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Transformation is a word with significant currency these days. Barely a week passes without some consultancy contacting me to talk about transformation. Abdool Kara is chief executive of Swale BC All their approaches seem to differ – transformation is a word of many meanings, all ephemeral, but nonetheless, to be revered as our saviour in these dark and dangerous times. I have mixed views on this. I have no doubt that the role of public services is to constantly challenge themselves to do things better, by doing things differently, exploiting opportunities which arise through, for example, new technology, legislation, or partnership opportunities. But, in a perfect world, I see this as a sort of permanent evolution rather than a big bang revolution. Of course, we don't live in a perfect world, and our current financial context may prompt some to ‘modernise' faster than is safe – throwing an organisation in the air to land it differently over a short time-span is undoubtedly a high-risk strategy. And, even without the support of consultants, a high-cost one. In Swale, we have recently put our budget to bed. Despite higher cuts than most, we managed to protect virtually all frontline services, retain all grants to the community and voluntary sector, and move all staff on to a new, single-status pay scale, agreed with the union – including honouring historic equal pay liabilities. All this was achieved without dipping into reserves or putting more than 40% of our new homes bonus into our base budget, retaining the remainder to support our highest-priority, ‘discretionary' activity, regenerating the borough. We did this by driving efficiencies across all services, reviewing management layers and spans of control, and entering into several shared services arrangements with a variety of partners. And there is more to come from further shared services and outsourcing arrangements, and renegotiating existing contracts with our major suppliers. I am not sure I would describe this as ‘transformation'. I simply see it as becoming highly efficient and effective at what we do. The time for transformation may yet come, and members' thinking on the future vision for the council will be at the heart of this, as will the final shape of the Localism Bill, the outcomes of the local government finance review, where we go on community budgets and so on. Transforming, in the light of these significant changes in our operating context, and at a pace that we can properly manage, will be more sustainable, in the long run.

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WHITEHALL

Plugged In

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