Attempts to save money founder as public bodies drag their feet

Services across Yorkshire have been landed with huge cuts in their budgets as a result of the coalition Government’s austerity measures and have been told to find new ways to work “efficiently” together.

One way suggested by Ministers has been to share buildings and services but concerns have been raised that as some authorities have attempted to start negotiations, others have prevaricated or done nothing. Particular worries have been raised by members of South Yorkshire’s Fire and Rescue Authority, after a report by its chief officer revealed approaches to other organisations had failed to yield any results.

At a recent meeting of the authority, South Yorkshire’s fire chief Jamie Courtney, who is struggling to cut his £36.8m grant by 11 per cent, said there had been “no lack of effort” to engage in dialogue.

But it was reported by Mr Courtney that there had been “little response so far” and “commitment had so far proved disappointing despite efforts continually being made to engage with partners”.

Members said they had concerns about a lack of meaningful work on shared services and one member said he would now be pressing for “less talk and more action” from the chief officers of other organisations.

Coun Andrew Bosmans, who sits on Doncaster Council as well as the Fire Authority, said: “I feel that the top officers at the fire service are doing all that they can on this, but not getting a response.

“The Fire Authority has always been the main instigator of joint working, with the other authorities saying, ‘OK you go away and do the work and use your money and we’ll see what happens’. That can’t continue. There are a lot of problems with the pace of what is happening. There seems to be a lot of talking from public authorities on collaborative working but not enough doing.”

Coun Bosmans said there were a number of obvious areas in which senior public servants should take action now. That included looking at economies of scale including the situation where almost every town had three separate buildings for the fire, ambulance and police service and separate administrative functions.

He added: “Although this situation has been forced upon us, there are opportunities to explore having all three services together.

“What I would also like to see is more collaborative working on things like vehicle maintenance.”

The report to the meeting which caused the concern of Coun Bosmans, and other members such as fellow Doncaster councillor Richard Cooper-Holmes, appears to lay bare the lack of co-operation.

It says: “Discussions on a range of issues have taken place with South Yorkshire Police, but little common ground established, and approaches made to other potential partners in relation to procurement activity have not been met with any degree of enthusiasm.

“South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue does have the potential capacity to deliver a shared service arrangement to others in the spheres of financial systems, 24-hour call out, workshops and press and public relations.

“Dialogue has not yet commenced on these areas, partly as a result of the current restructure process. Once new structures are finalised, there will be an opportunity to look at what can be achieved.

“This will be of particular importance if further savings are required to meet budgetary targets.”

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