Suffolk halts ‘virtual council’ plan

Tory town hall in U-turn over radical scheme to outsource all services as staff morale sinks and public fight cuts A flagship Tory local authority has halted controversial “virtual council” plans to outsource all its services, after public opposition to spending cuts and a collapse in staff morale triggered a political revolt by backbenchers. Suffolk county council’s radical proposals, revealed by the Guardian last autumn , aimed to float off such services as waste disposal and child protection to private firms, social enterprises and charities. Potentially this move would have brought about hundreds of millions of pounds in savings but put thousands of jobs at risk. The council’s Tory leadership has now arranged a “period of reflection” to assess the plans, which are regarded by the government as a role model for municipal reform. The council has also promised to assess again the unpopular proposals to cut school crossing patrols, close libraries , and raise student travel-pass charges . The newly elected Conservative group leader, Mark Bee, said the pause gave “an opportunity to review everything”. He said that though the council could not avoid the tens of millions of pounds of imposed spending cuts, it would adopt a pragmatic, measured, approach to town hall reform and listen more closely to staff and local people. “We are not going to change things by revolution [but] by taking communities with us.” Bee added: “It’s not going to be about ‘no more cuts’ and keeping things as they are; things have got to change, but it is finding the right kind of change rather than just steaming into it.” Suffolk’s U-turn over its “virtual council” is the first big Tory rank-and-file mutiny over unpopular spending cuts in local government, and emerges as, nationally, the party braces itself for a disappointing performance in Thursday’s local elections. It comes amid signs that ministers are increasingly nervous about the potential unpopularity of outsourcing public services to the private sector . Events in Suffolk will be watched closely by Tory-led councils considering similar reform plans, including Bury in Greater Manchester. Labour’s shadow communities and local government secretary, Caroline Flint, said: “I’m all in favour of innovation and efficiency in local government, but the Conservatives running Suffolk county council have decided to put party political ideology ahead of running effective local services – and it’s backfired. “There is also a lesson for David Cameron and [the communities secretary] Eric Pickles here. Pushing through half-baked Tory experiments and ignoring the wishes of local people is more likely to put frontline services at risk than improve them.” Kathy Pollard, leader of Suffolk’s Liberal Democrat opposition, welcomed the “slowing down” of the council’s plans for cuts, but said it was important to read the small print of the proposed U-turn. The previous council leader, Jeremy Pembroke, who helped oversee the plans, known officially as the new strategic direction, stepped down in April amid concern about the deeply unpopular changes . An inquiry was begun into morale at the council’s legal department after an anonymous whistleblowing letter, sent to councillors, and believed to be from an employee, alleged staff there had been put under “unbearable pressure”. The letter refers to “the poisonous atmosphere that exists at present” in the council. Two council executives have resigned suddenly in recent weeks. Bee, who formally becomes leader of Suffolk council on 26 May, said that addressing staff morale would be a priority for the new administration. He paid tribute to council employees but added: “We need to spend more time listening to practitioners.” The changes have raised questions over the future of the council’s high-profile chief executive, Andrea Hill, who has been pilloried by media over her £218,000-a-year salary and dogged by concerns over her management style. Hill, , who said the new strategic direction was regarded by some ministers as a role model for local government, vociferously defended the “leading edge” proposals in an article for the council’s magazine. “It’s not an easy or comfortable place to be because we are challenging the old ways of doing things. We are developing a new model that will unsettle the status quo and, as we all know, any change makes ordinary people uncertain. Changing the system challenges vested interests and will therefore be attacked,” she wrote. Local government Privatisation Conservative and Liberal Democrat cabinet Local politics Economic policy Elections 2011 Patrick Butler guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 4, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.