Geoff Bradfield, Wirral Unison

Councillor David Elderton,

Dave Green, Director of Technical Services

Ian Coleman, Director of Finance

Bill Norman, Director of Law and Asset Management

Councillor Phil Davies, mover of the call-in

Mr Geoff Bradfield, Branch Officer, Wirral Unison

He expressed his concerns regarding the level of consultation that had taken place on the business case options.  Their recent survey of a range of stakeholders such as football clubs, bowling clubs, anglers etc, indicated that they had not been consulted on these proposals.

The trade union had received very short notice of the recommendations contained in the draft report to the 22 July Cabinet meeting regarding the preferred option 3, and was therefore playing catch-up in its response to the consultant’s report detailing the arguments. Their plan would be to bring back the Highway Verges Contract which was due to end in December 2011 into the Parks Division and to do the work at no extra cost, saving the Council up to £1m per year. This would be achieved by an investment in new machinery and a revised more flexible staffing structure to fulfil the requirement of the Streetscene Contract, in addition to the main Parks Contract.

Mr Bradfield responded to questions from Members concerning the background to the PACSPE procurement exercise, consultative meetings held prior to the draft Cabinet report, costs associated with his alternative option and the implications on the projected level of savings.

Councillor David Elderton, Cabinet Member

He referred to the Cabinet’s decision (minute 98 – 3/9/09) when the PACSPE Members’ Group decision to use Capita Symons to provide a more detailed analysis of the three options was endorsed. Having paid for the specialist consultancy services, he had taken their advice that an in-house bid was not appropriate for the reasons stated in paragraph 7.5, and Cabinet had therefore approved option 3.

He stated that the proposed new contract would deliver increased service quality and a real opportunity for local people to influence the management of these valuable assets. There were also new opportunities for better staff training and development. He emphasised that contracts of employment for all staff who decide to move to a new employer would be transferred.

He responded to questions from Members regarding his interpretation of consultation, benefits in allowing the workforce to engage and produce an in-house bid which could be used to assess the other options, transfer arrangements and TUPE.

He stated that discussions with the trade union would be part of the continuing process to develop the procurement programme and PACSPE would also form part of the wider Living in Wirral consultation. However, there had to be a measure of practicality in view of the need to make urgent savings.

David Green, Director of Technical Services

In response to questions from Members, he reported upon the aims and objectives of the PACSPE procurement process to maximise market potential and bring in innovation, the need for a contract with penalties and a specification to judge performance, benefits derived from similar large scale contracts, the experience of the consultants, and the viability of an in-house bid based on a price /quality bid. He also provided a summary of key decisions and consultative meetings with the trade union.

David Taylor-Smith, Deputy Director of Finance

He referred to paragraph 4.1 of the Cabinet report (22 July) comparing prospective savings benchmarked against comparable assumptions of comparable authorities, with a risk assessment for each option. He noted that the consultants had excluded any costs associated with TUPE matters including pensions benefits; such costs may fall to the Council.

In response to a question from Councillor Foulkes, he confirmed that trade union’s re-structuring savings of up to £1m per year would equate to £10m over the ten year period of the contract.  However, this would be subject to a number of caveats identified in the consultant’s report.

Bill Norman, Director of Law, HR and Asset Management

He advised that there was no legal impediment to prevent an in-house bid, providing that there was a separation of duties between officers preparing the bid and officers analysing and advising on the bids received. However, as the Director of Technical Services had indicated, an in-house bid was unlikely to be successful based on the assessment criteria, and there were costs associated with putting the bid together.

He confirmed that all staff would transfer on existing terms and conditions which would include broadly comparable pension arrangements.

Chris Hyams, Head of HR and Organisational Development

In response to concerns regarding continuation of employment, she reported that the workforce had been advised that TUPE would apply to any new contract and there was potential to include this provision in the contract specification. These issues would be picked up should the procurement exercise go forward.

She reported that regular meetings had been held with the trade union prior to the draft Cabinet report and this would continue through future JCCs, and project meetings in order to provide an input into the specification.

(Councillor Phil Davies, mover of the call-in, was not called to give evidence).