PEMBROKESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL will have to think again about how it delivers its cultural and leisure services after a report from a task and finish group deemed that the setting up of a trust would not be viable.
After dedicated campaigning by UNISON won over local politicians, all services are to remain under council control. In what is being described as a victory for local democracy, the trade union has said the move will safeguard over 400 jobs and protect community life in Pembrokeshire.
The council’s overview and scrutiny committee met last week and unanimously agreed to recommend to its cabinet that outsourcing not be pursued. The committee thanked UNISON for its presentation and the issues it had raised.
The council has been looking at ways to cut costs within the service and a report from Winckworth Sherwood, which cost the council £20,000, stated that the setting up of a trust would be the best option.
The move drew intense criticism from UNISON which said Winckworth did not have the interests of the local community at heart and transferring services out of democratic control would forever deny local people a say in how services are run.
UNISON used expert advice from the Association for Public Service Excellence to effectively demolish the council’s case, revealing no evidence the proposal was cheaper or more effective. The union also said the consultant would further gain financially from any decision to outsource.
UNISON led a very public campaign against outsourcing, even touring the Pembrokeshire County Show to obtain signatures to its petition.
UNISON branch secretary Janet Wyer said: “Every step of the way, we said to the council, we know the pressures you are under because of severe UK Conservative cuts but outsourcing would deliver only short term savings and it would be calamitous for all those local services we all hold dear. If local services are under pressure, councils should work with staff and trades unions to find a solution.
“There is no place for private consultants advising councils to cut or outsource services. We know they deliberately paint a desperate picture of the council’s future in order to secure further work. Outsourcing would have failed the people of Pembrokeshire and local services are always best delivered by staff directly employed by the council.”
Problems with the proposed new trust were also previously highlighted in the January 20 edition of the Pembrokeshire Herald.
The council’s Cultural and Leisure services will now be retained in-house but the council has charged directors with coming up with a new model to deliver them.
Paul Ashley Jones, Head of Procurement, said: “There were grant funding issues, existing trusts, some elements were designated community facilities and also the implications of the 2008 schools premises regulations. What was key to this was that we identified a number of facilities that would have transferred to the trust were actually based on school premises and this did cause a number of issues that would need to be resolved.
“A number of premises have had grant funding, particularly for things like 3G pitches, and where grant funding was involved we would need to get consent of the funder in order to transfer the facilities.
“There were also issues over the likes of Scolton Manor, which has received grant funding.
“There are at least two existing trusts which were relevant, one in particular with Tasker Milward School which has some sports facilities on it. Essentially, those trusts would need to give approval and some compensation would need to be considered.
“There was also an issue around school designated community facilities, facilities designated for the community such as the playing fields and the library at Crymych and these made it difficult to transfer across to a trust.
“It was clear that each school governing body would have to enter into a transfer control agreement if their facilities were to transfer to a trust.
“We looked in depth at the procurement and the feasibility of awarding the long term contract to a newly created trust. A simple direct award to a trust wasn’t feasible and if we were to move forward we would have to undertake a tender exercise. This is something that people were very much against in the consultation.
“Looking at the financial issues, we looked at a number of facilities being on school sites and it meant that the rate savings on those facilities that had been envisaged wouldn’t be able to be achieved.
“There was the issue over increased employers pension contributions for staff that TUPE to a new organisation so it wasn’t possible to quantify both of those areas.
“Finally, on the HR and TUPE issues, we identified that there would be additional costs to the council due to additional employment. There was also the issue that became clear that we would need a client officer internally, the creation of a new post, to manage contracts.
“Given the information we now had on those issues, we found that it isn’t viable to set up an independent trust to deliver our cultural and leisure services.”
Cabinet Member Keith Lewis said he would be exploring whether the council could demand compensation from consultants Winckworth Sherwood.
