Unison, Scotland’s largest public service union, also warned of the high cost of setting up “public service factories” in a bid to save councils cash, adding that shared facilities were not providing the answer to modernising services.
The union said frontline services will suffer as a result of the top-down approach to change and that shared services was an agenda being pushed by private sector consultants.
The warnings come days before seven west of Scotland councils decide which schemes, due to work across council boundaries, they will sign up to.
The Clyde Valley Review, instigated by former NHS chief Sir John Arbuthnott, also comes ahead of the Scottish Government-commissioned review of public services by Dr Campbell Christie at the end of the month.
Unison was critical of the Clyde Valley Review, which it says has involved no consultation with either trade unions or with the staff who deliver services.
Dave Watson, Unison’s Scottish organiser, said: “Co-operation between public services is essential, but that doesn’t mean setting up vast public service factories or bringing in the private sector. Shared services are often pushed by private consultants as a way to save money.
“However, these schemes come with huge upfront costs and evidence shows that initial savings are not delivered in many cases – so we would warn against the belief that there is a pot of gold to be released.”
He added there was increasing evidence from the UK and internationally that few services actually delivered through a “shared” platform had achieved the claimed saving.
Mr Watson said: “Bright ideas are never the result of discussions which take place in a darkened room. For positive changes to happen, managers have to adopt a bottom-up approach and involve staff in decision making.”
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Gerry Braiden
Quelle/Source: Herald Scotland, 11.06.2011
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