Barnet Council urged to talk to staff to improve services

A LEADING left-wing commentator is urging Barnet Council to talk to staff to improve services from within rather than choose privatisation.

Hilary Wainwright, editor of the socialist magazine Red Pepper and author of several books on Government and the public sector, told council staff at a meeting last week the authority should ask them how to improve services.

A team of officers is currently working on a template for the future of Barnet Council entitled Future Shape.

The project could result in outside organisations adopting some roles currently fulfilled by the council, sparking fears of privatisation among trade unionists and council staff.

Ms Wainwright said: "This is a real opportunity to show there's a public sector solution involving the staff and users.

"These are the people who know the services like that back of their hands. They're the people who can say how it can be improved, not an outside company interested in making money.

"Change has to be about realising the creativity and commitment to services that lies within the council and within the public sector. There needs to be a more democratic, egalitarian approach to management."

Next month Ms Wainwright is launching her latest book, Public Service Reform But Not As We Know It, which chronicles the succesful challenge by Newcastle Council staff to the threat of privatisation.

Staff and managers in Newcastle put together an "in-house" package of ideas and efficiencies to rival those of external, private companies looking to take over council services.

The success of the bid resulted in considerable, documented improvements to back-office services in Newcastle, including the authority's call centre and processing of benefits.

According to Ms Wainwright, the openness of the process was a vital element in its success.

"One weakness of change driven by threat, change in an atmosphere of tension, is that people are scared of asking questions and sharing knowledge," she writes.

Ms Wainwright says the project was only possible because staff felt relatively secure.

"One of many benefits of this insistently questioning was an unusual degree of transparency. This contributed to the democratic follow-through and the genuine accountability of public officials to elected councillors and the public."

The Barnet branch of UNISON, the public sector union, and opposition councillors claim the Future Shape consultation is a closed-door exercise, that will lead to a "fait accompli" when the proposed solutions are unveiled in June.

However a council spokesman said no services had yet been put out to tender, so no bids had been considered and the option of an in-house bid with staff or union members had not been discussed.

He added: "Until a decision is taken in June the issues of identifying partners, if the decision is to go down this route, and tendering for services is wholly academic."

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