ISiS
- Southwest One Freedom of Information Request
(06/10/08) Latest FoI request regarding changes to Southwest One's Staffing Agreement and requesting access to clauses in the wider contract that the staffing agreement refers to. Read more
Reply to Freedom of Inormation Request
(19/09/08) In repsonse to our FoI requests dated 18/08/08 (see below)
we have received the following FoI
Reply from the Corporate Director of Resources.
UNISON shines spotlight on Murky World of the Public Services
Industry
(18/09/08) The seismic shift towards private companies providing public
services is exposing the Government and taxpayers to enormous financial
risks, warns UNISON, the UK’s largest public sector union today
(18 September). The union is calling on the Government to ditch its fair-weather
friendsin big business and call a halt to damaging privatisation. Read UNISON Press Release
Request for Information - Southwest One and vote for union recognition
(12/09/08) The Branch asks whether the Independent Chair has been appointed and the arrangements regarding the company's forthcoming vote on trade union recognition. read more
Request to see the hourly
and daily rate charges for SWO staff
(18/08/08) Requuest to see the rate charges that SWO uses, also whether
SWO will be having it's own Publication Scheme read
more
Respect to inspect SWO/ISiS Full Business Case and Benefits Realisation
Plan
(18/08/08) Please read our request to Legal Services for the above documentsread more
Request for information regarding documents to external auditors
(18/08/08) Please read our questions regarding documents and whether the auditors and client side have had access to them read more
Request to inspect SW1/ISiS 2007/08 Accounts
(08/08/08) Today the Branch has asked to see the last financial years accounts relating to SW1/ISiS Further details
Council chief denies failure to consult union over IBM deal
(04/08/08) Somerset County Council's HR chief has rubbished union claims
that he failed to consult them fully before signing a controversial shared
services deal with IBM. More
from Personnel Today
Plain speaking on outsourcing
(01/08/08) We report this week on two ground-breaking local government outsourcing developments: Somerset's "South West One", behind which stands IBM, and Westminster City Council's declaration that it will be free of IT infrastructure by 2015. More from ComputerWeekly.com
Somerset partnership investigated
(31/07/08) Somerset CC's ground-breaking shared services venture with
IBM faces new questions over its legality amid rising concern about secrecy.More
from Local Government Chronicle
Somerset County Council: Audit of the accounts for the year ended 31st
March 2008
(30/07/08) Reply from the Audit Commission to our letters of the 21st and 22nd July Read more
UNISON calls for Audit Commission Report into IBM Project
(25/07/08) “The government need to learn from their mistakes with PFI and avoid wasting millions of pounds of public money on inflexible contracts with the private sector. These projects are not a golden bullet for public sector reform, but allow big businesses to cream off profits made from taxpayers’ cash.
UNISON Press Release
SAP user group condemns increase in support costs
(25/07/08) SAP
has triggered a backlash over increasing the cost of software support
for its customers by nearly 30%. The UK & Ireland SAP Users Group condemned
the change in the business software company's maintenance contracts. More
from ComputerWeekly.com
Shrouded in Secrecy - The Somerset Public/ Private Partnership
(23/07/08) UNISON has worked closely with ITV’s West Eye View to expose the truth about the secrecy behind the public/ private partnership with three public bodies and IBM. More from UNISON Southwest
IBM seeks to stop council
divulging £400m contract details
(23/07/08) BM, the world's largest IT services company, has sought to
stop Somerset County Council from divulging important contract details
on a £400m outsourcing deal. More
from ComputerWeekly.com & related
article
Letter from Branch to Audit Commission regarding SCC legal advice
(22/07/08) Further letter to the District Auditor read more
Legal Advice to SCC
(21/07/08) Copy of the leagal avice obtained by SCC on limiting access
to information requested under the Freedom of Information Act. Read
more
Continuing Concerns
regarding Southwest One
(21/07/08) Letter
to Audit Commission
999 call centre 'to proceed'
(19/07/08) THE man behind the implementation of a new 999 fire call centre
in Taunton has said he fully backs the project - even though it won't
make the projected financial savings. More
from Somerset County Gazette
Freedom of Information - Avon & Somerset Police Authority
(17/07/08) Further to UNISON FoI requests in March this year, the following
documents have been released, please note that a some of these have been
redacted (edited) with the grounds for this explained in the covering
letter from ASC to Malcolm Wing (UNISON). The following documents
relating to the Business Case have been received:
ASC
Redacted Business Case
ASC
Business Case for SAP Back Office
ASC
Business Case - Accommodation Strategy
ASC
Business Case - Contact Management
ASC
Business Case for Locality based Service Delivery
ASC
Business Case for Procurement Transformation (Redaction)
ASC
Freedom Of Information Appeals Procedure
A Few Questions for
Audit & Resources Sub-Committee
(11/07/08) Today the branch submitted a number of questions regarding
commercial confidentiality of SW1 and the recent Information
Commissioners ruling around FoI requests to Mid Suffolk District Council.
Read more
Questions to Scrutiny Committee
(09/06/08) Including questions about Pioneer Somerset and concerns around
the lack of Union recognition for staff directly employed by Southwest One further details
Union adds to questions
over county council partnership
(30/05/08) UNISON has joined Bridgwater & West Somerset MP, Ian Liddell-Grainger
in publicly questioning The secrecy behind SCC's mlti-million pound partnership
with computer giant IBM More
from West Somerset Free Press
Response to our request to see the Benefits Realisation Plan
(29/05/08) Please read the letter
from SCC, a document
from the Office
of Government Commerce (OGC) and Southwest
One's Benefit Realisation Plan. Further to this the branch has written
a letter
to the Audit Commission
DfT shared-services plan under fire
(23/05/08) Plans to improve human resources, payroll and finance services
through new shared facilities (supplied by IBM)for the Department for
Transport and its agencies could cost £81m over the next few years,
instead of saving £57m as planned. More
from news.zdnet.co.uk and the National Audit Office report
Freedom of Information Requests
(22/05/08) At the recent full council, the Branch's use of FoI was questioned,
here is the Branch's response
Questions to Full Council
(14/05/08) At today's full Council, the follwoing questions
were raised.
Southwest One: Grant Thornton's findings
(09/05/08) SCC's external auditors findings
Southwest One: FoI request
(30/04/08) The Branch asks for SW1's Benefits Realisation Plan under FoI
More
'Summer of discontent' threat over Council jobs
Public services union Unison is threatening a "summer of discontent"
within Bradford Council as it prepares to ballot its members over possible
strike action to save 408 Council jobs. more
from the Telegraph and Argos
IBM in Bradford axe 400 council jobs
The cuts aimed at saving £13.6m are likely to come from departmentS where
Bradford-i computerisation project (IBM/Serco partnership) have been rolled
out, including HR, payroll, revenue, benefits and procurement More
from the Telegraph and Argos
Southwest One: Freedom of Information Request
(07/05/08) Branch submits an enquiry as to the whether the carbon footprint
and environmental impact of SW1 has been assessed More
Southwest One- Audit Commission presentation
(01/05/08) The following is the Audit Commisions presentation, please
note that the the report is yet to be completed and the Branch's concerns
are still to be addressed. View
report
Somerset County Council's Southwest One partnership praised by
auditors
(30/04/08) Somerset County Council’s process for setting up Southwest
One - a Joint Venture Company between Somerset County Council, Taunton
Deane Borough Council, IBM, and the Avon and Somerset Police Authority
- has been praised by Auditors this week. More
from 24dash.com
Audit Commission's take on SSPs is 'fundamentally flawed'
(18/04/08) The Audit Commission’s recent report, For Better, For
Worse, provides a much needed national analysis of Strategic Service-delivery
Partnerships. But the report is fundamentally flawed. The report is devoid
of any substantive statistics and lacks analytical comparisons and clarity
in its conclusions. The exclusion of employment from the study is, at
best, inept.
More
from Public Servant Daily
Access to Full Business Cease refused
(16/04/08) Ealier in the month, the branch requested the Full Business
Case under the freedom of Information act - our request has been refused.
Read
the letter we recieved from SCC
Southwest One: Letter to Audit Commission
(03/04/08) letter from Branch regardig SAP and whether the scope of the
commission's own audit will involve a Gateway 4 review. Details
of letter
March 2008 Southwest One: Freedom of Information
Request
(02/04/08) Branch requests for the Full Business Case on the partnership
arrangements with IBM. Details to follow.
Southwest One criticised by MP
(27/03/08) Outspoken Mp Ian LiddellGrainger has attacked the way private
company Southwest One has been set up More
from Western Daily Press
MP's anger over services company
(26/03/08) An MP has told the Commons he believes public money is being
"misappropriated" with a company running public services in
Somerset. More
from the BBC
MP slams Southwest One
(26/03/08) WEST Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger today launched an astonishing
attack on a new company set up to make multi-million pound savings in
public services. More
from Somerset County Gazette
Southwest One: Discussion in Parliament
(26/03/08) Transcript from Hansard http://www.publications.parliament.uk/
Police join Southwest One
(26/03/08)AVON and Somerset Police Authority has joined Somerset County
Council and Taunton Deane Council in the new IBM joint venture admin company,
Southwest One. More
from Somerset County Gazette
Holocaust Engineers now control Avon & Somerset Police Support
Services
(21/03/08) What a nice Easter present from the shysters at the Avon and
Somerset Police Authority. As of Thursday poison is all that awaits those
who trust Avon and Somerset police. more
from Bristol Indymedia
Southwest One: Further Freedom of Information request
(04/03/08) FoI letter to Matt
Jones, Head of Client Functions
Learning lessons from the wreckage
(09/02/08) "If Metronet pulls out another company will be found to take
its place," Gordon Brown told MPs last July, a statement that turned out
to be untrue. Metronet did collapse, brought down by a towering ziggurat
of debt and contractual confusion, and no company has replaced it. On
Wednesday afternoon the government slipped out news that taxpayers are
to write off £2bn of its debt - the death throes of a scheme inflicted
on London by the Treasury, which had cost £500m in administration fees
alone. More
from the Guardian
AA exits IBM deal early to bring datacentre back in-house
(25/01/08)The AA is to exit a £50m seven-year outsourcing contract with
IBM early to bring its datacentre back in house. More
from ComputerWeekly.com
Southwest One: Latest report from European Services Strategy
Unit
(24/01/08) Please read Lessons
and new agenda for public services in the South West and our latest
press
release
Paper on Strategic Service Delivery Partnerships
(07/01/08) Paper on SSDPs to go to South
West Provincial Council
A Somerset resident gives their views on IBM/SW1
(18/12/07) The news of the new company has not been greeted well by all
- read what a resident had to say to Orchard
FM
Statement to Audit Scrutiny Committee
(14/12/07) address by Roger Conway, a member of the public to the Audit
Scrutiny Committee
Powerpoint Prestentations on South West One
(04/12/07) Survive
or Thrive in SW1 & Southwest
One (You will need MS PowerPoint or Viewer to load)
Branch Response to Councillors
(20/11/07) regarding ISiS/South West One contract
Further Freedom of Information Request
(15/11/07) requesting details of IBM/South West One contract
Freedom of Information letter
(09/10/07) please read our letter
requesting the names of local authorities and PCTs who have signed up
to the framework agreement associated with the ISiS/Southwest One.
Union anger as council services go private
(06/10/07) Money from Somerset taxpayers may be used to line shareholders'
pockets after the county council and Taunton Deane Council signed a £400million
contract with IBM, union members claim. More
from Somerset County Gazette
IBM takes on Council Services
(03/10/07) Staff working in areas such as human resources, IT and finance
will become employees of Southwest One, a company run by computer giant
IBM. Union officials claim the deal was struck in secret and was never
fully debated. More
from the BBC
Unions fear for Police jobs
(03/10/07)Union bosses last night revealed they have "grave concerns"
about moves by Avon and Somerset police to privatise key parts of its
workforce. More
from Western Daily Press
PFI projects wasting billions, says UNISON
(02/10/07) New research confirms extra cost to taxpayers More
from UNISON
ISiS - Letter in response to rejection of request to put ISiS
to Full Council
(01/10/07) Letter to Jill Shortland outlining the consitutional reasons
why ISiS should have been put to Full Council - read
more
ISiS - Formal Grievance lodged with SCC
(27/09/07) As we have not been consulted on the Staffing Agreement the
branch has today, sent a letter
to the Acting Head of HR, lodging a formal grievance with SCC.
ISiS Staffing Agreement
(27/09/07) The failure of SCC to provide the the Branch with a copy of
the ISiS Staffing Agreement has now been referred to our solicitors -
please read our letter
to the County Solicitor
Latest UNISON ISiS Update
(26/09/07) Please read our latest ISiS
update
ISiS Response to Report
(26/09/07) ISiS have responded to our report Somerset
ISiS or Crisis? and have povided us with these responses
.
UNISON Submission to the Exec Board
(25/09/07) Please read the Branch's
submission to the Executive Board- meeting on 26th September 2007
ISiS Staffing Agreement
(25/09/07) At today's ISiS JCC UNISON was refused a copy of the proposed
ISiS staffing agreement on the grounds that IBM wanted it to be 'commercial
confidentiality'. However UNISON beleives that we are entitled to this
information please read our letter
to Acting Head of HR
What Price Democracy?
(24/09/07) Following our request (see item below) the Leader of the Council
responded by saying there was nothing in the Council's constitution that
would enable referral of ISiS to Full Council, please read our
letter in response to this
Request for Full Council to consider ISiS Contract & to conduct
a Recorded Vote
Request for Full Council to consider ISiS Contract & to conduct
a Recorded Vote
(19/09/07) The Branch has written to both Councils requesting the above
- please read our request
to SCC and TDBC
Latest Branch ISiS Update
(07/09/07) For news from the Audit Commission, ISiS called to Scrutiny,
the MAANA report and more please read our ISiS
Update (please note this was released prior to the news on the MP/HBS
withdrawal)
Mouchel Parkman/HBS Pull-Out of ISiS
(07/09/07) MP/HBS have withdrawn from the ISiS partnership at the 11th
hour.
ISiS to go through Scrutiny
following our extensive lobbying, the waiver on Scrutiny committee assessing
ISiS and the Executive Board decision to proceed back in July has been
rescinded. A Scrutiny committee meeting has now been set up for September
12th, which is open to the public and to UNISON.
August 2007
Somerset's ISiS or Crisis?
An Assessment of the proposed Strategic
Service-delivery Partnership with IBM, HBS and Mouchel Parkman. A
comprehensive report commissioned by Somerset County and Taunton Deane
UNISON from the European
Services Strategy Unit .
For the Executive summary of the report, please click here
Latest ISiS Newsletter from the Branch.
UNISON letter to Audit Commission
(23/07/07) Our branch has serious concerns about due process & ultra
vires actions on the Improving Services in Somerset (ISiS) Strategic Services
Partnering (SSP) Project - read
full letter to Audit Commission
Out of house, out of mind - and out of pocket
(15/05/07) "Far from cutting costs, in many cases outsourcing ended
up costing more than keeping the services in-house..." Read
full Observer article, by Simon Caulkin
ISiS - Police plan to privatise 500 jobs
(02/02/07) Police chiefs are looking to privatise key sections of the
Avon and Somerset force in a controversial deal which could see the jobs
of up to 500 civilian workers transferred to a multi- national firm. More
from Bristol Evening Post
PFI will cost three times as much
(30/11/06) Taxpayers will for out £148 billion over the next 25 years
for PFI schemes worth just £47 bn, UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis
warns. More
from UNISON
The cost of privatisation will haunt us for years to come.
(30/11/06) private-sector investment always requires a risk premium and
profit-taking. If the government is paying the bill, the private sector
will seek to pocket as much public money as possible. Read the full article
by Kelvin Hopkins, MP in Guardian
Unlimited
October 2006 - Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council have 'liberated' themselves from their Strategic Partnership with Liberata - ending the partnership after only 3 years of what was going to be a 10+ year contact.
Update
12th January 2006
Update
11th October 2005
Update
23rd September 2005
Update
16th September 2005
Update
7th September 2005
Update
19th August 2005
Public
Service, Private Gain
West
Eye View Thursday 24th July 7:30pm - ITV1 (ITV1 West): The
controversy over whether the taking over of local council and police services
in the west of England by American computer company IBM is for public
service or private profit. Narrated by James Garrett. Missed this programme?
Watch online at www.itvlocal.com/west/
and read Press
Release from West Eye View
Letters to local Press
(10/04/08) Right
to point out concern over the democratic process
(05/02/08) Positive
spin - Negative reality
(08/10/07) IBM
Running the Show Now?
(11/09/07) Councils
fail the democratic consultation test again...
(21/05/07) UNISON
Alternative to Outsourcing
(17/05/07) Reducing
costs is not initially about IT
(03/05/07) How
will IBM keep Council Tax down?
Further info
Councils’ accounts - Your rights: England
I want to complain about my council who do I need to speak to?
PPP
DATABASE - Strategic Service-Delivery Partnerships for local authority
ICT, corporate and
technical services in Britain by Dexter Whitfield, Research Fellow in
the European
Services Strategy Unit
Re-Shaped
or Pear-Shaped?
An Independent Analysis of Torbay Council’s “Commissioning”
Strategy conducted by APSE
(Association for Public Service Excellence) on behalf of Torbay
Local Government Branch
At What Cost? A a UNISON report on the aggregate costs of PFI/PPP projects in Scotland - and some suggestions on a way forward (October 2007)
Elsevier Science refused to publish a study of IBM workers that IBM sought to keep from public view. Readers may be interested in the folowing article IBM, Elsevier Science, and Academic Freedom (VOL 13/NO 3, JUL/SEP 2007 www.ijoeh.com)
Shared services briefing - an example from the European Services Strategy Unit.
Shared
Services in Britain - a report for the
Australian Institute for Social Research
and the Public Service Association by Dexter Whitfield of the European
Services Strategy Unit.
New
from the ESSU,
Public
Sector Research ONLINE
provides detailed guidance on how to research and investigate public policy,
public services, the economy, government, companies, consultants, trusts,
organisations and individuals. It is intended to provide a service to
those involved in public policy making, public sector research, public
employees, service users, trade unions, community and civil society organisations.
It has a major role in public sector education and training. Visit http://www.european-services-strategy.org.uk/psro/
24th April 2007
Concerns
about Strategic Service Delivery Partnerships - Motion submittd to
UNISON South West as agreed at our recent Annual General Meeting
16th April 2007
ISiS
- Supplementary questions regarding finance - In the absence of replies
to the Unison’s previous questions, the comments and questions are
necessarily based upon extrapolation of the available information and
assumption/deduction.
29th March 2007
Further to our submission to the ISiS Plenary Panel, please read the Responses
our questions and our further comments and questions arising from them.
This document also contains the original questions for ease of reference.
16th February 2007
Somerset County and Taunton Deane branches presented UNISON's
Submission to the ISiS Plenary Panel as part of the 'bidder assesment
work'. This is an important document and contains questions that we believe
must be answered before selection of the 'preferred bidder', please take
the time to read
it, and our list of key
recommendations.
UNISON's Submission to the ISiS Plenary Panel (Feb 07)
UNISON Recommendations (Feb 07)
UNISON's questions regarding ISiS (draft) (Feb 07)
Employment Risk Matrix from the ESSU
A Typology of Privatisation and Marketisation from the ESSU
The Flawed Options Appraisal & outline business case for a strategic service-delivery partnership by Dexter Whitfield, Director, Centre for Public Services (now the ESSU)
The PFI Vs Democracy? case study from the The Joseph Rowntree Trust part of a series commissioned to investigate specific PPP schemes, this looks at the Haringey Schools PFI Scheme:
The European Services Strategy Unit (continuing the work of the Centre for Public Services). ESSU is a unit in the Sustainable Cities Research Institute, Northumbria University. "We are committed to social justice through the provision of good quality public services by democratically accountable public bodies implementing best practice management, employment, equal opportunity and sustainable development policies"
Members may be interested to read "The cost of privatisation will haunt us for years to come" an article by in the comment is free section of GuardianUnlimited by Kelvin Hopkins, MP (30/11/06).
Members may be interested in a new book by Dexter Whitfield "New Labour's Attack on Public Services" available from
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