·  Findings from the review

The Chair welcomed Jim Lester, Head of Cultural Services, and invited him to talk about the review of the Parks and Countryside Service Procurement Exercise.

Jim Lester explained that his responsibilities include Art Galleries and Museums, in addition to Parks and Countryside services.

The review of services started in June 2008 and a report taken to Cabinet in July 2010 included an outline business case prepared by independent consultants looking at various options for the Council to consider.  At the meeting in July, elected members decided that, with some exceptions, all the services should be kept together and provided by a single contractor. 

The scope of the exercise was to look at all the points of work and consider which services should be kept in scope and those that should be excluded.  In January 2011, the Director of Engineering Services reported to Cabinet on the areas that should not be included, namely the Landican Crematorium and Bereavement Services, the Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm, schools’ grounds, the Lifeguard Service, golf pavilions [but not the day to day management of the golf courses] allotments and charges for allotments.  These services would transfer to Asset Management.

The contracts for grounds maintenance, grass cutting, management of the Parks’ Ranger Service, maintenance of hedges, trees and grass verges and areas of open space associated with that will be brought into the single contract.

The contract will be worth between £6 and £9 million.  Research into what neighbouring local authorities are doing indicates that the contractor brings innovation and different ways of working and that considerable savings can be made with a single contract.  Biffa manages the bin collection service and Highway Maintenance recently transferred to Colas, and both services are doing well.

Currently, Wirral Council employs between 150/160 staff to deliver the services, although the numbers have reduced by a recent voluntary exercise.  The remaining staff will transfer to the new contracted and their existing pay and conditions will be protected under TUPE regulations.

Consultations and regular discussions have taken place with the staff and representatives from groups including user groups, specialist user groups, [eg people representing golf clubs, football and bowling clubs, Friends’ groups and people involved with heritage and the arts.

The next round of meetings will take place in March 2011 in Wallasey Town Hall.  The Parks workshop will be on 3 March, bereavement service focus session on 8 March, the golf session on 15 March, and the sports session, particularly on bowls and football, on 23 March. The main purpose of the sessions will be to provide more detailed information on the services and the feedback received will be used to inform the new contract.

Efforts have been made to identify all the representative groups of Friends across Wirral.  New groups are welcome and details of any group that has not already been approached would be appreciated from members of the public to ensure they are included in the process.

The specification will be completed by the end of March/early April, tenders will be invited for return in the Autumn, with a view to the new contract starting early in 2012.

Parks are owned by the Council and they will remain in the ownership of the Council.  The delivery of the contract will be monitored working in partnership with the contractor and will involve user groups.  The expectation is that the contractor will work with the user groups and attend meetings such as Area Forums.

Jim Lester responded to questions:

Q  [Cllr Bridson]  Can you explain how the contract will be monitored to make sure that standards are maintained, or improved?

A  A requirement will be built into the submission that the contractor must demonstrate how they intend to maintain standards.

A set of key performance indicators are being developed – for example, on the standards expected for parks that are awarded a Green Flag.

Penalties will be applied if the contractor does not comply with the standards expected.  The contact is a ten year contact to allow the contractor to take a long term view and build up equipment and machinery and to ensure that sufficient staff are recruited and are trained appropriately.

Q  [Cllr Realey]  The 150/160 staff.  What happens with each group of staff, some are engaged in direct work and some in the office?

A  We have lost about 40 staff – a mixture of front of house and back room staff – through early voluntary retirement/severance.  Members have already agreed that some staff will be replaced by seasonal workers.  We think we will have appropriate cover as normal for this year.

In the future, the contractor will look at staffing levels over time.  The contractor will determine staffing levels, but cannot reduce or change the standards of delivery without the agreement of the Local Authority.

Q  [Alan Dollery]  I accept that it is a completely separate issue, but are the charges for pitches likely to increase?

A  The Local Authority will remain responsible for all income generated through hire charges.  Decisions are made by Elected Members and this year the charges will increase by 3%.

Q  The litter in Duck Pond Lane.  The Friends do a valuable job but will there be any overlap between Biffa and the new provider for litter collection?

A  The Parks and Countryside Service is responsible for litter picking.  It is accepted that improvements are needed in Duck Pond Lane.  It is hoped that the new contract will improve standards.

Q  [Chair]:  I received reports of broken glass in the children’s play area over the weekend, but staff were unavailable to deal with it at that time.  Part of the resolution of the Budget Cabinet last night was that cleaning will be undertaken if necessary during weekends.  The resolution is subject to final approval at the Budget Council meeting next week.

Q  [Cllr Brighouse]  Who makes the Green Flag Award?

A  It is the Civic Society nationally.  People are keen to improve the standard of parks and they came up with the idea of the Green Flag.  Trained judges use set criteria to judge whether the standards have been met.  The process is done annually on an individual basis.  A small fee is payable.

There are 12 Green Flags in Wirral and the aim is to increase the number of Green Flags so that everyone to lives in Wirral has access to a Green Flag park.

The Park must have a Friends’ Group and the Council works with local Friends’ Groups to help the park get the Green Flag.

Q  [Cllr Holbrook]  The contractor has to apply for and obtain some kind of affiliation status to the Merseyside Pension Fund, so that transferred staff remain in the Fund.  The way it has been done by other contracts if the contractor does not go down that route is to transfer staff to a scheme with comparable benefits.  It is extremely likely that any contactor would want the staff to remain within the Merseyside Pension Fund, and we as a Council will be encouraging any contactors to do that because it is the most secure route for our employees.

The Chair thanked Jim Lester for the presentation.