A first was scored recently at the world-famous Belfry resort in Warwickshire and, for once, it had nothing to do with golf. The occasion was the first Improvement Community event to be held in the Midlands.
Organised by the West Midlands LGA and Tribal, and supported by The MJ, among other organisations, the delegates of mainly-senior HR managers from across the Midlands heard a high-powered line-up debate about the HR implications of the fast-moving agenda for local government. There were presentations from the LGA, IDeA and the voluntary and private sectors.
The event at the Belfry – whose golf course, incidentally, remained untouched by delegates – began with a round-up of the Government’s agenda from Andrew Campbell, director of local strategic partnerships and performance at the DCLG, or CLG as it prefers to be known.
Mr Campbell reminded delegates that the current devolution programme would not have gone ahead had local government not shown the capacity to improve, as shown in the CPA scores. However, he added that lack of innovation remained a problem, reflecting comments made recently in The MJ by both Audit Commission chair, Michael O’Higgins, and former minister Nick Raynsford.
LAAs were tested by 17 authorities during the summer and, among lessons learned, were that councillors need to be directly involved, and that the place-shaping agenda has to drive them.
As we know from the recent CSR, the number of indicators has been reduced to 198 while the new LAAs will have a maximum of 35 priorities, plus 17.
The double act from Ealing LBC – chief executive, Darra Singh, and leader, Jason Stacey – next enthralled delegates with how they had helped turn the council around from one which had a weak CPA and zero stars for social services to the current three stars and ‘improving well’.
Cllr Stacey, who became leader in May 2006, said the authority avoided huge upheaval, but ensured its three priorities – cleaner streets, safer communities and value for money – were clearly understood by the staff.
He added: ‘What staff want is to know where the council is going, and what it wants.’ He also maintained that while in private they might have their differences, in public ‘there shouldn’t be a cigarette paper between us’.
A panel session chaired by myself on partnership working included some of the biggest names in local government, namely Serco Solutions chief executive, Kevin Lavery; Tribal Resourcing chief executive, Julie Towers; Chris Leggett, account director for Service Birmingham – the tie-up between Capita and Birmingham City – and Richard Williams, director, KPMG.
Each of them gave their views on the partnership framework, on shared services, relations with members and the business environment, and took questions from the audience.
Different perspectives on partnership were offered by poacher-turned-gamekeeper Paul Blantern, formerly MD of Severn Trent Utility Services, later at Solihull MBC as head of customer services, and now at Northamptonshire CC, and Carol Varley of Leciester’s Voluntary Action, doing a double act with Leicester City’s Adam Archer.
Ms Valey’s experience of taking the council to court over plans to cut grants, and how relations were subsequently mended, was a topical insight into relations with the voluntary sector.
Next morning, Jim Graham, Warwickshire CC’s chief executive, rapidly dispelled any fuzziness from the previous night’s conference dinner with a robust commentary on how strategic partnerships can easily go pear-shaped.
In his case, it was a tie-up between his previous council, West Berkshire, where he was chief executive, and the former company, Amey, from 1999 to 2006. The deal had been arranged before he joined West Berkshire, but it was soon apparent that the new 10-year partnership, which took over the council’s back-office functions and aimed to provide 5% savings annually, could not deliver.
Amey was taken over by the Spanish company, Ferrovial, by which time the contract was losing £1m a year.
Eventually, the partnership was uncoupled, with the council paying just £1 to take the parternship back, and 450 staff returned to the council. As Mr Graham commented: ‘We brought back £9m of investment for £1.’
He concluded that, in his view, ‘I don’t think there’s a lot of profit to be made. One needs a critical mass, and one council and one partner won’t make a lot of savings’. And, he added: ‘Partnerships are not a quick-fix way of delivering Gershon.’ On the plus side, he said councils were much better at making savings than the rest of the public sector, and superior to Whitehall at being joined-up.
The LGA’s finance director, Stephen Jones, pointed out that the £150m made available by the CLG to help bring in efficiency savings was down to LGA lobbying. And he stressed that LAAs were a major opportunity for councils.
As he said: ‘It’s your agenda – make them exciting.’
The aim is to make this event annual, so watch out in The MJ for next year’s details! n
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