1 August (Part 1) - Finance Scrutiny Committee report (Transformation)
There was a new Chairman of the Finance & Corporate Services Overview and
Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 22nd July. It was Councillor Andrew Curtois
(Falconwood & Welling) who had been sufficiently loyal to the Leader to pick up
the £9,000 plus a year job and succeed Councillor Ahmet Dourmoush. Whether he
knows any more about finance than Andy remains to be seen. Possibly not. In
Bexley it is not a case of what do you know but who do you know and not upset.
Andy will be out of favour because he is hoping to be elected in Bromley next
year and had no other choice having given up on his business in Erith.
The first major item up for discussion was ‘Transforming Council Services for our
Residents’ on which Bexley Council has already spent a colossal sum on a Director of
Transformation. Presumably they must realise how big a mountain they have to
climb. In January and February last year a survey showed that Bexley Council was
not
particularly well regarded by residents and a similar survey of staff
revealed that Bexley Council’s management was
truly appalling in several respects. There has been a significant clear out since then.
Councillor Hall (East Wickham) asked if there were any communications protocols in place to
improve relations with both residents and staff. At least three new members of
staff had been appointed and 800 staff took part in a briefing. Workshops and
Focus Groups are to follow. There had been another residents’ survey and a plan is being put together.
Councillor Ball (Labour, Erith) said he was not very impressed and asked why the
project is led by the Leader but without the Cabinet. He was not convinced that
every department and services were “not joined up”. He saw “red flags” in the
process and there is a “lot to do”. The Council officer appeared to be aware of
the problems that lie ahead and it is expected to take three years.
Labour Leader Stefano Borella complained about Reform UK members in the audience
who he said could be heard chatting among themselves. They were not audible on the webcast.
It was revealed that Working from Home has improved recruitment
levels as staff are only
asked to attend the office two or three times a week. Councillor Slaughter
(Sidcup) said that WFH deprived junior members of staff from learning from more
senior colleagues. She understood that things need to be done digitally whenever
possible but we must not forget residents in danger of “being left behind”. She said it can be
quite difficult to get through to Customer Services.
Councillor O’Hare knew of a resident whose pinnacle of technological advancement is a landline telephone.
Maybe that is not so very rare, I know a lady who is proud of being in the same situation.
Cabinet Member David Leaf said “digital by default does not mean digital only”.
Who can remember [the then] Cabinet Member Peter Craske when introducing Ringo -
actually its predecessor - promising that there would always be a cash option at all car parking facilities?
20 minutes after the first warning, the Reform UK people were again
reprimanded for speaking too loudly. It wouldn’t do for their comments to be broadcast to the world would it?
Councillor Larry Ferguson (Labour, Thamesmead East) suggested there might be
a case for performing smaller tasks in-house
instead of out-sourcing everything. Councillor
Leaf said he always looks at the in-sourcing out-sourcing question.
The meeting moved on to Asset Management.
Note: Another webcast technical failure resulted in the loss
of all close ups. It only provided the wide view shown above.