hope that rather than retreating behind party political jibes we are able to sit down and play an active part in the Future Shape programme. I would ask ALL staff not to feel disheartened but to take up the challenge and request YOUR Future Shape meeting in your workplace. According to the time table we have just under 5 months for the Council to thoroughly assess what it is doing now and how it might change?

Staff, residents and the Trade Unions are waiting for the next phase of consultation to begin!

Clear as Mud?

To be honest I was not convinced I would get a reply to the letter I sent in September (to view click here)

Our Local MP Andrew Dismore has passed on a response to our letter. It is written on behalf of Governement Minister Hazel Blears by Sadiq Khan MP…

To read click here

These are people who carry out the same tasks as social workers, in Adult Social Care. Without their input the service delivery in the Borough would collapse. They are mostly very experienced, highly thought of and respected within their teams and by their team managers. When they work with a member of the public they stay with that person to work through the issues (health, housing, care, working with family members and more) no matter how complex. The only difference is they would not investigate Adult Protection matters and they do not have a social work qualification. Their pay grade implies that where their work ends the social worker takes over and yet this is far from the practice and far from what is specified in their Role Profiles.

At a meeting with councillors on 7 October 2008, the unions were given to believe there would be movement in a further negotiation around acknowledging there needed to be an overlap in the grades. Regrettably at the negotiation there has been no movement. There is no acknowledgment there needs to be an overlap in grades. Our Community Care Officers have already indicated they are prepared to take industrial action if their pay is not increased in recognition of the complexity of the work they do.

They are far from being alone within Adult Social Services, as people who do complex work which is not recognised in pay. This is very demoralising for our members and all staff across Barnet Council in general.

This is all happening in context of the revolutionary changes to ALL of our jobs that is inherent in the Future Shape project.

To view the Key milestones on Future Shape click here

Colleagues

Please take the time to read this letter. It deals with employment issues such as TUPE and the impact on your terms and conditions including your pension. It is clear that if the Council genuinely want to make sure none of these private don’t attack your terms and conditions they need to sign up to TUPE PLUS

To read the full document click here 

Key Briefing on In House transformation

Recommendations:

The Council should ensure that the Future Shape of the Council programme adopts the key components of this initial transformation strategy:

1.      Innovation and new ways of working: using joint Council/trade union workshops to explore the scope for service innovation and integration, shared services and public-public partnerships and staff and user involvement and empowerment.

2.      Performance comparisons and benchmarking should compare like with like using verifiable and audited performance information.

3.      Development of options must be based on improved and innovative in-house provision reflecting the full potential of the service, not on the current service.

4.      Options appraisal criteria should be amended and based on twelve criteria described below.

5.      In-house bids should be submitted if procurement selected.

6.      An accessible evidence base is prepared to support the development and appraisal of options.

To read the Full Briefing click here

This week the Joint Trade unions have submitted two briefing papers in response to the proposals relating to the establishment of a Strategic core in the General Functions Committee 11 September 2008.

Headlines from Briefing 1

“Further debate on the strategic functions…”

“Joint employer/trade union forums…..”

“Timetable should be extended to the Cabinet meeting planned for 20 January 2009..”

(click here for Full Briefing)

Headlines from Briefing 2

“The Council should endorse and enshrine the following fundamental principles and values for the Future Shape of the Council programme.”

“principles and values should be embedded in the development and appraisal of options”

(Click here for Full Briefing)

Clearly we want to make sure all council services are given a fair chance to compete against alternative models of service provision. This week Pricewaterhouse consultants begin work on developing options for Barnet Councils services. They will be conducting workshops with managers and compiling information, using templates as well as speaking to staff. We have just seen the timescale for this piece of work and feel that it is too tight to enable work on In house transformation to be done across all services.

This is why we are asking for the Options paper to be delayed until the next Cabinet meeting on 20 January 2009. Since the 6 May Cabinet paper was published we have been concerned by the absence of the In house transformation option. In the past when services have been facing privatisation the In house services have not had internal support for the service to remain in house. This is why we are calling for “Joint employer/trade union forums as a matter of urgency”

Directors, Senior managers will be speaking to Pricewaterhouse about what they feel are options for their services and ultimately YOUR jobs!

What are they recommending about YOUR job?

It is important YOU ask questions about YOUR team, YOUR service. Don’t wait until it is too late. YOU need to engage on the FUTURE of YOUR job and service.

We are hoping the “Joint employer/trade union forums” can start quickly. We have identified Planning, Building Control and Parking as one of the first forums to start. BUT this should be taking place across the whole Council workforce.

Please contact the branch if YOUR workplace is not engaging in these discussions.

Make sure you come along to the Barnet UNISON Future Shape meetings , next meeting 11 September 12 until 1.30 pm NLBP.