Company could run services at Telford & Wrekin Council
The possibility of a private company running services in Telford & Wrekin has reared its head as the borough council looks to cushion the blow of cutbacks.
Telford & Wrekin Council has advertised for a commercial enterprise manager on a salary of up to £58,471. And one of the possibilities the new manager will be expected to look at is the setting up of a council-owned private company.
That company would run services at a profit, which would then be ploughed back into the borough.
Shropshire Council has come under fierce criticism from union leaders and opposition councillors after it set up a similar enterprise, IP&E Group (Inspiring Partnerships & Enterprise).
Telford & Wrekin Council’s managing director Richard Partington said: “We are looking at identifying new income streams to reduce our dependence on government funding.
“To maximise the opportunities available, we are recruiting to the post of commercial enterprise manager. This post will be funded for one year, with the expectation that after that it will become self-funding.
“We are obviously still in the early stages of looking into these issues and the creation of a company is just one option that the postholder will look at.”
He said the new manager would also need to make the services the council ‘sells’ more competitive and increase the number of customers, identify new ways of bringing in money to protect services and reduce the dependency on Government grants.
Mr Partington added: “If a council undertakes activities for a largely commercial purpose then the law is clear that the authority must undertake this activity through a company.
“The model we envisage would be a company that is owned, controlled and supported by the council and would just be a way of operating to deliver these income-generating approaches – it would be very much a part of the council and would be run in accordance with our values.
“Any ‘profit’ from the company would be fed into the council to fund our public services.”
The closing date for applications is Tuesday, October 2.
Comments for: "Company could run services at Telford & Wrekin Council"
oswestrian
Seems that where Shropshire leads, Telford and Wrekin follows. Ironic that Shropshire gets flack from Labour and the Unions when it does it. I wonder what the Labour Party and Unions will be saying about their Labour colleagues doing it in Telford?
Cllr Stuart Parr
Telford & Wrekin did it first with Telford & Wrekin Services (since sold to a Spanish company) which has failed to realise the savings it was supposed to for exactly the same reason that Shropshire Council's new company won't and any new company set up in Telford won't - outsourcing only works when you have economy of scale and expertise to call on from elsewhere in the organisation which these companies won't.
Gringo
Stuart, you need to get your facts straight. Telford &Wrekin Services is, and alway has been, a private company which took over the running of the council services after winner the tender. To claim it was a company set up by the council for oneupmanship on our neighbours, just highlights how out of touch you are with the day to day goings on of Telford.
Good luck in the next locals, you certainly won't have my vote.
Jelly
I should imagine they will say the disastrous policies of Greorge Osbourne and Eric Pickles have left them little choice councillor
jeffb
I only hope it is more successful than the company trying to privatetise the fire brigades they went down with a bump. leaving tax payers out of pocket proberly
Kelly
How much is it going to cost to get rid of this commercial enterprise manager when they turn out to be useless after 12 months? Probably as much as the pay offs to all the other wasters on the council.
ph7
Since the government changed the time period for unfair dismissal claims from 1 year to 2, nothing
Nick, Telford
I would question the word "blow", eg: "looks to cushion the blow of cutbacks." This implies that TandW is victim of a nasty surprise. It is not. The cutbacks were prophesied in George Osborne's first budget speech in June 2010 and detailed in another speech two months later with more details in 2011. If TandW is only now realising the significance of those speeches then it's fair to question its ability to formulate a proper financial strategy for the future. I would suggest council employees would be better served if councillors stopped trying to score silly "Snow White and the Seven Dwarf" ego points and concentrated on serving them and their electors far more efficiently.
razor
why cant councils make a surplus on existing services anyway?
answer = they can
so why have a separate company then?
answer - the keep the politicians out of it, so the thing can be business like and professional not run by politicians who are the ones who ruin the local services, the other reason is to reduce terms and conditions of staff especially pensions and allow managers to be paid more but lesser staff paid less
C.J Hamps
This kind of maneouvre will inevitably reduce the accountability of our local government to the people whom they serve. Private companies are motivated by profit and not in the best interests of the individuals in receipt of the service. If the government is to provide services then these must be in the open, readily critiqued and questioned by the citizens at council meetings.