Bournemouth Council chiefs set to bring back 22 staff from outsourcing partner Mouchel (From Bournemouth Echo)
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Bournemouth Council chiefs set to bring back 22 staff from outsourcing partner Mouchel
11:00am Wednesday 18th July 2012 in Bournemouth By Andy Martin
‘FINE TUNING’: John Beesley
BOURNEMOUTH council bosses are set to bring 22 staff back ‘in-house’ from their outsourcing partner Mouchel .
The surprise move comes just five months after 12 of the staff – finance officers – joined the private company. But councillors say it is not a U-turn or a reflection on the performance of Mouchel , which currently has 480 former Bournemouth Council staff on the payroll from a number of departments.
Council leader Councillor John Beesley, told the Echo: “I am sure there will be criticism from the usual suspects but there is political support for this and it’s what is in the long term interests of the town.”
He described it as “fine tuning” of their Mouchel contract, which has been in place since December 2010. He said part of the reason was that the council is proposing to set up a community financing initiative to lend money to small and emerging businesses, social enterprises and individuals in the current, difficult economic climate.
Cllr Beesley declined to put a figure on how much the council could or would lend if the idea were to be approved by cabinet. But he added: “To be effective, obviously we would be talking about millions of pounds, but we will not be putting council taxpayers’ money at risk.
“Stimulating the local economy is critical. The government can’t do it all and the banks clearly don’t want to know. Local councils clearly have a role to play.”
Other staff being brought back include HR and IT specialists. Mouchel boss Tony Williams said he was not disappointed by the move, which he said was part of the evolving partnership between the company and the council.
President of Bournemouth Chamber of Trade Nigel Hedges, added: “Any new initiative to invest in the local economy is to be welcomed.
“It is vital if we are to get out of recession.”
The council’s outsourcing contract with Mouchel has been controversial and critics say there are still question marks over exactly how much it will deliver in terms of savings.
Comments(25)
Adrian Fudge
says...
11:47am Wed 18 Jul 12
Besides that if they were going down that route the normal process would be to discuss the matter, putting forward its aims and objectives, and alongside it submit the cost ie the staff required
That part of the story , which in my view would be a good idea to stimulate the local economy should have been done a long time ago using the huge the reserves thy have been stuffing away (£98M at the end of this year) but is only being put forward to deflect criticism of Cllr Beesleys lack of control
Its interesting to note that the Medium Term Financial Plan downgraded the savings supposedly being made with the outsourcing by £48m over the first 5 years and over , I believe, £100M over the 10 years of the contract
The reason I can confirm the figure above is because the council at present wont confirm the situation despite a Freedom of Information request
Without knowing the seniority of these people it is impossible to know the cost but it must be in the region of £1M+.
There is an Audit and Governance Committee that is meant to scrutinise these sort of actions . Perhaps for once it might do its job
Old Colonial
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12:09pm Wed 18 Jul 12
BmthNewshound
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12:10pm Wed 18 Jul 12
.
By political support I suspect Beasley means his well whipped fellow Tory councillors. Whats in the long term interests of the town is for the Council to bring all services back in-house. This isn’t fine tuning its an admission that the contacts wasn’t properly scoped and that Charon & Beasley got it wrong in awarding the contract to Mouchel.
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We know that Mouchel has already admitted that it will not be able to deliver the cost savings it promised in its tender. In light of this and the fact that Mouchel’s finances are in such a mess questions should be asked as to whether the contract should have been awarded to them in the first place.
whataboutthat
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12:19pm Wed 18 Jul 12
Bob49
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1:12pm Wed 18 Jul 12
The sad mess down there has now seen the volleyball nets now reduced to two - and surprise, surprise they are no longer available to the public.
It's no use for surfing, it's not safe to bathe there, the beach has been washed away leaving only shingle and now the Volley ball nets are out of bounds.
It was bad enough when they blocked off the only amenity for kids, playing around the outflow pipe. No wonder the wretched place is a ghost town.
Maybe they could use some of the millions supposedly saved by using Mouchel to develop Boscombe seafront to what was promised - or was the failure to deliver there just another bit of 'fine tuning' - or tweaking as it was once known.
This council continues to stagger from one shambles to another.
step up
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1:20pm Wed 18 Jul 12
rudolph_hucker
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1:37pm Wed 18 Jul 12
HRH of Boscombe
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2:16pm Wed 18 Jul 12
boverboy
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2:24pm Wed 18 Jul 12
jinglebell
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4:06pm Wed 18 Jul 12
y this isn't the same Tony Williams who is the Chief Executive of B'mth Council? B'mth Council wouldn't dream of doing anything compromising like that surely?
Bob49
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5:03pm Wed 18 Jul 12
Maybe it's just a generic name for an incompetent official
muscliffman
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5:45pm Wed 18 Jul 12
All in good time.........the truth will out.
EGHH
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10:09pm Wed 18 Jul 12
There some things that need to be kept under public control.
EGHH
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10:14pm Wed 18 Jul 12
http://bournemouth-l
ibdems.org.uk/en/art
icle/2012/591504/the
-mouchel-saga-update
d-complete-overview-
april-2010-may-2012
It seems that Tony Williams and Anthony Williams are one and the same!
EGHH
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10:18pm Wed 18 Jul 12
infohound
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10:35pm Wed 18 Jul 12
infohound
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10:47pm Wed 18 Jul 12
Adrian Fudge
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11:13pm Wed 18 Jul 12
infohound wrote:The Finance people were transfered June 2011
The Echo article quotes John Beesley as saying that the Mouchel contract had been in place since December 2010. This seems unlikely for the finance team outsourcing as the Echo reported the suspension of the Chief Accountant for arguing against the outsourcing of the finance team on 31st October 2011. The finance team must have been transferred a month or so after that article so the decision to transfer 12 staff back can only be after 6 or 7 months of being with Mouchel. This does not look like fine tuning, more like panicked adjustments or possibly something more mundane eg the usual culprits, personalities or politics
What is interesting is that this transfer was supossedly going to save Bournemouth Council £263K in this current financial year
Unless these workers are on average saleries under £12K per annum which is extremely unlikely or there is a reduction in the payment to Mouchel it it obvious that the outsourcing will be costing us more money than the original in house cost.
It seems a strange Contract that enables variation on the hugh and totally unaccountable scale that is going on but bearing in mind the Councils track record perhaps it should come as no surprise
When will the Councillors who have a duty to scrutinise this on our behalf actualy do their job that they are content to take their allowances for
tbpoole
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7:23am Thu 19 Jul 12
rudolph_hucker wrote:Move then.....are they really that much better anywhere else?
The smoke and mirrors, the false savings, the gagging of officers, the cosyness of it all, the debts, the wastage and the greedy incompetent self-serving parasites sat in the town hall all make me sick.
juniperberry
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10:37am Thu 19 Jul 12
d/in-housed as the business needs. Clearly there is strategic aim here that needs more financial expertise within the direct control of the council. I've lived in many other similar minor towns and seriously they don't have councillors with this level of commercial understanding that know how to drive economic development. So the surf reef doesn't work -big deal - it didn't use tax payers money but it has done its job and the businesses who invested in the area aren't complaining, the people who got jobs because of it aren't complaining. ASB has plummeted in the area and lots of people now visit spending money which goes in to the local economy. It's been the catalyst for improving the area, which is being used to start on other areas of Boscombe. This is a good news story!
hrryseccombe
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12:59pm Thu 19 Jul 12
juniperberry wrote:As a businessman in Boscombe I am appalled at the surf reef Fiasco, it is extremely embarassing to see places such as the reef building and many business named after this failed surf Reef, and I am continually asked about this matter by visiting tourists. Have you seen the high street recently, its packed full of empty shops. Our one big chance of regenerating the area (speaking as a former member of the regeneration group now the highly controversial BCIC) through using the centrally placed victorian community centre (22 rooms of historical and highly functional community space bequethed to Boscombe people by Percy Bysse Shelley and the former Childrens School and the first Childrens theatre in the uk backed by the LEA) to attract tourists and build skills in a highly deprived community whilst also securing local jobs, will be cynically levelled for 11 small houses. Most of the businesses in the area are struggling heavily. I believe that the millions of pounds the council is talking about releasing is largely destined to help struggling hoteliers and developers in favour with the council, as obviously it is not destined for valid community projects such as the BCCA. I am intrigued to see where this money is coming from and why, as it is not tax-payer money it cannot be from the supposed savings of the mouchel deal ( these savings seem to be getting less and less each day and I can see in the long run it will cost us much more, particularly if Mouchel goes belly up. The more I look into the shenanigans of the council the more appalled I become. I am also highly offended to be labelled as "the usual suspects" because i express a differing opinuion to the one councillor Beesley promotes.
Clearly none of the commentators here have any commercial experience in running efficient operations. Anyone of a senior enough level in the private sector will tell you that operational necessity requires teams/depts to be outsourced/off-shore
d/in-housed as the business needs. Clearly there is strategic aim here that needs more financial expertise within the direct control of the council. I've lived in many other similar minor towns and seriously they don't have councillors with this level of commercial understanding that know how to drive economic development. So the surf reef doesn't work -big deal - it didn't use tax payers money but it has done its job and the businesses who invested in the area aren't complaining, the people who got jobs because of it aren't complaining. ASB has plummeted in the area and lots of people now visit spending money which goes in to the local economy. It's been the catalyst for improving the area, which is being used to start on other areas of Boscombe. This is a good news story!
wonderway
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1:24pm Thu 19 Jul 12
LaughingLarry
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1:55pm Thu 19 Jul 12
In Absentia
says...
9:04am Fri 20 Jul 12
LaughingLarry wrote:They'll just hide behind the quote that their contract with Mouchel is 'commercially sensitive'. It'd be a waste of time.
I won't pretend to understand financial stuff but surely a well phrased FOI by someone who does could provide some interesting reading.
penhale says...
11:13am Wed 18 Jul 12