The idea of the Isle of Wight council (IWC) sharing services with other local authorites has been discussed before on VB. We first raised it in October last year and it was proposed a month later by the IWC for their Planning Services.
We heard yesterday however, that following the Government’s Spending Review, the Isle of Wight Council are now looking at possibly sharing chief officers with neighbouring local authorities as well.
Pugh to make delegated decision
A Delegated Decision Report released this afternoon revealed that the IWC are officially in discussion with Southampton City and Portsmouth City local authorities over just that matter.
The discussions centre around sharing chief officer leadership in education/schools; public health and aspects of regulatory services.
The report states that “Coupled with the decision to become more of a commissioning organisation, rather than one of direct provision, the need for the number of managers at senior and middle levels is reduced. This proposed structure reduces the number of chief officers from 30 to 21 initially and then 20.”
The IWC claim that the restructure will result in savings of £7.25m in a full year, from 2012/13.
The decision to accept the proposed new chief officer structure will be made under delegated powers by the Leader of the council himself, Cllr David Pugh, by 15 February.
Principles for the future?
At the December Cabinet meeting, when the seven members decided to accept the proposed budget cuts, the following “principles for future organisation of the Isle of Wight council” were agreed.
- that, wherever possible, local communities and residents will take responsibility for their local area and make an active contribution to their community as the reliance on state and local council funded activity reduces;
- the council will actively pursue the opportunities created by partnerships to commission or deliver services, particularly those that engage local communities and use available resources in a more coherent and efficient way;
- the council will only directly provide any commercial / trading undertaking or activities which have a robust business case (reflecting the true costs) and have little or no residual cost to the council with the council achieving the ‘best return’ for its investment;
- the council will actively seek to sell or dispose of assets that are surplus to requirements where practicable to maximise receipts, or lease them where it is not (including through community asset transfer);
- the public will increasingly resolve their issues through the internet without need of personal contact with council staff. When they do need personal contact, we will resolve their issues at the first point of contact i.e. the customer service centre;
- all areas of statutory duty to be subjected to robust challenge to ensure that the investment in resources is at the appropriate level, following a reasonable needs assessment, to ensure our responsibilities are met adequately;
- all core services will be subject to review regarding what must be done, what can be stopped or done differently with a view to supporting the creation of social enterprises, community interest companies or joint ventures that will each or all support the achievement of the agreed outcomes but at reduced cost, including the opportunity for ‘management buy-out’ opportunities;
- central support services will be reduced on a pro rata basis over time to reflect the changing shape and size of the organisation and, where appropriate, will be subject to market testing and/or joint working with other local authorities;
- there will be less resources, leading to fewer buildings and fewer staff;
- the Council will raise income through charging to sustain discretionary services.
Read the report in full.
We’ll be reporting live from the Cabinet meeting Tuesday evening from 6pm.
