7 GWYNEDD COUNCIL STAFF TRAVEL SAVINGS PDF 314 KB
Cyflwynwyd gan: Cyng / Cllr Gareth Griffith
Additional documents:
Decision:
Agreed to
adopt an alternative travel scheme for staff, and reduce the departmental
budgets as follows to reflect the agreed levels of the relevant savings (total
£117,998) -
Education £9,775
Environment £8,772
Corporate Support £7,064
Finance £2,379
Economy and Community £6,526
Adults £33,183
Children £31,463
Highways and Municipal £3,463
Leadership Team £1,159
Consultancy £13,130
Housing and Property £1,084
Minutes:
The report was submitted
by Cllr Gareth
Griffith
DECISION
It was agreed to adopt an alternative
travel scheme for staff, and reduce the departmental budgets as follows to reflect the agreed levels of the relevant savings (total £117,998) -
Education
£9,775
Environment
£8,772
Corporate
Support £7,064
Finance £2,379
Economy
and Community £6,526
Adults
£33,183
Children
£31,463
Highways
and Municipal £3,463
Leadership
Team £1,159
Consultancy
£13,130
Housing
and Property £1,084
DISCUSSION
The report
was presented and it was noted
that this scheme would be led by the Environment Department but that it affected
the work of the entire Council. The background of the item was noted, explaining that it derived from a consultation with specialist consultants called Edge Public
Solution in 2014. It was reiterated that the report in 2014 expressed that the 15% saving was possible on the staff travel budget and that the Council had started to plan on this basis.
It was emphasised
that the Report in 2014 had not been based on thorough
work and consequently that further work
had been done by the Council. It was expressed that the department had been looking at different ways of communicating and to emphasise that the most obvious way to make a saving
was for staff not to make
the journey at all. The various
different ways of travelling to different meetings was highlighted, including public transport and pool cars.
It was noted
that work had been done to communicate
with the departments and there were examples
where departments had managed journeys better and had ensured a cost of
35p per mile through pool cars. Attention
was drawn to the table in
the report which noted the departments' targets. It was explained that some jobs were exempt, such
as Home Carers, and that these had been considered in the equation. Therefore, it was expressed that the saving would be approximately £120,000, which was lower than the figure seen in
the report in 2014.
Observations
arising from the discussion
¾
It was noted that it was important for some jobs to be exempt, such as home carers, as they were the backbone
of the Council and were
jobs that could not be done through technological
means.
¾ The members expressed their thanks for the report and it was accepted that the saving was much lower than the original amount. It was asked why the Council had used external consultants. It was noted that experiences with external consultants were mixed as they sometimes came from a financial approach and thus they provided a more mathematical result which was not a reality in Gwynedd due to its geography. It was added in other cases that external consultants had made the Council think in a different way and had provided new ideas. There was a need to consider the balance between the likely benefit and the cost when considering commissioning consultants as ... view the full minutes text for item 7
Awdur: Dafydd Wyn Williams