Radical more for less blueprint

Thursday July 1, 2010

A radical blueprint to deliver 'more for less' during Britain's age of austerity has been announced by the nation's best council.

Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council says only by prioritising 'services not buildings' and merging some key functions - like its education services department - can vital front-line services be protected from the nation's toughest public spending squeeze in living-memory.

The beacon council - which is currently Britain's Council of the Year, as judged by the Local Government Chronicle - says it has to cut £55 million from its budget over the next three years and is calling on other boroughs to follow its innovative thinking rather than just cutting front-line services.

In response to the Coalition Government's first budget, H&F Council has announced plans to merge the local education authority with Westminster. The move is the first of its kind and council bosses expect the move will make savings of around 20 per cent in three years, help improve standards and help tackle failing schools and accelerate the delivery of free schools. The proposed merge is an example of how councils need to look at ways of merging other services to reduce cost, according to the council.

"We will lead the radical revolution in local government that our nation's finances require," said H&F Council leader Stephen Greenhalgh. "This is a blueprint for delivering more for less. That means cutting unnecessary costs wherever we can, such as merging the education department with our neighbours Westminster."

Around a dozen council buildings, that are either underused or provide poor value for money, could also be sold to cut the council's £133 million debt mountain. The council says the estimated £20 million proceeds would be used to pay off debt, cut interest repayments and free up more than £2million in cash for frontline services every year.

"We are prioritising people not bricks and mortar!" continues Cllr Greenhalgh. "The days of council buildings in every street are gone."

Meanwhile, H&F Council became the first local authority in the UK to publish on its website a detailed list of transactions amounting to more than £500. As it made the move, Cllr Greenhalgh promised to update the list every three months. The company names of suppliers and the amounts are published in full on the website.

"Our drive to cut costs means exposing our books to public scrutiny to drive out every last penny of waste. And cutting our budgets by £55 million means there are some very tough decisions to be made over the months ahead," added Cllr Greenhalgh.

"We have made it our top priority to pay off the borough's £133 million debt mountain over time. Today, the annual cost of the interest on the council's non-housing debt is £5 million before a single penny can go towards services. We will sell assets we no longer need because, when times are tough, we have to put services before buildings."

Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government Eric Pickles said: "There is great potential for more locally-led joint working, the sharing of back office functions and greater cooperation both between councils and between councils and other local public bodies. I welcome this latest venture."

The Leader has also welcomed the news that councils across Britain are being freed from a series of costly government inspections - something the council called for in November 2009 - which are regularly conducted by the Audit Commission. The move, according to H&F Council bosses, is expected to stop millions of pounds of taxpayers' cash and thousands of officer hours being wasted.

Cllr Greenhalgh added: "Some critics have argued in the past that cutting costs is unpopular - this is nonsense. What we are doing in Hammersmith & Fulham is hugely popular with local residents.

"All councils have a duty to respond to the perfect storm of social and economic challenges caused by Britain's toxic debt mountain which is fast approaching £1.4 trillion. In these tough times we all need to make radical changes that can truly deliver better services for less money."

H&F Council: 'more for less' in action

H&F Council has cut council tax by 3 per cent for four years in a row.

At the same time residents' satisfaction ratings are at an all-time high locally and are among the highest approval ratings in Britain.

The council has taken out more than £42 million worth of waste and bureaucracy over the past three years.

Over recent years H&F Council has:

• Reduced its debt mountain by £43 million saving taxpayers millions in reduced debt repayments
• Reduced the number of bureaucrats by nearly 600 posts (more than 1,000 including outsourcing)
• Disposed of costly office space saving £1.3 million

Better services for less money

At the same time the council is prioritising front line services that matter most to residents:

• Some of the best and most improved secondary schools in England
• 93 per cent of streets are cleaner than national standards
• H&F parks are among the best in the UK with £8 million spent on improving open spaces officially recognised with 3 Green Flags
• A new £2 million flagship library for London was opened at Shepherds Bush at virtually no cost to the taxpayer. The first new library for 40 years
• H&F is putting more bobbies on the beat by contributing £1.8 million a year for 60 extra town centre beat Police
• Waste and recycling is still collected weekly and on the same day
• 800 vulnerable people continue to receive social care who otherwise would not be eligible in most other local authorities.

And it is popular with residents!

Three independent surveys have showed residents' satisfaction rising rapidly.

All of this means H&F is officially judged to be one of the best performing councils in Britain and is the current Council of the Year.