Questions over redundancy packages and Charteris "dodgy deals" (South West Wiltshire Liberal Democrats)

South West Wiltshire Liberal Democrats <info@swwiltshirelibdems.org.uk>

Questions over redundancy packages and Charteris "dodgy deals"

November 9, 2010 8:29 AM

fat capitalist Liberal Democrat councillor Jon Hubbard has been trying to get answers from Wiltshire Council over the arrangements made to pay off senior officers of the county council.

WC has admitted that the packages were far more lucrative than those being offered now to employees who become redundant. During the move to one council 11 WCC officers took away nearly £2 million between them - nearly £1m more than they would have got under current arrangements.

Cllr Hubbard has also asked about a report in "The Independent on Sunday" alleging that former Chief Executive Keith Robinson has taken a job as director with consulting firm Charteris. The article claimed Charteris were the consultants employed by Robinson during the transition to unitary.

Council leader Jane Scott has been asked how much Charteris were paid, and whether they are still employed by Wiltshire Council. In order for our readers to make their own minds up about whether or not the Charteris deals represent good practice here's her justification in full:

Quote begins.

"Charteris has a well established business in the provision of advisory services to Local and Regional Government. In common with other consultancy companies, from time to time they seek input from industry figures to help them understand how to develop services within markets. They had formerly had no direct dealings with Keith Robinson with regard to any contractual work at Wiltshire Council but when they heard that he had stepped down from his role as Chief Executive of Wiltshire Council felt that he could be someone who could provide this kind of input.

Keith Robinson is not and will not become a Charteris employee. Charteris pay for his occasional services through a standard contractor agreement.

This question was asked at several points during the transition at the Implementation Executive and at Council and we had to confirm support costs to the DCLG as part of the process. We confirmed every time we were asked, that Charteris were not involved in the transition programme nor the creation of one council.

Charteris are employed currently to work in Adult Care to help transform Social Care (for which Wiltshire received a specific grant in excess of £2.3m), on a call off contract valued up to £900,000 and to help the Council look at transforming other services through Systems Thinking at a call off contract up to £100,000.

Charteris are currently contracted with the council through the AMTEC consortium, of which Charteris are a partner organisation. This was through a robust procurement process being procured under the OGC Buying Solutions framework. This is a national arrangement set up in compliance with all EU procurement legislation against which all authorities can buy from."

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Meanwhile in response to questions from Cllr Peter Colmer WC has revealed that the total cost in the 2009-10 accounts for all redundancy and retirements was £9.5m. The exceptional costs of severance relating to the move to "One Council" (LGR) were £7.1m - redundancy £6.4m and retirement £0.7m.

The total number of employees made redundant since April 2009 is 130, of which the number relating to LGR is 62.