'Significant issues' warning over plan to outsource jobs

Published on Wednesday 1 September 2010 19:40

AN independent report on the city council's plans to outsource up to 3000 jobs has warned there are still "significant issues" to be addressed.

• Chief executive Tom Aitchison: "significant issues exist requiring management attention"

External consultant Novos was brought in to review the controversial "alternative business models" programme, that could see up to 17 services fall into private hands.

It gave the programme only an "amber" assessment in the report, which has not been made public.

It is understood that the firm has concerns about unstable public and private sector finances. It is also said to have referred to a communication problem between council officials and elected members on the details of the programme.

Peter Hunter, regional organiser for trade union Unison, said: "Clearly, the consultants are saying that the council should proceed with caution.

"But it is not only Evening News readers that are not being given this Gateway Review, the councillors themselves are not being given it either.

"If they are going into a dangerous environment, they need to go into it with all the facts."

His comments came before a meeting of the policy and strategy committee meeting, where the issue was debated.

During the meeting, council officials said they had shared what they could with councillors and the trade union, but the "gateway review" by Novos was judged to be a "management review" that could only be used internally, as is common practice across Scottish councils.

Opposition councillors expressed concerns about the lack of scrutiny of the independent report and called for a cross-party working group to meet regularly and debate the alternative business models project.

They did, however, agree to a suggestion from council leader Jenny Dawe for officials to instead hold regular briefings with all political group leaders and finance spokesmen.

Chief executive Tom Aitchison said that the "amber" assessment means "successful delivery appears feasible but significant issues exist requiring management attention". However, he added that the issues "appear resolvable".

A city council spokeswoman, who said the report could not be provided to the Evening News because of "commercial sensitivity", added: "The reviewers found that good progress has been made and sound leadership is in place. The amber status, however, indicates that the council should be cautious when proceeding with the programme."