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The whole of local government is considering its future, in light of the cuts, and SOLACE is no exception. The society's chairman, Derek Myers, explains the changes to Heather Jameson As the austerity hits, no one in the public sector is immune from the cuts. Despite Daily Mail headlines of ‘fat cat' council bosses, and tales of excess at champagne fuelled black tie dinners, even the chief executives' society, SOLACE, has had to ring the changes. The reality of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers – to give it the full title – is very different from the tabloid press rhetoric. The annual dinner – paid for by private sector partners – is just one of the networking opportunities for senior council staff. And while the organisation as a whole is in good health – with 1,700 members including chief executives, senior managers, mid managers and graduates – the trading arm, SOLACE Enterprises has suffered from the downturn. Heather Jameson: ‘SOLACE Enterprises has suffered from the downturn. (Pic:iQoncept) SOLACE chairman – and chief executive of Kensington and Chelsea RLBC – Derek Myers says: ‘Membership is good, business is good. Clearly, our trading organisation has had the same challenges that all organisations selling to local government have had.' As a result, the organisation has been through a review, and come up with some radical changes across both the society and its trading arm. Sir Michael Pitt, former chairman of SOLACE Enterprises, stepped down last year and was replaced by Rich Benton. Mr Myers says: ‘Andrew Coleman [managing director of the trading arm] left us at the end of last year. Martin Horton [director of SOLACE Enterprises] has also left us. And David Clark [SOLACE director general] is currently seconded from the society to the trading company to help them refresh their business plan. We expect that David will continue there. He is doing a good job at the trading company and we would like him to stay there. He'll still be within the SOLACE family… but he won't be director general of SOLACE. We won't have a director general. The title has had its time.' Instead, there will be co–managing directors; Kathryn Rossiter and Mike Bennett, currently director of development and operations and deputy director general, respectively. Other posts have also been lost. ‘We have come down a little in size – but who hasn't? We have to be patient with the trading company while its performance returns to historic highs.' In addition, there will be a new policy manager brought in to beef up the organisation's policy function. Mr Myers says there are a number of priorities. ‘The first thing is to help our members be the best they can in challenging circumstances. ‘The second is that we want to give a voice to the ideas of our members and contribute to the debate. We have a very ready audience in large parts of Government. ‘There was a period of time when Communities and Local Government appeared to be a little less enthusiastic about harvesting the experience and ideas of SOLACE members, but that has all changed over the last six months with the arrival of [permanent secretary] Bob Kerslake –and before him Irene Lucas had put in place new arrangements to formalise contact with serving chief executives.' Mr Myers believes there is a role for SOLACE to play as the number of civil servants is cut. By talking to council chief executives early, the Government can harvest their expertise and get their policies on local government right first time. As for his own role in the organisation, Mr Myers is two years into the four year term he committed to. ‘The great thing about being a chairman is that you get a longer run at it. As president you only get a year,' he says. Next October, the SOLACE conference will be in Edinburgh. ‘We are calling it a summit rather than conference because we want to make it clear that it is for people to participate. It's absolutely right and a disservice to the public if they do not have the opportunity to think about the future and hear from leading advocates and theorists. We are unapologetic about that.' As for the publicity surrounding chief executives provoked by communities secretary Eric Pickles, Mr Myers is every inch the diplomat in his answers: ‘We are defined by our loyalty to democracy… so we have no comments to make about individual politicians. We aspire to see a secretary of state who is well informed and provides a leadership model for a sector that spends £100m and provides vital services to at least one household to every street in the country.' He claims the Government has opened a debate about ‘pointless bureaucrats' with the public, which he welcomes: ‘Who wouldn't say we should say we should get rid of pointless bureaucrats? But the government also likes professionals – and isn't it a good thing that all solace members are professionals.'

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WHITEHALL

Ringing in the changes

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