Consultants and Wrexham Council.
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Posts
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I am the ignorant man in the street. For me the cost of the consultants should be deducted from the salaries of the Chief Exec, Strategic Directors, and Heads of Departments over the next couple of years, for allowing this situation to have occurred. If Cllr. Wynn would like to chip in also, all the better.
I’m afraid Jim that the very best you may hope for, is a contrite and well hackneyed, ‘Lessons Will Be Learnt’.
If the Sell2Wales site is inaccurate — who put the information on it? Tendering for work is governed by very strict European regulations on procurement – As the PwC contract was procured through a Tender notification on Sell2Wales in October 2013 this was open to any potential providers all of whom can legally request details of the result of the process. To mislead anyone through this process could be open to a legal challenge so Clr Wynn needs to be very careful what he has now released into the Public domain.
I cannot see that anyone on this thread has questioned the ability of PcW to identify savings ( even if this does mean taken the identified cuts that existing WCBC managers have identified and rebadge under a larger budget cut proposal)what is being questioned is why are WCBC paying for senior executive officers and managers if they can’t do this themselves. Yes PcW have been involved with a vast range of Local Authority projects and have a proven track record — they have not however been used by them ALL. Many are going through Lean Mangement and Budget Cutting by using their own internal resources. As the decision to employ PcW in the time of the Labor administration and retained by the new administration does this not actually show there is a total lack of Confidence in the management team in the Council which is now being perpetuated and should be tackled as a capability issue through the appropriate employment process. The basis of this would be how many of the categories in the PcW contract are actually in the contracts for the Senior Executive management within the Council- there are bound to be significant similarities- that being the case why are Clr Wynn and co not dealing with the issue or ironically is this part of the PcW report – I doubt this will be the case as the report will be signed of by the said Executive Managers before it goes to Council Members.If you must spend money on consultants, how about spending it on those who will bring inward investment instead of this fatalistic obsession with cuts.
The best defence involves a strong and confident offence, bring in more business to the area and thus more money as well as focus on possible efficiencies.
@wrexview 17687 wrote:
This contract with Price Waterhouse was set up in July last year under the previous Labour controlled administration. Wonder if there is a break clause ? Good for democracy to see Councillor Wynn still posting.
wrexview – PWC have carried out phase 1 of the “Reshaping” contract at a cost of circa £100k.
The report to be discussed at the Exec Board on Tuesday is about phase 2 of the exercise. So at the moment there is no contract in place. That may well change come Tuesday.
It is imperative that the contract is worded so the appointed Reshaping partner is only paid for savings banked and their contribution is about introducing new methods of work which will deliver efficiency savings, rather than as I have already stated which is stop that, ration that etc. The later is what we and other authorities have been focusing on up until now.
I hope that clarifies the point you have raised.
Cllr Phil Wynn
@jimbow 17688 wrote:
I am the ignorant man in the street. For me the cost of the consultants should be deducted from the salaries of the Chief Exec, Strategic Directors, and Heads of Departments over the next couple of years, for allowing this situation to have occurred. If Cllr. Wynn would like to chip in also, all the better.
jimbow – I hope you haven’t been offended by my use of the word “ignorant”.
For clarity I am guessing you are not an ignorant man but if you do not have a full grasp of all the facts (because they haven’t been explained to you) then my assertion is you are ignorant of the facts.
If the Welsh Government were prepared to soften the blow by giving WCBC more time to deliver the £45m of cost savings then our existing staff may well of had a fighting chance of doing so without the direct input of an outside partner. Sadly this isn’t going to happen so we need to get a shift on as we only have three years to save the future of our Wrexham based Council.
Sadly I drive around in a car worth its scrap value, so sadly I’m not in a position to take up your suggestion.
Cllr Phil Wynn
What exactly have Price Waterhouse done that Officers of Wrexham Council couldn’t for their £100,000 paid so far ?
I wonder, if asked nicely, some of the bigger factories in the area would help in the ‘lean’ areas. I am pretty sure that that is how they keep a business going & employing a large workforce.
I am sorry to keep on about the Sell2Wales site and the £1 million pound but this is the fee value that is stated- PW is now saying £100k why then is this figure nit in the report for Tuesday?
You are criticizing the WG for not giving WCBC sufficient time – this is a disgraceful distraction the austerity measures hit English LAs 4 years ago why on earth did anyone in Wales think it would nit affect Wales. The fact that WG effectively delayed the cuts by two years means the LAs in Wales had got far more time to prepare and plan. Many LAs in Wales have used that extra time and been phasing their cuts over the past 3/4 years and are now not in the panic mode WCBC Council Members and Officers find themselves in now.
Only one thing comes to mind Gross Mismanagement and quite clearly non of the Council Members or Executive Officers will get a job as a consultant with PcW.Wrexham must first formulate its own budget. A spend of £230m in most organisations is effectively dealt with by 3, 4 or 5 senior people.
The twelve spending and budget areas in the accounts:
Central Services to the Public
Cultural and Related Services
Environmental and Regulatory Services
Planning Services
Children’s and Education Services
Highways and Transport Services
Local Authority Housing and Other Housing Services
Adult Social Care
Corporate and Democratic Core
Non Distributed Costs
Other Operating Expenditure
Finance and Investment Income and ExpenditureWrexham should not need consultants.
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