COUNCIL SAYS 'NO' TO £5m SAVINGS (27/11/02)

When pressed by Conservative councillors, the Lib Dems backed down on their original plan to scrap the Commission’s target.They said that in three year’s time the money would not be available to reduce council tax.It would instead ‘relieve pressures in the demands on the county council resources.’

Said Bob Little, a County Councillor and Chairman of the Commission, “We worked long and hard and identified without any doubt that the County Council could save £5 Million per year by modernising its procurement methods. I am disappointed that the Lib Dems have watered down our report.It is the people of Somerset who will be the losers.”

The report is the work of the Commission on Procurement & Purchasing, established by the County Council last November to examine ways of improving its procurement processes.Its creation followed a report by the Audit Commission, which had assessed the County as providing ‘a poor service’ on procurement with ‘uncertain’ prospects for improvement.

“What I find really disappointing,” added Ken Maddock, a member of the Commission, “is that we were a cross-party group and worked well together to bring better value for money to the people of Somerset. Political allegiances have no place in such a forum, and I am happy to say that only two of our final 22 recommendations required a vote – all the other 20 were totally unanimous. Yet despite this, the Lib Dem machine has rolled into action and now very important, unanimous, recommendations about how procurement should be managed have been fatally weakened. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised; a number of government bodies over the past 4 years have said how leaderless this Council is and how it lacks any vision for the people of Somerset. This just proves that sadly they were right.”

Another member of the Commission, Stephen Martin-Scott, said, “Frankly, this is a shambles. I see we are getting more of the usual Lib Dem meddling and muddling. This was a really great opportunity to help Somerset cut its costs, but without reducing services to the county’s taxpayers.What I really fear is that, with the Lib Dems’ emasculation of the Commission’s report we’ll get all the costs of staffing a new procurement regime but, thanks to their changes, no organisation and leadership to see it through.Let us not forget, this county council 10 years ago employed 11,000 and now employs 15,000 staff.”

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

The Commission on Procurement & Purchasing was established by the County Council in November 2001 to examine ways of improving the Council’s procurement processes.Its creation followed a report by the Audit Commission, which had assessed the County as providing a ‘poor service’ on procurement with ‘uncertain prospects for improvement’.

The Commission’s Report identifies how the County Council could save £5 Million per year by modernising its procurement methods. This represents 2.5% of the £200 Million spent on bought in goods and services each year.