Information Bulletin
7 June 2004
Review of Council Created Trusts and Organisations
Key Findings and Outline Proposals
Over the past 6 weeks, a joint Shetland Islands Council and Shetland Charitable Trust Working Group has been meeting to review the number and purpose of all the various organisations which the Shetland Islands Council has helped to create over the years and which are funded by Shetland Charitable Trust.
This Information Bulletin sets out the proposals which this Working Group would like to make to the Council for changing the way we currently deliver services.
Leonard Groat, Chairman of the Working Group, outlined the main proposals from the group.
"The Working Group value the work of these independent trusts and acknowledge that they have made a huge contribution to public services in Shetland over many years. However, the Working Group recognise that we can no longer afford to continue with the current models of services delivery and firmly believe that it is time to take stock and put in place affordable mechanisms to deliver services over the next few years. The Working Group has reached consensus on the following proposals:
- We believe that all care homes in Shetland (except the Church of Scotland run homes) should be managed by the Council so this will have implications for the role of the Shetland Welfare Trust.
- We believe that the youth work and community learning services should be managed within the Council, which will impact on the work of the Islesburgh Trust.
- We think there should be one organisation in Shetland which is responsible for developing arts and cultural activity and this will have implications for the Islesburgh Trust and the Shetland Arts Trust.
- We believe there will be benefits in having all community development facilities (currently run by the Shetland Recreational Trust, the Shetland Arts Trust and the Islesburgh Trust) managed by one organisation and we suggest that this is done by the Shetland Recreational Trust.
- We do not make any proposals to change the fundamental purpose of the Shetland Recreational Trust, to provide sport and recreation facilities and services.
- We do not make any proposals to change the fundamental purpose of the Shetland Amenity Trust in the environmental arena.
- We believe that our proposals will save money on organisational, management and administration costs.
- However, more importantly, we will believe our proposals will protect service levels.
- We will make recommendations to the Council to protect staff during the change process".
This is the start of a consultation process.
The rest of this Information Bulletin explains in more detail the work of the group and what will happen next.
The organisations involved are:
- Islesburgh Trust
- Shetland Alcohol Trust
- Shetland Arts Trust
- Shetland Amenity Trust
- Shetland Charitable Trust
- Shetland Field Studies Trust
- Shetland Recreational Trust
- Shetland Welfare Trust
- Youth Information Service
- Moving On
- COPE Ltd
The idea for the Working Group came about for 2 reasons. Firstly, there is a need to save money and Councillors and Trustees felt they would rather save money through structural changes than make savings on front line service delivery. Secondly, there was a feeling that there were "too many" independent organisations operating in Shetland and there have been ongoing discussions for some time over potential overlaps and duplications between them.
In general terms, therefore, the Working Group was:
- Looking at the possibility of reducing the number of organisations it has helped to create, where it makes sense to do so; and
- Looking at eliminating any duplication and looking for ways to join up work - both in terms of delivering services and in terms of reducing overheads; and
- Reduce costs - in line with the Council and Trust's financial difficulties
- Protect services - to make savings on overheads.
Before making formal proposals to the Council, the Working Group want to share their key findings with other interested parties to explain their thinking and set out what will happen next.
At this stage, these are the ideas of the Working Group. They still need to be put forward to the Council to see if they want to pursue the proposals further.
The proposals will be reported to the Council on 22 June 2004 (Executive Committee) and 30 June 2004 (Shetland Islands Council).
If the Council accepts the proposals, there will be a period of consultation from July 2004 until the end of September whereby any interested party will be able to make their views known to the Council.
The key findings of the Working Group are set out below.
The Working Group has identified 5 areas where they have found overlaps in management arrangements and / or service delivery, namely:
- Care Homes
- Community Learning
- Youth Work
- Arts Development
- Facilities Management
The Working Group expect that the start made on reducing the controls on how the Council Created Organisations operate will continue and recognise them as independent entitles in their own right.
Rather than combine all services into a few big organisations, the Working Group are content with the model that allows small organisations to focus on being experts within their field. They do not want to create big, bureaucratic organisations but favor small, expert, responsible and flexible organisations. They accept that this might not always achieve the most savings.
The working group like the idea of having one organisation being in charge of all the community development properties (currently operated by the Shetland Recreational Trust, the Islesburgh Trust and the Shetland Arts Trust and paid for by the Charitable Trust). This is so that expertise in relation to all aspects of facilities management - maintenance, bookings, risk assessments, and so on - can be held within one organisation.
The Working Group also consider that the work of the Shetland Amenity Trust does not need to change as they have a clear role and remit within the environmental and heritage spheres of activity.
Within the care sector, the Working Group are content that the role of remit of the small organisations within this sector is clear for each client group and there is therefore no need to make any suggestions for change in this area.
The Working Group believe that the structural proposals outlined below will secure saving in the order of £300 - £500K per annum.
The Working Group is therefore making the following proposals for changing the current arrangements.
Care Homes
- All care homes in Shetland should be managed by one organisation.
- To save money on organisational costs, care homes should be managed by the Council's Social Work service.
- The Charitable Trust would continue to support the costs of having small care homes in rural areas by paying for the property costs and diseconomies of scale in running the small units.
Youth Work / Community Learning
- Youth work and community learning should be managed by one organisation.
- To save money on organisational costs, youth work and community learning should be managed by the Council's Community Development service.
Arts Development
- All arts development and programming should be amalgamated into one organisation to develop arts and cultural activities within Shetland.
Buildings
- All community development facilities (funded by the Charitable Trust) should be managed by the Shetland Recreational Trust.
As a result of these proposals:
Structural Changes
- The Shetland Welfare Trust would not be required to manage service in its current format.
- The Islesburgh Trust would not be required to manage services in its current format.
- The Arts Trust and Islesburgh Trust would be re-formed to address all Arts and Cultural Development issues.
- The Shetland Recreational Trust would take on a facilities management role for all community development properties.
- No specific proposals have been made to change the current scope of work of any other Council created organisation or trust.
Staffing Issues
- All staff affected by the structural changes, would be offered the same protection as given to Council staff during a change process - in terms of no compulsory redundancies, early retirement and voluntary redundancy opportunities, redeployment into other suitable posts and TUPE transfer of employment, where a change of employer is involved.
Future Changes
- Future structural changes in terms of amalgamating services where it makes sense to do so would not be ruled out and any voluntary restructuring exercises would be supported (this is simply a resourcing issue to initially focus attention on areas which achieve the greatest cost saving).
Leonard Groat, Chairman of the Working Group, aid, "I want to recognise the valuable contribution the various organisations have made to life in Shetland over the past years in their current format. Unfortunately, however, we can no longer afford the current model of service delivery and we have to find ways to put in place affordable structures to deliver services into the future with a reduced pot of money available."
The Working Group want to emphasise that they are not making any proposals to change the level of service delivered to the local community. What they are doing is looking at the way in which these services are managed and try to make savings on organisational costs.
Mr Bill Manson, Chairman of the Shetland Charitable Trust and a member of the Working Group said, "I want to explain that the Working Group is not suggesting any changes to services, nor the way in which they are delivered in local communities. For example, the care homes in rural areas will still operate the same way; what we are suggesting is changes to the way that they are managed from Lerwick."
The Working Group recognises that any structural change proposals are difficult for the staff involved. They want to re-assure staff that they will be suggesting to the Council that their pay and terms and conditions will be protected, regardless of which organisation they are employed by.
Mr Leonard Groat said, "The work of the staff who deliver the services for the local community are valued by the Working Group and we want to make sure that they are looked after during any structural change. The Working Group will therefore be proposing to the Council that the same protection is given to the staff who may face changes to their jobs as if they are employed by the Council. What this will mean is that we will be recommending that the change is done with no compulsory redundancies and that the staff's terms and conditions of service will be protected, regardless of who their employer is."
Mr Bill Manson went on to explain that, "The main reasons for the Working Group suggesting the changes is that we need to find ways of saving money without cutting services. The Shetland Charitable Trust still has a significant budget deficit of about £4m year on year. The Council is facing its own budget problems. The Working Group feels that it makes sense to try to look at reducing overheads first."
Representatives of the Working Group will spend time on Tuesday 8 June explaining their proposals to the Chairmen and General Managers of the organisations involved. If the Council accept the proposals for change, there will be a 3-month consultation period before any final decisions are made.
If you have any questions about this Information Bulletin, please contact your line manager in the first instance.
Questions on the detail of the proposals can be made to Jacqui Watt (Executive Director of Community Services) of Hazel Sutherland (General Manager of the Shetland Charitable Trust).
If you wish to raise any additional questions, please contact Leonard Groat or Bill Manson.
Further Information
Membership
In April 2004, the Shetland Islands Council and the Shetland Charitable Trust established a Joint Working Group. Six Councillors were appointed to repreesnt the Council's interest and 5 Trustees were appointed to represent the Trust's interest.
The people involved were:
| Council Appointments | Trust Appointments |
|---|---|
Leonard Groat (Chair) Iris Hawkins Gordon Mitchell Josie Simpson Drew Ratter Alastair Inkster |
John Scott Bill Manson Barbara Cheyne Jim Henry John Nicolson |
Terms of Reference
The Terms of Reference for the Council Created Organisations Working Group is to review:
- the purpose of each of the Council created organisations;
- the range of services delivered and the balance between work done by the Council and work done by the Council created organisations; and
- the relationship and arrangements between the Council, the Shetland Charitable Trust and the organisations receiving funding.
and to make recommendations with regard to:
- the most effective and efficient model to deliver "value added" services for the Shetland community (this will include the number of organisations and governance, management and administration arranagments);
- the funding arrangements to support the service delivery models; and
- the implications of any change.
To do this, the Group will:
- Map the services delivered by Council created organisations and by Council / Statutory agencies; and
- Map options for alternative models of service delivery.
Objectives
At the outset, the Working Group agreed a set of objectives, which were a description of what they wanted the study to achieve. These are:
Streamlined service delivery - any duplication of activity between organisations will be removed to create "expert organisations" in each of the key sectors.
Streamlined management arrangements - there will be an individual within Shetland who is publibly recongnised as being the manager / director of that service.
One Stop Shop - there will be in place a seamless method of service delivery, not restricted by organisational or professional boundaries - modelled on a "one-stop-shop" method of service delivery - with ease of access to services, with clear understanding within the community of who to contact and where to go.
Property - public and voluntary sector buildings are accessible and available for multi-use by all agencies to ensure that community resources are maximised
Reduced bureaucracy - Any unnecessary duplication, bureaucray and managerial or administrative overheads will be removed from the system
Save Money - we need to develop affordable and sustainable models of service delivery
Protect Services - where possible, the savings need to be made on overheads
Managing Community Expectations - while we need to deliver services which the community need and want, we need to actively manage that expectation in terms of what we can now afford
Locally delivered - where possible, decisions about the level and standard of service should be determined at a local level