£17 F***ing million.....sums up privatisation for you!

Guest Blog by John Burgess 

Incredible but true if you click on this link you can read this question going to the Full Council.

How could they justify trying to take £17 million from Barnet Council! I am not surprised, but when will councillors wake up to understand the risks to the public purse!

Read the Question below:

Question 47 Councillor Barry Rawlings
What is the latest update on the Catalyst arbitration?

Answer by Councillor Daniel Thomas
The Council received the final partial arbitral award on 26 July 2010. The value of the award to Catalyst is not yet finalised, but a range of £5m to £6m is anticipated, against a claim of between £12-17m.

A detailed report will be considered by Cabinet Resources Committee on 19 October on the implications of the outcome of the arbitration process. The Council is seeking to enter into a renegotiation of this contract which was created by the previous Labour/Liberal Democrat administration. The renegotiation will be led by the Deputy Chief Executive and Acting Director of Adult Social Services, to manage on-going financial and service delivery risks.

So a new contract means the Council will be looking at a number of Options. One of which will include bringing back what is left of the service in-house.  Barnet UNISON will be launching a campign to return the service back in-house. 

Intersting timing as I saw this article about Fremantle who are the partners with Catalyst.

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John Burgess is Convenor for UNISON in Barnet. This blog originally appeared here - http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/489 - and is reproduced with permission. The Barnet Eye always welcomes guest blogs and publishes them unedited and without comment. email me via the link in my profile