In Focus - Beyond the spending cuts
A report this week by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said that East Midlands’ local authorities are having to face up to some “unpleasant truths”. PwC says that authorities are under increasing pressure to deliver “more for less”, and that local authorities must now look beyond simple spending cuts to secure the best possible outcome for their residents.
All very well and good you might think, until you delve deeper into how much money PwC are charging local authorities for their services. Its reported that around 90 councils – including Nottingham City Council and Derbyshire County Council – have signed up to the PwC Benchmarking Club, at an annual fee (without including expenses) of £9,000. In addition to the provision and analysis of quarterly in-year performance data, the Club also provides the following as part of its annual membership fee of £9,000:
• Value for Money scorecards for specific services – currently waste and older people’s social care services
• An annual workshop facilitated by PwC
• Access to an on-line club website to share good practise
• Invitations to practitioner events for member of the club to share good practice and discuss the development of the Club.
Value for money, then? More for less? It’s difficult to say. Now, this isn’t having a pop at PwC per se – there are plenty of other firms out there who charge the public sector a lot more for their consultancy expertise, and they’re providing a service that is obviously popular - but there does seem to be something odd about spending thousands of pounds to learn how to save money.
This theme was also touched upon at a recent round table I chaired on the future of manufacturing. Talk turned to skills and apprentices, and one local business owner launched into a diatribe about how the training sector itself had become an industry barrier between him and skilled people. The training sector had become a “hindrance” he said, and listening to his frustrated speech it was easy to be taken in by him.
Which leads me back to the cuts the local authorities are going to make. Surely it would be better to include those involved in providing public services in these consultations rather than pay out thousands of pounds to an outside firm? A business (or organisation) doesn’t know what it doesn’t know, after all, and maybe consultants should be paid on actual results way down the line, rather than merely for offering advice and so-called best practice.
I’m not about to open my arms to the moans, groans and bile of the Taxpayers Alliance, but it would be heartening to see some of our local authorities think outside the box when it comes to getting help to see them through the recent and upcoming budget cuts. As PwC says: it’s time to start looking beyond the spending cuts.
