'We haven't felt the need for public scrutiny of £150m Mouchel deal' - Bournemouth councillors speak out

At the stroke of a pen, four council departments and all the staff who worked within them were transferred from the council to Mouchel in 2010.

The 10-year outsourcing deal would create jobs, make massive savings and transform the way the council works, it was claimed.

But at the halfway point, the council has confirmed there has been little public scrutiny of the £150million deal because they have “not felt the need”.

Bournemouth council said there were several different internal monitoring mechanisms in place and the main scrutiny body is a Partnership Board which does not meet publicly but does produce an annual report.

“There won’t have been a public scrutiny for some time because there has not felt the need,” a council spokesperson told the Echo.

But does this matter? Council leader John Beesley is keen to reassure residents he was involved in the original negotiations and has closely monitored the contract over the past five years.

He said the contract was “clearly on schedule to deliver the agreed savings” and that the robust internal monitoring would continue over the next five years.

But his confidence is at odds with the opinion of the council’s former head of finance Liz Wilkinson, who warned councillors she had “serious concerns” about the outsourcing deal.

She claims the council was paying more to Mouchel than it would have spent delivering the services itself and said she tried to act as a whistleblower by expressing her concerns to all members of the audit and governance committee, council leader John Beesley, the chair and vice-chair of overview and scrutiny Cllr Chris Wakefield and Cllr Derek Borthwick and the external auditor. Nobody replied to her.

Cllr Chris Wakefield, the chair of the council’s admin and resources committee, said: “There is a legal process ongoing, i.e. the potential for an industrial tribunal, and there is a process that has to be followed.

“It would not be right and proper for somebody like myself to undertake any further involvement in that process, as I’m not part of it.

“With regards to the allegations made about the Mouchel contract, once this process has been concluded it may be something which is reviewed.

“Details of it do come to the admin and resources scrutiny committee, it has been reviewed on previous occasions and that may very well happen again.”

When asked why he had chosen not to take any action over Ms Wilkinson’s claims, Cllr Ben Grower, chair of the council’s audit and governance committee and leader of the Labour group, said: “At that time I made it clear to the committee that any action required by the audit and governance committee would take place after the tribunal hearing and after an investigation had taken place.”

He added: “No concerns regarding the Mouchel contract have been raised with the chair or vice chair of the audit and governance committee by the current Section 151 officer or his predecessor.”

Cllr Grower said it was not within the remit of audit and governance to investigate the Mouchel issue.

“There is ongoing scrutiny of the contract by council officers,” he added.

‘I was involved at start’

Council leader John Beesley, above, said: “Unlike Liz Wilkinson and many of those commenting publicly on the performance of the partnership with Mouchel, I was closely involved in the negotiations at the outset, together with a core team of officers and councillors.

“I am fully aware of the detail of the partnership contract and the financial and service improvement benefits it is bringing and will continue to bring to both the council and to Bournemouth residents.”

He said he had closely monitored the contract since its inception and had led renegotiations when circumstances had changed.

“In 2007, in anticipation of Government cuts to local authority funding as a result of the economic downturn, the council set itself a challenging 10-year savings target of £326million. The Mouchel partnership share of savings was set at £29million in 2010, as part of the £326million target. In the first four years, the partnership with Mouchel has delivered over £10million of savings to the council and has also improved services.”

He said the contract was “clearly on schedule to deliver the agreed savings” and robust monitoring would continue.

“The Partnership Board meets regularly and monitors the performance of the contract. This includes monthly performance meetings which examine service delivery, service improvements and financial savings to date as well as providing a platform for constructive challenge where necessary.

“Through my involvement in these arrangements, I am confident that they are entirely appropriate and that the partnership continues to deliver both financial savings and service improvements.”

He added councillors could scrutinise the performance of the partnership at any time. through the democratic process.