Report is kept under wraps (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Report is kept under wraps

There is a big secret at Swindon Council and it holds the future of 1,400 jobs in the balance. ISABEL FIELD investigates rumours that a report into Swindon Services is recommending it be privatised.

MORE than a thousand council workers' jobs could be in jeopardy with a crucial report being kept secret.

The report criticises Swindon Services, which provides services ranging from cemeteries to leisure centres, and recommends changes in the way it is managed in future.

There are fears that the service, which employs 1,400 people, will be privatised but the council is refusing to release the report to the public.

Labour leader Coun Kevin Small (Lab, Western) wants an end to the uncertainty.

"I am concerned about the Conservative administration's commitment to Swindon Services as there seems that none of the administration are prepared to make a clear public statement," he said.

"The longer they leave it before they make a public statement the more uncertainty there will be over its future and any staff who work there.

"If they want to privatise it they should be honest and say they are going to privatise it."

And Coun Small stressed the impact any decision about Swindon Services would have on its employees.

"The Conservatives need to remember that people depend on Swindon Services for employment," he said. "While I recognise that the council is not an employment agency it has to be considered.

"It has got a good track record of providing quality services and it should have the opportunity to continue to do that.

"Any decision on the future of Swindon Services should be done on getting best value for Swindon and its tax payers rather than on political ideology.

"You are playing with people's livelihoods if you go down that route."

Coun Small was also confused that the service would be criticised, saying that did not stack up with the financial history, as Swindon Services had been used to support other services.

Liberal Democrat leader Coun Wendy Johnson (Lib Dem, Old Town and Lawn) was also worried about the possibility of privatisation.

"There has got to be concern about the way a service that is quite good at the moment will continue to be delivered at that level in the future if it is not under council control," she said.

"A concern has got to be that the service will be privatised. We really need to have those fears laid to rest."

But Coun Mike Bawden, leader of the council, stressed that no decision had yet been made and said releasing the report would jeopardise jobs because it contains commercial information.

"What the consultants have come up with is a report which identifies a number of possible ways forward," he said. "The government inspectors are saying we cannot prove that we are getting best value for council tax payers' money.

"We are taking up the challenge to prove that we can move Swindon Services forward in a modern 21st century way of doing business."

Coun Bawden said the department would probably stop carrying out work for organisations outside the borough, as it currently does.

He added that the council had to create a level playing field between Swindon Services and private companies which compete for council contracts.

"One of the criticisms made of Swindon Services is that the borough went unfairly out of its way to keep everything in-house," he said. "The Labour group went out of its way to protect Swindon Services to the extent that it was criticised for not giving best value to the tax payers."

But Coun Bawden said he had 'no idea at all' if the changes would mean Swindon Services would win less contracts and so have to make redundancies.

Coun Bawden also denied rumours that the report had been sent back to the consultants several times, saying that council leaders met with the consultants as the work was done, as is normal.

Department delivers a wide range of services

SWINDON Services was formed in 2000 after Swindon Contractors and Recreation Services merged to become one department.

It meant the department then included a wide range of services ranging from refuse collection and recycling to parks and leisure facilities.

Cemeteries and crematoria, building maintenance, school buildings and footpath and road works are also included in the portfolio and the department runs Enterprise Works, which provides training and employment for more than 50 people who have disabilities in skills like printing, sign making and making benches and fences.

Swindon Services has also sold its services to other organisations, with the profits going back into Swindon.

It carries out grounds maintenance and building cleaning for Wiltshire County Fire Brigade and fits new windows and doors into council homes in Liverpool.

The department lost its long-serving director last month when John Short dubbed 'Mr Swindon Services' resigned. He took early retirement at 59 after 14 years in the job as the council reorganised its departments.

His post is being abolished and Mr Short would have had to apply for one of the new jobs being created within the council.

At the same time it was proposed that the department was renamed Swindon Commercial Services and made into an arms-length contractor supplying services to the council. But these recommendations were subject to the report now being considered by the council.

Shortly after his departure Mr Short was praised by a union representative at the council for protecting employees and avoiding any compulsory redundancies for manual workers.

It is believed that Mr Short received a substantial pay-off from the council. In 2002 Mr Short told the Adver that Swindon Services saved the council £2m a year which would otherwise be spent in the private sector and that when it won a council contract it was because it offered the best value for money.

Private firms in control

OTHER council departments have been run by outside bodies.

A private company has been in control of the borough's schools since 2002.

Tribal took over in 2002 after an Ofsted report identified weaknesses in 17 key areas of education in Swindon.

It was to raise the number of pupils gaining grades A to C at GCSE by 10 per cent as part of its three-year, six-figure contract.

In the first year an interim management team was in charge, then a permanent management team was appointed by Swindon Council, which included the current director of children's services Hilary Pitts.

But earlier this year Swindon was judged to have improved and will take back control of education on August 31.

Last year Kent County Council was brought in to rescue Swindon's failing social services department.

The £3.6m deal saw staff from Kent take over the running of the department to try to improve its zero-star rating. Kent's social services department is consistently awarded three stars.

Last week council leader Mike Bawden said he was confident the service was on the road to recovery and would get at least one star when it is next rated in November.

Isabel Field