Agenda item

Commercialisation Update

Minutes:

Stuart Bellerby, Senior Commercial Manager, gave a presentation to the Committee which provided an update on commercialisation activity taking place within the Council. It summarised the 5 key commercial strands and where current commercial activity was taking place. It also highlighted some commercial benefits to the Council already from the commercial approach.

 

Responding to comments from Members he clarified the position with regard to fees and charges and the net cost to the Council of running the Floral Pavilion, which stood at £900,000. Some of these charges were for statutory functions such as cemeteries and crematoria, which were required to set fixed fees and also to provide a certain standard of maintenance at the cemeteries. He also acknowledged the need for the use of the correct terminology with regard to a section in the report referring to ‘charging for green waste’.

 

With regard to the traded services income, work was being undertaken with Finance to separate out the expenditure on a particular traded service. This had been undertaken with HR for schools which had been separated out from the Council’s HR function. Work was also done jointly with Cheshire West and Chester Council as joint owners of the company Edsential to ensure that they provided a good value for money service for Wirral’s schools too. In respect of contracts with suppliers, the Council did have early payment clauses built in to benefit both the Council and the supplier and this was undertaken on a contract by contract basis.

 

David Armstrong, Assistant Chief Executive, informed the Council that the Director of Finance was looking to maximise all opportunities in terms of the contracts used to buy services. Another development was in the social value element which contractors could give not just in terms of use of local suppliers but also in terms of tangible benefits provided to the local community, such as the contractors who worked on the A41 resurfacing carrying out refurbishment of a play area in Rock Ferry near the A41 and cleaning up graffiti on street furniture and planters near Cammell Lairds.

 

With regard to fees for licences, such as for taxi drivers, Stuart Bellerby commented that the Council had a statutory duty to provide these though any income could not exceed expenditure. He confirmed that different areas were being looked at with regard to charging and premium rate charges, such as in Registrars, where although fees for births, marriages and deaths were set nationally, the Council was able to offer a premium rate service for an express service, which it currently did. Work was also being undertaken with environmental colleagues in terms of developing their commercial offer which could be of benefit to local businesses.

 

In respect of the Tour of Britain cycling event, discussions were ongoing with the organisers about bringing the event back to the Wirral and lessons had been learnt from this year’s event as to how a more commercial approach could be taken in the future.

 

Officers were exploring options around opportunities with regard to the climate emergency and developing the green agenda with one example being around the siting of more electric vehicle charging points.

 

A Member also suggested that the Council could operate more efficiently and be more environmentally friendly if all Council services were moved to Birkenhead, making Council services more accessible by public transport.

 

Resolved – That the report be noted.

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