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Integration or fragmentation |
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Friday, 05 May 2006 |
Following on from the plan to move Building Services out of the Council, there is now a plan to have Community & Safety Services move out too. Policy & Resources Committee on Tuesday 9th is due to consider a paper including this proposal.
The SNP Group has reservations about this trend to semi-quangos. We do understand the need for Building Services to compete for the Glasgow Housing Association contract. But this is a problem that Labour asked for by getting rid of all the Council's housing stock. Similarly few would disagree with a more joined up approach between the Council, Police, Health Services, etc.
So what is the downside?
- The Council itself is likely to become increasingly fragmented. Whereas BITS of the Council may be in close partnership with the Health Board or Police, how joined-up will all these BITS of the Council be with each other?
- Staff are likely to be treated less fairly, e.g. it will become easier to pay women in one BIT less than men in another BIT.
- It will become increasingly hazy to whom all these new partnerships and companies are answerable. If they go off the rails, who will call them to account?
- There is the danger of increasing duplication as can be seen between Scottish Enterprise and Communities Scotland.
- Three current examples of arms length bodies owned by the Council or run by councillors are the Licensing Board, the SECC, and the Concert Hall. The history of these are that they tend to drift off and do their own thing rather than being part of Council policy. One example is the councillors in the Council having to write to the councillors on the Licensing Board about lap dancing. Not much joined up thinking there!
John Mason commented on these trends. "There seems to be a fashion at the moment for arms length companies, partnerships, etc. Labour seems to be following this current fashion rather than acting out of any sense of principle. The great fear is that different parts of the Council will end up facing in different directions at the same time. The Council's ability to influence the local economy, health, and other important issues could be seriously weakened."
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