Going Going Gone....?

6.29.19pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 16th Aug 2007

The Tories are threatening to sell off a whole range of council services - see Welwyn Hatfield Times of 8th August, link below - Let's have the facts say LibDems

Liberal Democrats in Welwyn Hatfield are demanding that the confidential report by PA Consulting on which the Tories appear to be basing their proposals to privatise just about every aspect of the council's operations be published immediately. "How can we possibly assess the merits, if any, of the proposals if they are based on a secret report", said Cllr. Tony Skottowe. "I certainly have not been allowed to see a copy yet and for all we know the consultants conclusions could be complete nonsense. We are deeply suspicious of the way in which this was announced just as the summer holidays began and on a Friday", he continued.

Also missing from the statement issued by the Tories is any mention of expanding Local Area Agreements with other local councils. "Our experience so far with sharing services with other authorities has been very good indeed, so why are we not exploring this approach rather than privatisation?" said Tony.

Cllr Hazel Laming was distinctly unimpressed at yet more services going to private companies. "Given the experiences we have had so far with Serco and Finesse Leisure I doubt any of our residents are going to support yet another attempt to offload more council run services" she said.

One of the LibDems major concerns is the potentially serious impact on staff morale. "There is nothing more calculated to devastate morale in an organisation than telling the entire staff their jobs are at risk", said Tony, "Even if that is not the case the normal human reaction is to think the worst" he continued. "We will certainly be doing our best to look after the staff's interests."

The LibDems suspect this is another case of the Tories knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing. "It is almost impossible to quantify the benefits of a locally run and locally 'owned' operation", commented Cllr Nigel Quinton, "Until we see the consultants report we cannot tell whether this has been considered or just ignored. We are going to need a great deal of evidence to persuade us not to get this proposal thrown out root and branch."

Related Link:

Welwyn Hatfield Times news item.