Consultants and Wrexham Council.

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  • #71470

    DerekJackson
    Participant

    Within the corridors of ‘Power’ in the Council 70/30 is the ratio that has been mentioned.
    ie for every million pounb saved the Council retain £700k and the consultants are paid £300k
    Some of you may remember that this type of contract had been awarded to the consultant involved in the Leisure Review prior to the closure of Plas Madoc had a similar agreement. Clr David Griffiths denied this was the case in the Council Chamber then a copy of the contract letter was produced and he then had to back peddle and stated that that particular element of the contract was no longer applicable.
    I rest my case regarding transparency — either all Council Members are colluding in this exercise or the level of ignorance is far deeper than one would expect.
    Do these actions really give the public any confidence in the Council Members and Executive Officers being able to maintain a stand alone Council.

    #71459

    Katia
    Participant

    Would it not be prudent to stall this review happening whilst we wait to hear the outcome of Leighton Andrews next move ?
    Whatever has already been paid to PWC may be largely wasted if a merger is forced through regardless but this can’t be helped.
    Is there any point spending £1m excluding VAT plus God knows what else for a detailed LEAN review that may not be applicable post-merger ?
    Why undertake the review prior to the merger issue being settled ?

    Further point, LEAN has been around since the 1930s, The Machine That Changed The World, the book, the TV series, Henry Ford, Toyota, Kaizen etc etc.
    Its all routine procedure throughout the world in many sectors of business and government.
    There are some excellent detailed pdf files online, Harrow Council for example, have posted their review, so begs the question haven’t Wrexham Council any contacts in other councils that have already undergone a LEAN review so they share results and protocols etc.
    Do we really need to pay PWC £1million+ to do this work on a consulting basis, have they no established template for LEAN implementation at local council. Is Wrexham Council so different it requires a bespoke solution ?

    Whatever the answers are to these questions, does it matter a jot if the merger is forged with Flint ?
    Why commit to this spending now ?

    #71460

    JaneJ
    Participant

    Reading this latest thread and proposals seeking Council Member approval next week for additional expenditure is just pushing the credibility of Wrexham Counci to manage its affairs further and further into a massive black hole. These private consultants must be rubbing their hands in glee that they have found such a gulable cash cow in the form of the Council. Any one who has either worked as a consultant or used them in the past knows full well that unless you have a watertight contract to deliver a FULL solution you only ever give the client (ie the Council) 75% of what they ‘think’ they need and you convince them that there is a ‘stage 2’ essential piece of work required in order to full fill their original wish which was known all along but was never included in a watertight contract. Thee are recognized as standard business practices which is why the private sector when commissioning consultants now spend so long determining the specification of the brief to a conclusion level and not phased..

    #71478

    I am at a total loss to understand what the council leader and cronies is thinking. I have worked for WCBC and it’s predecessor all my working life and never have the employees been so stretched and the general feeling about the authority been so negative. We have dropped all the services we can and are working on a shoe string, stress levels are through the roof and complaints are pouring in. Some department actually seem barely sustainable and none of the cost saving exercises employed (postal service and contact centre) actually seem to provide a better service. Why oh why are we employing consultants who will take a proportion of any savings made to suggest yet more cuts to an already stretched organisation. There is an opportunity to link with Flintshire and therefore maintain a critical mass, yes the first few years will be messy but in the long term surly it’s the only solution. We will still be much smaller and less populous than any of the English authorities.

    I have never had much respect for our elected members, but this fiasco, the fact we can now see just how clueless (brainless) they are on the web cast has left me dumb struck. These people are not up to determining our future and making sensible decisions. Do us a favour WG and step in, things can’t get much worse. No confidence in our members.

    #71461

    99DylanJones
    Participant

    Santa’s Helper is speaking from wthin the Council workforce — let us hope that more colleagues will come out. As many of the comments on this thread show people support the front line staff in this very difficult time of budget cuts the significant issues are with the lack of management both at Officer and Member level.
    We clearly are not getting the full picture from the media channels in the Council so any more staff sharing their views can only be good for public benefit.

    #71440

    wrexview
    Participant

    If the Council made their own decisions rather than hide behind consultants , this money could actually save some jobs and services.

    #71450

    jimbow
    Participant

    @wrexview 17646 wrote:

    If the Council made their own decisions rather than hide behind consultants , this money could actually save some jobs and services.

    The Council hide behind consultants because they have not got the bottle to admit they were wrong in their decisions in the first place.I realise that some departments are thin on the ground for staff.Only six years ago we had a town centre manager, Ken Barney,he looked after the town centre management,
    project officer, and promotional services,as well as markets manager.When he left,his job was split between a town centre manager,a town centre projects officer and a business services and promotions manager.From a salary of around £30k for one person,the cost for three people rose to around £100k.
    Now the Council have to ask consultants to sort out the mess.Where do the Chief Executive and the four Strategic Directors fit into this shambles? What are they employed to do.?

    #71446

    BenjaminM
    Participant

    I am sick of reading that Officers of the Council are responsible for the woeful situation that WCBC finds itself in.
    If the Councillors took notice of the advice and information provided to them by the Officers instead of making decisions that are politically expedient, I am absolutely convinced that Wrexham would not be in such a dire position that it finds itself in at the present time.
    I know that you should not judge a book by its’ cover, but if you take a look at the photographs on the Councillor’s potted biographies, not all of them instil confidence in their ability to make reasoned and rational decision.
    I have known several of them over the years in various situations, friends, work colleagues and professionally and quite frankly, I would have difficulty in trusting them to take charge of a whelk stall let alone a multi million pound organisation.
    Listen to what Officers are saying, they are the professional ones – they have much more savvy than they are given credit for. Councillor’s are, in my humble estimation the main barrier to efficient workings within the Council and are a hindrance to the democratic process rather than an enhancement.

    #71451

    jimbow
    Participant

    BenjaminM. I do not fully agree that Councillors are all to blame for the current situation.I can assure you without any fear of contradiction, that some of the Officers of WCBC who I have dealt with over the years with professional letters behind their names, would also have difficulty in running a whelk stall.

    #71476

    Mrs Crewe
    Participant

    The perceived benefit on using consultants for cost saving measures over employees is that the Council Officers will simply say cut everyone else’s department but keep mine well staffed that’s how to save money!
    it is assumed that departmental staff would be unwilling to suggest realistic staff rationalisations and redundancy in their own teams.
    Having worked at WCBC it is a fair statement to say that some Managers fight tooth and nail for their teams whereas others not so much.
    Of course as others have pointed out it seems barmy to go ahead with this whilst awaiting the outcome of the merger decision from Leighton Andrews. Regardless of the current tantrum that Mr Pritchard is throwing, the Labour govt in Cardiff will push through these mergers. Leighton Andrews has a reputation of being ruthless and making the unpopular decisions. If he hadn’t had been forced to resign as Minister for Education due to his own muppetry he would forged ahead with removing schools from local government control.
    The bottom line is that there are too many Councils in Wales employing too many people.

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