• Home
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • LATIF
  • Conferences
  • Dashboard
  • Edit My Profile
  • Log In
  • Logout
  • Register
  • Edit this post

Room 151

  • 151 BRIEF

    What's New?

  • WMCA signs £4bn investment agreement with L&G

    May 18, 2022

  • Bill will give UK Infrastructure Bank power to lend directly to councils

    May 18, 2022

  • £400bn pension group collaborates on climate transition initiative

    May 17, 2022

  • CIPFA rejects proposal for vote on publication of fraud hub report

    May 17, 2022

  • John Turnbull elected president of the SLT

    May 12, 2022

  • Pension pool identifies biodiversity as a priority

    May 11, 2022

  • Treasury
  • Technical
  • Funding
  • Resources
  • LGPS
  • Development
  • 151 News
  • Blogs
    • David Green
    • Agent 151
    • Dan Bates
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Sheen
    • James Bevan
    • Steve Bishop
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • David Crum
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O’Donnell
    • Jackie Shute
  • Interviews
  • Briefs

Q&A with Cheshire East’s Peter Bates

0
  • by Colin Marrs
  • in Interviews
  • — 26 Jun, 2014

Peter Bates Cheshire East Council’s chief operating officer and section 151 talks about his council’s hybrid approach to service delivery mechanisms.

Room151: Why are you creating so many standalone companies to run council services?

Peter Bates: We aren’t wedded to a particular philosophy and published a document outlining a hybrid approach to best meet the needs of our residents. We are exploring a plethora of delivery models – wholly owned companies, in-house delivery, trusts, social enterprises, outsourcing.

R151: What are the outsourced companies you have created?

PB: We have one for environmental services – Ansa – and another called Orbitas which runs bereavement services. We have also created a new trust called ESAR to run our leisure services. More are in the pipeline including transport and planning services. We are also reviewing our schools catering and cleaning arrangements, possibly though a staff mutual model. All of them report into a holding company also owned by the council.

R151: What are the advantages of running standalone companies?

PB: Firstly, just preparing for transfer of services requires a targeted focus on understanding the cost base and to define, with absolutely clarity, the purpose of the business and measures of success. Secondly, they can be more tax efficient and productive. There have been some concerns from unions about the terms and conditions of staff through the traditional outsourcing route. However, we have a constructive dialogue with them, and they are happier with the model of effectively keeping staff in house through a standalone company. We have seen greater empowerment of staff, increased innovation and creativity which is leading to greater productivity and lower absence rates.

It is not just about saving money – it is about providing the best mechanism to meet the needs of our residents but at a lower overall cost. We have been careful to create arrangements that mean we are being as tax efficient as possible.

R151: What have your set-up costs been?

PB: We have not had to start every company from scratch. Once we made the decision to be a strategic commissioning council, we took advice as to the best configuration across the whole of the service range. That process cost tens of thousands of pounds but we have only had to do that once. The next waves we do will not face that scale of costs and we are learning all the time.

R151: What are the savings you are expecting?

PB: We have not put an exact number on it, but it is certainly many millions of pounds. The companies are also competing in the open market for contracts with other councils and private firms so we will get more benefits as we win more of those deals.

R151: Does the trading company model preclude shared services with other authorities?

PB: No not at all – we have recently created a shared service company – CoSocius – with Cheshire West and Chester Council covering ICT, human resources and transactional services. Following local government review in 2009 this shared service arrangement has saved about £30 million between the two of us. We are now looking at commercialising that model and offering services to other councils. We are also exploring the possibility of getting another major council on board as a partner to enhance the size and scale of the operation.

R151: What are the current general challenges to your council’s finances?

PB: Obviously the austerity challenge is difficult. The size of the public state is shrinking and we have to be more innovative and creative – this comes with ensuring the public understand what is an essential service, rather than something they would just like. Outside of austerity, it is great that people are living longer but some have complex needs. The challenge is to deliver innovative solutions to support them as best you can from a lower cost base. We are doing a lot of work to enhance service accessibility – many services are being reviewed through a digital lens to give greater control and choice for the customer.

R151: Can you summarise your Treasury Management Strategy?

PB: I was previously section 151 officer at Stoke-on-Trent City Council which was a different environment in that it had more areas of deprivation and was more dependent on central government grant support. However, the treasury strategy I have adopted is very similar. In both authorities we are using our cash balances and avoiding external borrowing where we can to finance capital investment programmes. I am now examining a greater appetite for risk with our politicians, without getting ridiculous – seeing if we can be more innovative to seek better but still safe investment returns. We are looking at options with our treasury adviser to model some new opportunities.

R151: Will you be participating in the proposed new bonds agency?

PB: I am aware of the opportunity. At this time we may be a follower rather than a leader. I am keeping an eye on how it develops. We are interested but I wouldn’t say any more than that. I think we wouldn’t invest as an equity partner at this stage. But we are not ruling anything in or out.

R151: What’s next?

PB: We are still looking at areas where there is room for improvement. We have created a rolling programme to critically review every service area. The council is still quite immature – it was only created as a unitary authority in 2009, and there is still some county and some district council mentality in places.

But we don’t want to rush things. Adopting the hybrid approach means we have to have a strong commercial focus and be very good at contract management in order to get an arrangement that is right from day one and then gets better going forwards. Creating this capability has to be done in a measured way – the last thing I want is to do too much too quickly and damage the success of our ‘putting residents first’ major change programme.

Share

You may also like...

  • Pension power: beyond net zero 4th Feb, 2022
  • ‘Funding cuts have changed the scale, shape and scope of local government’ 31st Jan, 2022
  • Finding private sector solutions to the housing crisis 16th Mar, 2022
  • Jackie Weaver calls for more ‘hyper-localism’ to revitalise local government 9th Feb, 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • Register to become a Room151 user

  • Latest tweets

    Room151 10 hours ago

    Back to the future for the PWLB: The Public Works Loan Board is tightening its lending criteria to ensure that loans will be repaid by local government borrowers. But, asks Peter Findlay, shouldn’t they have been doing[...] dlvr.it/SQcmmm pic.twitter.com/bVv4fe0Xlv

    Room151 11 hours ago

    Great piece from Peter Findlay on the PWLB’s tightening of its lending criteria. He raises some pointed questions for the Treasury and explains why the ‘casino council’ characterisation was simplistic and inaccurate. #PWLB #localgov room151.co.uk/treasury/back-…

    Room151 12 hours ago

    The Queen's speech highlighted the need for accelerating UK infrastructure investment into levelling up projects and cutting emissions. @UKInfraBank #QueensSpeech #ClimateAction #emissions Click the link below to read 🔻🔻 room151.co.uk/brief/bill-wil… pic.twitter.com/hFmF2veVIa

    Room151 12 hours ago

    Huge funding heading to the @WestMids_CA from @landg. @andy4wm #LevellingUp #netzero #regeneration Click the link below to read 🔻🔻 room151.co.uk/brief/wmca-sig… pic.twitter.com/ajhZhia6mx

    Room151 16 hours ago

    LGPS governance, Cagney and Lacey style: What regulatory response can be expected following the publication of the Good Governance project’s Phase 3 report and the closure of the Single Code of Practice consultation? Susan Black offers[...] dlvr.it/SQbfXf pic.twitter.com/xwqHOEu2AP

    Room151 2 days ago

    More evidence of the importance of emerging markets in the journey to net-zero. @BordertoCoast @BrunelPP @northernlgps @EAPensionFund @WYPF_LGPS Click the link below to read 🔻🔻 #LGPS #NetZero #NetZeroCarbon #EmergingMarkets room151.co.uk/brief/400bn-pe… pic.twitter.com/qCm0EGxzLn

    Room151 6 days ago

    ‘Urgent consultation’ issued in response to continuing audit delays: CIPFA and the Local Authority Scotland Accounts Advisory Committee (LASAAC) have announced another “urgent consultation” to consider proposals to address the latest issue that has led… dlvr.it/SQJ0kV pic.twitter.com/s6vw0bnGXO

    Room151 7 days ago

    Bags of capacity – now to housing delivery: HRAs have been freed up and councils are starting to invest, but some remain cautious, writes Steve Partridge. He suggests that a minimum of £10bn of additional borrowing could be[...] dlvr.it/SQDvxk pic.twitter.com/yZmoWzHv6U

    Room151 7 days ago

    Bags of capacity – now to housing delivery room151.co.uk/treasury/bags-…

    Room151 1 week ago

    To Michael Gove: a modest proposal: Conrad Hall has written an open letter to the levelling up secretary suggesting an unusual (and tongue-in-cheek) proposal to help councils predict next year’s government grant. Dear Secretary of State,[...] dlvr.it/SQ9GpX pic.twitter.com/mSX1xgeL8a

    Room151 1 week ago

    Queen’s Speech: an ambitious plan hampered by omissions: Richard Harbord examines the impact of the government’s legislative proposals on councils, and concludes that local authorities expect and need more from central government. However you view the… dlvr.it/SQ8hmP pic.twitter.com/BsnziyNPIO

  • Categories

    • 151 News
    • Agent 151
    • Audit
    • Blogs
    • Business rates
    • Chris Buss
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • Council tax
    • Dan Bates
    • David Crum
    • David Green
    • Development
    • Education
    • Forum
    • Funding
    • Governance
    • Graham Liddell
    • Housing
    • Ian O'Donnell
    • Infrastructure
    • Interviews
    • Jackie Shute
    • James Bevan
    • Jobs
    • Levelling up
    • LGPS
    • Mark Finnegan
    • Net Zero
    • Private markets
    • Recent Posts
    • Regulation
    • Resources
    • Responsible investing
    • Richard Harbord
    • Risk management
    • Social care
    • Stephen Fitzgerald
    • Stephen Sheen
    • Steve Bishop
    • Technical
    • Transport
    • Treasury
    • Uncategorized
    • William Bourne
  • Archives

    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011
  • Previous story Bournemouth launches mortgage loan scheme
  • Next story Hillingdon scraps ALMO, councils insource from Capita, £180bn liabilities, bedroom tax cash unclaimed

© Copyright 2022 Room 151. Typegrid Theme by WPBandit.

0 shares