I have been asked several times to provide some information regarding the payment to KPMG in respect of the Performance Improvement Programme (PIP).I remain perplexed as to why I in particular am being singled out because (a) I am not the relevant Lead Member, and (b) the information which I am being asked to provide is already in the public domain and has actually been quoted on this forum by one of those who is asking me to provide it!Nonetheless, I have undertaken to provide the information and have spent some considerable time trying to ensure that I am furnished with detail which I can pass on and which is not in any way commercially sensitive. On this it has been my policy to err on the side of caution. However, I believe I have waited long enough and now feel compelled to exercise my own judgement in this regard.Below are the minutes of a Budget Presentation given by Council Leader Peter Thompson to the Isleworth & Brentford Area Committee in January, which also spent some time covering the PIP project.If it doesn't provide all the information which is being sought, please feel free to ask further questions and I'll do my best to help:"Councillor Peter Thompson, Leader of the Council, gave Member’s a detailed slide presentation on the Budget proposals for 2008/2009 and longer-term proposals of the Performance Improvement Programme. The Chair invited questions and comments from Members’ and members of the public."Councillor Paul Fisher said that he was very pleased that the consultation process had commenced much earlier than the previous year. "Councillor Cadbury commented that the details of specific cuts within the budget setting process had not been made public. Councillor Thompson responded that there was a filtering process and that details about specific cuts had been released to scrutiny. Councillor Phil Andrews agreed with Councillor Cadbury and felt that there should be more consultation with the public and suggested that next year the public be consulted about specific job cuts. [I should add here that I also refuted Councillor Cadbury's ludicrously false assertion that consultations had been more open under her administration. My intervention was both to correct this, and to deliver my view that notwithstanding the improved level of community engagement it could and should be improved further]."Councillor Dakers said that he would like to see the authority move beyond consultation and to adopt a participatory decision-making process. Councillor Thompson agreed that it was a good way for the authority to move forward, he commented that the authority was quite limited and the majority of the decision–making powers rested with central Government. Councillor Thompson commented that the London Borough of Hounslow had won awards in the past for consultations with the public."Aljos Farjon, co-opted member, questioned why the Council had engaged an expensive consultancy firm to deliver the savings. He questioned whether the majority of the savings would be achieved through staff cuts. Councillor Thompson responded that the fees for KPMG were approximately £4 million. However, KMPG would deliver savings of approximately £50-£60million over three years. He confirmed that KPMG would be looking at staffing levels and the various tiers of management within the organisation. He advised that they had identified nine levels of management between Chief Officers and employees working on the ground. He commented that they would be working to simplify management structures and would also be identifying administrative posts that did not need to be tied to specific departments. The Leader of the Council also explained that in terms of bill payments and receipts the future vision was to go online and for residents to access services online."Aljos Farjon, co-opted member, questioned how long the process would take and for how long the Council would employ KPMG. Councillor Thompson advised that in terms of staff redundancies, savings would be realised by the end of June 2008. He confirmed that KPMG would leave the authority in September 2008. Aljos Farjon commented that except for the staff redundancies the overall proposals sounded very positive."Councillor Carey questioned whether KPMG had trained a taskforce of Council staff to take over once they had left. The Leader of the Council confirmed that they had trained a taskforce that would continue to look at the future and different ways of working."Councillor Dakers commented that he supported the principle of the Performance Improvement Programme. However, he felt the figures that had been mentioned did not reflect a full picture of the costs that the Council would incur in the short-term and he felt that the benefits would be cumulative. The Leader advised that there would be the initial costs in terms of redundancy payments. He said there would be an initial cost of approximately £11 million until the savings began to stream through. "Dominic West, a local resident, commented that the London Borough of Hounslow had always scored a low mark on environmental issues. He said that he hoped to see an improvement in environmental issues. Mr West said that he was grateful that the Isleworth and Brentford Committee had put more resources into tackling and removing graffiti. He expressed concern that recycling targets were expected to increase but that the Spacewaye Recycling Centre would close at 4pm over the summer period as it was often a quiet period. Mr West emphasised that the earlier closing time of Spacewaye was totally unacceptable as the aim was to improve environment and recycling targets. The Leader of the Council agreed with Mr West’s comments and advised that there was a new waste and recycling contract that would commence in 2008 and he also agreed that the Council would need to do more for graffiti. Councillor Reid expressed concern that Spacewaye would be closing at 4pm and said that it came within her portfolio and that she would look into it. In terms of the two-star rating that the London Borough of Hounslow achieved, Councillor Reid advised that some of the roads within the borough were in a very poor state and required long overdue repairs and that was also a factor that had contributed to the lower rating."The Chair thanked the Councillor Thompson for his presentation and closed the item."
Phil Andrews ● 6342d