Cost of Consultants.
-
Posts
-
Organisations needing expert leadership in each field, surely Wrexham can adequately do the job with 5 or 6 – education, infrastructure & roads, services & waste … and a boss.
On the money currently paid, they are already recompensed for being experts in their field, and do not need repetitive and annual consultancy to support them.
Then the ratio of cost to output needs to be measured, and compared to similar organisations, local authorities and others … and the person heading up that work needs to ensure the costs are low, and the output is of a high standard.
Then scrutiny. Reading Council reports in the public domain, a good proportion of the material (two thirds) appears to be superfluous discussion, that does not contribute to the core work and goals of the Council, nor scrutiny within the context of scrutiny to get “best value, and best results” for the community it serves. Why does the Council not meet once each week. And why do we pay councillors?
@wxm 11054 wrote:
Organisations needing expert leadership in each field, surely Wrexham can adequately do the job with 5 or 6 – education, infrastructure & roads, services & waste … and a boss.
On the money currently paid, they are already recompensed for being experts in their field, and do not need repetitive and annual consultancy to support them.
Then the ratio of cost to output needs to be measured, and compared to similar organisations, local authorities and others … and the person heading up that work needs to ensure the costs are low, and the output is of a high standard.
Then scrutiny. Reading Council reports in the public domain, a good proportion of the material (two thirds) appears to be superfluous discussion, that does not contribute to the core work and goals of the Council, nor scrutiny within the context of scrutiny to get “best value, and best results” for the community it serves. Why does the Council not meet once each week. And why do we pay councillors?
Excellent!!
@wxm 11054 wrote:
Organisations needing expert leadership in each field, surely Wrexham can adequately do the job with 5 or 6 – education, infrastructure & roads, services & waste … and a boss.
On the money currently paid, they are already recompensed for being experts in their field, and do not need repetitive and annual consultancy to support them.
Then the ratio of cost to output needs to be measured, and compared to similar organisations, local authorities and others … and the person heading up that work needs to ensure the costs are low, and the output is of a high standard.
Then scrutiny. Reading Council reports in the public domain, a good proportion of the material (two thirds) appears to be superfluous discussion, that does not contribute to the core work and goals of the Council, nor scrutiny within the context of scrutiny to get “best value, and best results” for the community it serves. Why does the Council not meet once each week. And why do we pay councillors?
Even the uni has got consultants in to help their restructure, at least 20 jobs have to be identified as needing to be cut.
Why are consultants needed to cut jobs? There is a given amount of money to spend, and a specific job to be done? The money has to be matched to what must be achieved, and the desire has to be reasonable.
The first question is where is money hemorrhaging … being spent with no return to the community, nor benefit to individuals. Dealing with these questions first, will mean that fewer jobs need to be lost? A university is probably supply and demand … do they have the students to teach? A council spends collected taxes … two obvious places to start are suggestions such as assets, the Crown Buildings; are they needed? The other is natural retirements, can posts be gradually lost, and young blood trained to step into those roles.
Organisations get lost in process, rather than striving to achieve the goal. A GM “General Manager”, can naturally look after a £50m to £100m organisation … they have the skills to map productivity, reshape and develop structures and systems to optimise them, look after people, and understand and control finances and balance sheets. A few key officers ought to be left to it; and report into the “Council of Members” quarterly, as a GM would report to a Board of Directors.
Debate and scrutiny committees is no doubt costing the community millions each year.
WXM :- I agree debate and scrutiny committees are no doubt costing the community millions each year.One problem in WCBC is that it takes several meetings before anyone can, or will, make a decision.Take meetings out of WCBC and you will require at least 15% less staff.They seem to go from one meeting to another.I had reason to make a complaint to the council and it took 1 week before a room was available to meet the complaints officer,and then I was given I hour in which to put my case.It is the top level officers that decide on redundencies,they will not put themselves out of a job.It needs looking at by an outside source.
@jimbow 11077 wrote:
WXM :- I agree debate and scrutiny committees are no doubt costing the community millions each year.One problem in WCBC is that it takes several meetings before anyone can, or will, make a decision.Take meetings out of WCBC and you will require at least 15% less staff.They seem to go from one meeting to another.I had reason to make a complaint to the council and it took 1 week before a room was available to meet the complaints officer,and then I was given I hour in which to put my case.It is the top level officers that decide on redundencies,they will not put themselves out of a job.It needs looking at by an outside source.
An outside source? What, like consultants?
@jimbow 11086 wrote:
No not consultants but maybe some department from the Welsh Office
The Welsh Office doesn’t exist anymore. The Wales Office represents the UK Government in Wales and vice versa. So even if what you propose were ever likely to happen it would be Welsh Government, God help us.
Councillors hold the ultimate power and must have agreed to bringing in all these consultants! Recorded votes on such decisions would concentrate their minds and electors would have access to their individual voting record just like they do in Westminister!
We all know that consultants, mentors and external views are useful at times, and are worth engaging. However, in the context of Wrexham and its budget and what is affordable and decisions that have to be made … the issues are surely for community, councillors, and the professionals that run things.
There seems to be the absence of a sensible debate in public about how the County should be run in the future. What money it receives, and how this is spent. Things have changed considerably with the introduction of electronic commerce, markets, and the financial crisis of 2008. Wrexham as a community, led by those elected to do so, simply needs to decide how it should be shaped for the future … and then support the right kind of employment, proper education, and those who need social care and the elderly.
The material consultants report may well be good; the problem is that we are not making decisions, and things need to be done differently for a different era.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
