Do you know how to read a map? Or how to use a mobile phone? Or wash your hands? If not, West Sussex County Council is here to help. Over the last year they have produced films on these subjects - paid for with their residents' council tax - to show you how to do all of these things.
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But Watchdog found that some residents of Chichester, the home of West Sussex County Council, were less than impressed:
"I'd rather they fix the paving stones etc,' said one, "than tell us how to wash our hands."
West Sussex County Council told Watchdog that they ran 23 courses last year for 160 people wanting to learn how to use a basic mobile phone, and the film was made in order to promote the courses and ensure the information reached more people.
West Sussex County Council made the video, along with others such as 'how to use a map and compass' using public money. They said that the films only cost a few hundred pounds each to make, and insist they are effective publicity and represent good value for money. They went on to say that the 'How to Wash your Hands' video was made at the height of the H1N1 virus as a health protection video, and that all of their in-house films are also on DVD and shown at Libraries and Help Points.
However, amidst record national debt, and with spending cuts at the top of the agenda in local and central government, Watchdog decided to take a road trip to have a look at how West Sussex and other local councils are spending taxpayers' money.
The full response from West Sussex County Council, and all of the other councils featured in the report, can be viewed below.
After Chichester, the next stop was Winchester, home of Hampshire County Council. Since 1989 Hampshire County Council has bought 353 works of art to decorate its offices and buildings. £14,000 of council taxpayers' money has been spent since 2005, on the 'Art in Offices' collection that according to some local reports is worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The only problem is, hardly any of the taxpayers in Hampshire have ever seen these paintings and sculptures. Only one item from the collection is currently on public display - in the Winchester Discovery Centre. Members of the public can make appointments to view the other items, but this is so badly publicised that not one person did so throughout the whole of 2009.
Local artist Andrew Carnie told Watchdog: "It's really good to spend money on art, and support art," and went on to say that, "The arts have a kind of payback in the long run. What's then done with it is another matter. And it would be really good if it was more on public display." Local residents who spoke to Watchdog agreed.
Hampshire County Council told Watchdog that it has been working hard to create galleries and exhibitions that are secure enough to show the highlights of the collection to the public in a more accessible way and is putting together an online catalogue with a view to the collections being displayed in Gosport, Winchester and Basingstoke.
The leader of the County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, commented:
"Hampshire County Council is noted for its cultural policies and stands by its programme of purchasing art from local artists. We have invested £3,000 per annum on such art over the last five years and we are putting the local art collection on display. In the same five year period, we have made efficiency savings of £65 million without which our council tax, now the lowest in the South East, would have increased significantly."
It's not just the south of England where councils have been accused of squandering money.
Camarthenshire County Council in Wales spent £12,000 last year on chauffeurs for senior council staff.
Under the previous administration Islington Council, in north London, spent a reported £100,000 on a 'living wall' of plants and flowers that died. Plans to reinstall the so-called 'green wall' at the Paradise Park Children's Centre are now the subject of a value for money review. The present Council told Watchdog, "One of the first acts of the newly elected Labour administration was to ask for a review of this project, which we believe does not represent value for money."
In York, the City Council have spent over £600,000 on outside advisers to help identify savings as part of the 'More For York' project. The Council is now managing the project in house, and told Watchdog, "At the point that the council engaged an external efficiency partner the authority, faced a number of financial challenges, needed to make significant savings and wanted to achieve this in a way that would lead to efficiency and improved service, rather than cutting services.
"This extensive, wide ranging and detailed exercise would not have been possible without external assistance and therefore there was value in bringing external consultants in to do this." The Council insists that the benefits of the More for York programme are already being seen and significant costs savings have already been achieved.
All of these examples have created much local debate, as has the use of consultants by North Somerset Council. They have spent over £5.5 million on them in the last three years. This year they have even employed a 'space consultant', though this is not as exciting as it sounds.
The consultant has been employed to advise the council how to best use the space available across Council buildings. The individual is a nationally recognised expert and undoubtedly very good at their job, but the money paid out seemed stratospheric to some of the local residents Watchdog spoke to. The consultant is being paid £650 a day. They have been employed on a six-month contract working an average of three days a week.
North Somserset Council told Watchdog that they are a high-performing, low-spending council, and that they have reduced their funding gap by £25m over the last three years.
"As far as the office space expert is concerned," they explained, "like any large organisation, our accommodation needs are complex. We are reducing the number of buildings we occupy, saving the tax payer money. We need to make the most of the working space we have, improve the environment for our customers and staff, and have brought in a nationally-recognised expert to work with us for a short period to help achieve this. This investment will produce long-term gains for the council, partners, residents and staff."
Consultants, it seems, are an area where councils are spending a huge amount of money across the country. But is it all necessary?
Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers' Alliance said, "It can be difficult to put a very precise figure on how much councils are spending on consultants. Largely because all the different bodies measure these different spendings in different ways. However, as far as we can see there are in the high tens or even hundreds of millions of pounds a year are being spent."
"There are definitely some areas where councils are justified in using consultants and where it's inevitable. However, as far as we can see the run of the mill consultants who are coming in are doing jobs which council officials are already being paid handsomely to do."
Other councils accused of wasting money include Hull City Council who recently sent their residents a letter thanking them for recycling. Questions have been raised about the value for money - and green credentials - of this mail shot. Hull City Council confirmed to Watchdog that the letter was sent out, in order to thank residents, "...for bearing with us while we rolled out a new kerbside waste and recycling collection service across the city, and to thank them for their support in achieving record recycling figures."
In Stoke-on-Trent the city where locals and even some councillors expressed their anger at hundreds of pounds having been spent on promotional umbrellas for the city's centenary celebrations this year. Some councillors even went as far as auctioning their umbrellas off for charity. The Council told Watchdog:
"The promotion of the centenary celebrations is important as we want people to get involved in the events we put on. The umbrellas were a simple and cheap way of doing this and they have been used at a number of events already - events which have received positive publicity all over the world.
"I think five councillors chose to auction their umbrellas off. That is entirely their prerogative."
Liverpool City Council came under fire when, under the previous administration, it spent £20,000 on leaflets celebrating the fact that they were no longer the worst financially managed council in the country. Councillor Joe Anderson, leader elect of the city council, said: "This was nothing more than propaganda on the rates - and a shocking waste of money. We opposed this wasteful spending and it will not happen again under Labour. There is a need to provide useful information to residents about services the council provides and how we spend their council tax - but there's no excuse for spending £20,000 on leaflets crowing about achievements. Nothing outrages the public more."
But an example that has really angered local residents, however, is in Sunderland, where the city council has spent £70,000 redeveloping the Diamond Hall Pocket Park.
Local parents expected the park to be child friendly, perhaps with slides and swings. Unfortunately they were disappointed when the park was finished and adorned with concrete slabs and wooden poles. Residents have likened it to a graveyard.
Saacha Thompson a local mother, told Watchdog, "There was nothing ever mentioned about concrete blocks, or anything being in concrete... It is a death-trap waiting to happen... We all pay tax, and this is what we paid for? We haven't paid for this."
Watchdog also met 10-year-old Lynette Steel, who was asked by the council to draw ideas of how she would like the park to look.
She said, "Our school was asked to design two models, and they completely ignored us. I drew a tyre swing, sandpit for younger people, roundabout, seesaw, monkey bars."
Sunderland City Council told Watchdog that the park met health and safety standards but due to strength of feeling about its design, they are now reviewing their plans.
Full responses from all of the councils featured in this reports can be read below:
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association, which represents councils in England and Wales, said:
"Councils deliver hundreds of services to millions of people all over the country every day, and are often the only organisation whose staff will regularly visit every single home in an area.
"Highlighting a tiny handful of town hall spending decisions in this way does not properly consider the reasons behind them, and is not a fair reflection of the efforts of councils overall.
"Local Government is the most efficient part of the public sector and has found savings of more than a billion pounds a year since 2004. Recent examples of major savings include a project being set up by councils in the north east to share recruitment costs, saving half a million pounds a year, and district councils in the south west have got together and saved 20% on their insurance bills.
"Cutting waste and providing better services for less money is a big priority for councils at the moment, as it is for central government and businesses. Councils are not complacent about the need to use taxpayers' money wisely and they will keep on finding ways of giving local people better value for money."
West Sussex County Council told Watchdog:
"Each film cost just £300 to make, from existing budgets. Last year we ran 23 courses for 160 people wanting to learn how to use a basic mobile phone. The film, to promote the courses, ensured we reached even more people. It was taken off when attendances were extremely high. We also run popular silver surfer courses for the many older people who also want to learn internet technology.
How to Wash your Hands' was made at the height of the H1N1 virus as a health protection video, using special light to show that many people simply don't do it properly.
Our in-house films are also on DVD and shown at Libraries and Help Points. The camera and editing equipment has earned more in income than it cost to buy. This is effective publicity and good value for money."
Hampshire County Council told Watchdog:
"We have made small investments of no more than £3,000 per year on art pieces by local Hampshire artists. Works from the collection, built up over the last 20 years, is displayed in Council offices, corridors, meeting rooms and reception areas of public buildings including some of our arts centres, libraries, register offices and Discovery Centres throughout the county.
We have been working very hard to create galleries and exhibitions that are secure enough to show the highlights of the collection to the public in a more accessible way and we are putting together an online catalogue with a view to the collections being displayed in Gosport, Winchester and Basingstoke. More than 100 of the paintings from the collection are published and reproduced in colour illustration in 'The Public Catalogue Foundation's Oil Paintings in Public Ownership: Hampshire, part of a national collection of catalogues.
The investment in art by local artists is an asset to the county and will have seen a pretty substantial rise in value over the last 20 years. Hampshire County Council has for a long time recognised support for the local arts and creative industries as being vital to economic growth, employment and education. Through the arts collection we're able to showcase quality work by local artists that would otherwise remain in private collections.
This public money that is spent on improving the quality of places is we feel justified when you consider that in half that time we have raised over £300 million from the disposal of surplus land and property, we are planning to start in excess of £300 million of building related projects over the next three years and will be buying something like £700 million worth of services from suppliers over the County and beyond."
The Leader of the County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, commented: "Hampshire County Council is noted for its cultural policies and stands by its programme of purchasing art from local artists. We have invested £3,000 per annum on such art over the last five years and we are putting the local art collection on display. In the same five year period, we have made efficiency savings of £65 million without which our council tax, now the lowest in the South East, would have increased significantly.""
Carmarthenshire County Council
"The Council leases one vehicle at a time, specifically for business/civic use by the Chairman of the Council. The cost of hire, maintenance and fuel in 2009/10 was £12,328.39. This figure does not include salary costs.
This is because the two employees who drive the Chairman's car fulfil a number of other duties alongside driving the vehicle. The Council does not record the time spent by these members of staff only on driving, therefore the actual percentage of their salary that can be attributed as part of the vehicle's running costs cannot be quantified and is not therefore held."
"Carmarthenshire employs 2 members of staff on a part time basis [20 hours per week] whose duties include driving the chairman and senior members to and from official functions where necessary."
"They could be asked to undertake driving duties from one day a week to most days of the week depending on the number of official engagements. There are weeks when no driving is required."
The council confirmed that the budget for chauffeurs is being cut by £3,000 as of this year.
Islington Council told Watchdog:
"The Green Wall on the Paradise Park Children's Centre in Islington was commissioned by the Liberal Democrats that ran Islington until the elections 10 days ago.
"One of the first acts of the newly elected Labour administration was to ask for a review of this project, which we believe does not represent value for money.
"Planning rules mean there does need to be a green wall on the building, but this can be built for far less money by simply growing plants up a conventional wall.
"A final decision on how to replace the expensive green wall with something much cheaper will be made in the next few weeks after a discussion with the Islington Play Association - the excellent voluntary sector organisation that runs the Children's Centre."
Cllr Richard Watts - Executive member for Children and Young People - Labour councillor for Tollington ward.
York City Council told Watchdog:
"(1) £602,459 has been paid to Northgate Kendric Ash consultants, who were hired by City of York Council last year to help identify £15 million worth of savings over three years.-
"(2) Northgate Kendric Ash pulled out of the project in December 2009.
"(3) £78,600 VAT from the total amount paid can be reclaimed.
"Dealing with these three queries together:-
"In January 2009, the council engaged Northgate Kendric Ash (NKA) to work with the council in connection with a corporate efficiency programme called 'More for York'.
"The programme's objective is to identify and implement efficiency and improvement measures across a wide range of council services with the aim of achieving costs savings of more than £15 million over a three year period.
"In early 2009, NKA conducted an initial scoping study to identify potential areas where efficiency improvements and costs savings could be achieved.
"This was completed in March 2009. NKA (in conjunction with the council) then started work on the next phase of the More for York Programme. This included the development of more detailed blueprints (business cases) for a range of services.
"Recommendations on future improvements were made in October 2009 and work has already begun on a number of the efficiency programmes which have been identified through that process.
"During the latter half of 2009, the council held discussions with NKA regarding their future involvement with the programme.
"Unfortunately, it was not possible to reach agreement with NKA on a way forward and NKA's involvement with the programme came to an end in December.
"It is correct that £602,459 including VAT has been paid to NKA for the work which it undertook in relation to the More for York Programme during 2009.
"(4) City of York Council is now running the More For York project in-house, without the assistance of outside consultants.
"The More for York Programme was always intended to be a council-led programme of efficiency and improvement and is now being delivered by a team of staff within the council.
"Where the council does not have the capacity or the right skill sets in specialist areas we are utilising specialists and experts in certain fields for short focussed engagements.
"The council presently has no plans to enter into a broader consultancy partnership to deliver the programme in the future.
"(5) How does the Council respond to questions raised about the value for money of hiring these consultants in the first place?
"At the point that the council engaged an external efficiency partner the authority, faced a number of financial challenges, needed to make significant savings and wanted to achieve this in a way that would lead to efficiency and improved service, rather than cutting services.
"At the time, the council did not have the expertise or the resources internally to review its working practices and identify this scale of transformational change within the timescale necessary. It therefore enlisted the services of NKA to identify where and how the council might make improvements to services and deliver £15m of savings.
"This extensive, wide ranging and detailed exercise would not have been possible without external assistance and therefore there was value in bringing external consultants in to do this.
"The benefits of the More for York programme are already being seen and significant costs savings have already been achieved.
"Can the Council explain the savings that were identified by the consultants prior to December 2009?
"NKA (in conjunction with the council) identified 10 workstreams where grater efficiencies and costs savings could be achieved. These focused on Procurement, ICT, HR, Property, Housing services, Neighbourhood Services, Adult Social Care, Customer Services and Income collection and a full Organisation Review.
"Savings were identified from consolidation of support services, improved use of assets, faster business processes using mobile technology, consolidation of customer services and a rationalisation of management across the whole organisation.
"Since the start of 2010, two further workstreams have been identified by the council to deliver further efficiencies and savings in Finance, Children's Social Care.
"In light of increasing pressure on public sector spending in future years and the need to make even greater savings, work on the More for York programme continues to look at all the work of the Council to identify further efficiencies.
"In excess of £500,000 in costs savings has already been achieved through the More for York Programme and the council fully expects that the programme will deliver more than £15 million in costs savings over a three-year period."
North Somerset Council told Watchdog:
"1) The Council's response to questions raised about the value for money of the use of consultants by North Somerset Council in the past few years, including the use of a space consultant at a rate of £650 per day on a 3-day a week (contracted from January 2010 to June 2010).
"We are a high-performing, low-spending council and through our financial prudence we have reduced our funding gap by £25m over the last three years which is tremendous work. The word consultant sometimes conveys they are some sort of luxury - but we employ them for specific tasks only as and when we require their expert level of knowledge. This is usually for concentrated short periods of time and the consultant rates paid are representative of the high level of expertise needed in these cases.
"2) The Council's total spend on consultants for the whole of the financial year 2009/2010, and the Council's view on how this represents value for money. (It is our understanding that the Council spent £1,363,881 on consultants in 2007/08, £2,390,246 on consultants in 2008/09, and £1,061,146 in the last financial year up to December 2009.)
"The 2009/10 spend on consultancy fees was £1,933,983.86. This represents value for money because consultants are only employed for concentrated periods of time on very specific projects. Using consultants in this way helps us save money because to employ people with these skills on a permanent basis would be unnecessary. Our expenditure on consultants accounts for only 1% of our total staff costs.
"3) The role that the space consultant is undertaking, and the reasons why they were contracted.
"As far as the office space expert is concerned, like any large organisation, our accommodation needs are complex. We are reducing the number of buildings we occupy, saving the tax payer money. We need to make the most of the working space we have, improve the environment for our customers and staff, and have brought in a nationally-recognised expert to work with us for a short period to help achieve this. This investment will produce long-term gains for the council, partners, residents and staff."
Hull City Council told Watchdog:
"We wrote to our residents thanking them for bearing with us while we rolled out a new kerbside waste and recycling collection service across the city, and to thank them for their support in achieving record recycling figures. In 2009 we reached a 24 per cent recycling rate, but in April 2010 we hit almost 52 per cent. The savings that we have already made on landfill tax are massive. This tremendous success has been achieved by keeping our residents on board, and designing our services in line with what residents asked for."
Stoke on Trent City Council told Watchdog:
Councillor Ross Irving, Leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: "The year 2010 represents the 100th anniversary of the federation of Stoke-on-Trent. We should be celebrating this and be proud of the events that have been organised to celebrate the contributions that people have made to Stoke-on-Trent.
"The Centenary Dinner honoured everyone from major figures in the city's history to people who work hard in their communities. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and was an extremely well supported event throughout the city and represented excellent value for money, as the compliments we have received since confirm, from Sir Stanley Matthews' family to notable charity workers to the everyday person in the street who we try and serve each day.
"Throughout the year there will be events to celebrate the anniversary. These include a free music event for 10,000 people, a faith celebration and a finale at the end of the year.
"The promotion of the centenary celebrations is important as we want people to get involved in the events we put on. The umbrella's were a simple and cheap way of doing this and they have been used at a number of events already - events which have received positive publicity all over the world. I think five councillors chose to auction their umbrellas off. That is entirely their prerogative."
Liverpool City Council told Watchdog, in response to our questions:
How many leaflets were sent out? 220,000
How much it cost to send the leaflets out? £20,000
The reasons given by the previous administration as to why the leaflet was sent out?
To inform the citizens of the efficiency of the services provided by the local authority
The response of the new administration about the publication of this leaflet, and the questions raised about the value for money after it was sent to residents:
Councillor Joe Anderson, leader elect of the city council, said, "This was nothing more than propaganda on the rates - and a shocking waste of money. We opposed this wasteful spending and it will not happen again under Labour. There is a need to provide useful information to residents about services the council provides and how we spend their council tax - but there's no excuse for spending £20,000 on leaflets crowing about achievements. Nothing outrages the public more."
Ron Odunaiya, Executive Director City Services, Sunderland City Council, told; Watchdog:
"We are aware of people's concerns about Millfield Pocket Park and have moved quickly to address them.
"Sunderland City Council is one of 30 local authorities chosen to be a national Play Pathfinder, based on its proven success in developing and delivering play facilities.
"The £2.5 million Capital pathfinder funding provided, together with match funding from the City Council and others, has brought the total investment in play facilities in the city to £3.9 million.
"This has been invested in 28 locations throughout the city; significantly improving existing or delivering new play facilities throughout the city, including the development of an Adventure Play Park.
"This will result in 47,000 children and young people in every part of the city having access to high quality play space within 1 km of where they live.
"This on-going process is only being achieved through massive consultation with our young people and their communities. This has already involved consultation with 4,500 young people and children, 28 schools and 30 voluntary organisations.
"Completed projects such as Roker Park and Kier Hardie Play Area demonstrate the success of the project, and we hope that Millfield Pocket Park will become another valuable community asset.
"The costs associated with this project were £64,000 for construction, and £6,000 to engage independent design and project management consultants Colour Urban Design. The Voluntary Sector organisation Tyne and Wear Play Association have led on community consultation to inform the design brief.
"We have been talking and listening to local people since February last year to ask them what they would like to see in the park. This has included letters to 350 local residents and a drop in event to enable their views to be considered. But given the strength of feeling which has emerged over the last two weeks about certain aspects of the park we are now reviewing our plans.
"We have acted quickly to remove the raised concrete stepping stones, which will now be re-used as boundary markers for the community allotments already planned for the site.
"While concerns were expressed about the concrete plinths, the design and construction of all play areas follow strict health and safety guidelines.
"Regular inspections are carried out at all our parks, and we take any reports we receive very seriously indeed. We want all our young people and their families to enjoy the play facilities we provide, and hope we can all continue to work together to achieve this aim."
Local government spending
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But Watchdog found that some residents of Chichester, the home of West Sussex County Council, were less than impressed:
"I'd rather they fix the paving stones etc,' said one, "than tell us how to wash our hands."
West Sussex County Council told Watchdog that they ran 23 courses last year for 160 people wanting to learn how to use a basic mobile phone, and the film was made in order to promote the courses and ensure the information reached more people.
West Sussex County Council made the video, along with others such as 'how to use a map and compass' using public money. They said that the films only cost a few hundred pounds each to make, and insist they are effective publicity and represent good value for money. They went on to say that the 'How to Wash your Hands' video was made at the height of the H1N1 virus as a health protection video, and that all of their in-house films are also on DVD and shown at Libraries and Help Points.
However, amidst record national debt, and with spending cuts at the top of the agenda in local and central government, Watchdog decided to take a road trip to have a look at how West Sussex and other local councils are spending taxpayers' money.
The full response from West Sussex County Council, and all of the other councils featured in the report, can be viewed below.
After Chichester, the next stop was Winchester, home of Hampshire County Council. Since 1989 Hampshire County Council has bought 353 works of art to decorate its offices and buildings. £14,000 of council taxpayers' money has been spent since 2005, on the 'Art in Offices' collection that according to some local reports is worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The only problem is, hardly any of the taxpayers in Hampshire have ever seen these paintings and sculptures. Only one item from the collection is currently on public display - in the Winchester Discovery Centre. Members of the public can make appointments to view the other items, but this is so badly publicised that not one person did so throughout the whole of 2009.
Local artist Andrew Carnie told Watchdog: "It's really good to spend money on art, and support art," and went on to say that, "The arts have a kind of payback in the long run. What's then done with it is another matter. And it would be really good if it was more on public display." Local residents who spoke to Watchdog agreed.
Hampshire County Council told Watchdog that it has been working hard to create galleries and exhibitions that are secure enough to show the highlights of the collection to the public in a more accessible way and is putting together an online catalogue with a view to the collections being displayed in Gosport, Winchester and Basingstoke.
The leader of the County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, commented:
"Hampshire County Council is noted for its cultural policies and stands by its programme of purchasing art from local artists. We have invested £3,000 per annum on such art over the last five years and we are putting the local art collection on display. In the same five year period, we have made efficiency savings of £65 million without which our council tax, now the lowest in the South East, would have increased significantly."
It's not just the south of England where councils have been accused of squandering money.
Camarthenshire County Council in Wales spent £12,000 last year on chauffeurs for senior council staff.
Under the previous administration Islington Council, in north London, spent a reported £100,000 on a 'living wall' of plants and flowers that died. Plans to reinstall the so-called 'green wall' at the Paradise Park Children's Centre are now the subject of a value for money review. The present Council told Watchdog, "One of the first acts of the newly elected Labour administration was to ask for a review of this project, which we believe does not represent value for money."
In York, the City Council have spent over £600,000 on outside advisers to help identify savings as part of the 'More For York' project. The Council is now managing the project in house, and told Watchdog, "At the point that the council engaged an external efficiency partner the authority, faced a number of financial challenges, needed to make significant savings and wanted to achieve this in a way that would lead to efficiency and improved service, rather than cutting services.
"This extensive, wide ranging and detailed exercise would not have been possible without external assistance and therefore there was value in bringing external consultants in to do this." The Council insists that the benefits of the More for York programme are already being seen and significant costs savings have already been achieved.
All of these examples have created much local debate, as has the use of consultants by North Somerset Council. They have spent over £5.5 million on them in the last three years. This year they have even employed a 'space consultant', though this is not as exciting as it sounds.
The consultant has been employed to advise the council how to best use the space available across Council buildings. The individual is a nationally recognised expert and undoubtedly very good at their job, but the money paid out seemed stratospheric to some of the local residents Watchdog spoke to. The consultant is being paid £650 a day. They have been employed on a six-month contract working an average of three days a week.
North Somserset Council told Watchdog that they are a high-performing, low-spending council, and that they have reduced their funding gap by £25m over the last three years.
"As far as the office space expert is concerned," they explained, "like any large organisation, our accommodation needs are complex. We are reducing the number of buildings we occupy, saving the tax payer money. We need to make the most of the working space we have, improve the environment for our customers and staff, and have brought in a nationally-recognised expert to work with us for a short period to help achieve this. This investment will produce long-term gains for the council, partners, residents and staff."
Consultants, it seems, are an area where councils are spending a huge amount of money across the country. But is it all necessary?
Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers' Alliance said, "It can be difficult to put a very precise figure on how much councils are spending on consultants. Largely because all the different bodies measure these different spendings in different ways. However, as far as we can see there are in the high tens or even hundreds of millions of pounds a year are being spent."
"There are definitely some areas where councils are justified in using consultants and where it's inevitable. However, as far as we can see the run of the mill consultants who are coming in are doing jobs which council officials are already being paid handsomely to do."
Other councils accused of wasting money include Hull City Council who recently sent their residents a letter thanking them for recycling. Questions have been raised about the value for money - and green credentials - of this mail shot. Hull City Council confirmed to Watchdog that the letter was sent out, in order to thank residents, "...for bearing with us while we rolled out a new kerbside waste and recycling collection service across the city, and to thank them for their support in achieving record recycling figures."
In Stoke-on-Trent the city where locals and even some councillors expressed their anger at hundreds of pounds having been spent on promotional umbrellas for the city's centenary celebrations this year. Some councillors even went as far as auctioning their umbrellas off for charity. The Council told Watchdog:
"The promotion of the centenary celebrations is important as we want people to get involved in the events we put on. The umbrellas were a simple and cheap way of doing this and they have been used at a number of events already - events which have received positive publicity all over the world.
"I think five councillors chose to auction their umbrellas off. That is entirely their prerogative."
Liverpool City Council came under fire when, under the previous administration, it spent £20,000 on leaflets celebrating the fact that they were no longer the worst financially managed council in the country. Councillor Joe Anderson, leader elect of the city council, said: "This was nothing more than propaganda on the rates - and a shocking waste of money. We opposed this wasteful spending and it will not happen again under Labour. There is a need to provide useful information to residents about services the council provides and how we spend their council tax - but there's no excuse for spending £20,000 on leaflets crowing about achievements. Nothing outrages the public more."
But an example that has really angered local residents, however, is in Sunderland, where the city council has spent £70,000 redeveloping the Diamond Hall Pocket Park.
Local parents expected the park to be child friendly, perhaps with slides and swings. Unfortunately they were disappointed when the park was finished and adorned with concrete slabs and wooden poles. Residents have likened it to a graveyard.
Saacha Thompson a local mother, told Watchdog, "There was nothing ever mentioned about concrete blocks, or anything being in concrete... It is a death-trap waiting to happen... We all pay tax, and this is what we paid for? We haven't paid for this."
Watchdog also met 10-year-old Lynette Steel, who was asked by the council to draw ideas of how she would like the park to look.
She said, "Our school was asked to design two models, and they completely ignored us. I drew a tyre swing, sandpit for younger people, roundabout, seesaw, monkey bars."
Sunderland City Council told Watchdog that the park met health and safety standards but due to strength of feeling about its design, they are now reviewing their plans.
Full responses from all of the councils featured in this reports can be read below:
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association, which represents councils in England and Wales, said:
"Councils deliver hundreds of services to millions of people all over the country every day, and are often the only organisation whose staff will regularly visit every single home in an area.
"Highlighting a tiny handful of town hall spending decisions in this way does not properly consider the reasons behind them, and is not a fair reflection of the efforts of councils overall.
"Local Government is the most efficient part of the public sector and has found savings of more than a billion pounds a year since 2004. Recent examples of major savings include a project being set up by councils in the north east to share recruitment costs, saving half a million pounds a year, and district councils in the south west have got together and saved 20% on their insurance bills.
"Cutting waste and providing better services for less money is a big priority for councils at the moment, as it is for central government and businesses. Councils are not complacent about the need to use taxpayers' money wisely and they will keep on finding ways of giving local people better value for money."
West Sussex County Council told Watchdog:
"Each film cost just £300 to make, from existing budgets. Last year we ran 23 courses for 160 people wanting to learn how to use a basic mobile phone. The film, to promote the courses, ensured we reached even more people. It was taken off when attendances were extremely high. We also run popular silver surfer courses for the many older people who also want to learn internet technology.
How to Wash your Hands' was made at the height of the H1N1 virus as a health protection video, using special light to show that many people simply don't do it properly.
Our in-house films are also on DVD and shown at Libraries and Help Points. The camera and editing equipment has earned more in income than it cost to buy. This is effective publicity and good value for money."
Hampshire County Council told Watchdog:
"We have made small investments of no more than £3,000 per year on art pieces by local Hampshire artists. Works from the collection, built up over the last 20 years, is displayed in Council offices, corridors, meeting rooms and reception areas of public buildings including some of our arts centres, libraries, register offices and Discovery Centres throughout the county.
We have been working very hard to create galleries and exhibitions that are secure enough to show the highlights of the collection to the public in a more accessible way and we are putting together an online catalogue with a view to the collections being displayed in Gosport, Winchester and Basingstoke. More than 100 of the paintings from the collection are published and reproduced in colour illustration in 'The Public Catalogue Foundation's Oil Paintings in Public Ownership: Hampshire, part of a national collection of catalogues.
The investment in art by local artists is an asset to the county and will have seen a pretty substantial rise in value over the last 20 years. Hampshire County Council has for a long time recognised support for the local arts and creative industries as being vital to economic growth, employment and education. Through the arts collection we're able to showcase quality work by local artists that would otherwise remain in private collections.
This public money that is spent on improving the quality of places is we feel justified when you consider that in half that time we have raised over £300 million from the disposal of surplus land and property, we are planning to start in excess of £300 million of building related projects over the next three years and will be buying something like £700 million worth of services from suppliers over the County and beyond."
The Leader of the County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, commented: "Hampshire County Council is noted for its cultural policies and stands by its programme of purchasing art from local artists. We have invested £3,000 per annum on such art over the last five years and we are putting the local art collection on display. In the same five year period, we have made efficiency savings of £65 million without which our council tax, now the lowest in the South East, would have increased significantly.""
Carmarthenshire County Council
"The Council leases one vehicle at a time, specifically for business/civic use by the Chairman of the Council. The cost of hire, maintenance and fuel in 2009/10 was £12,328.39. This figure does not include salary costs.
This is because the two employees who drive the Chairman's car fulfil a number of other duties alongside driving the vehicle. The Council does not record the time spent by these members of staff only on driving, therefore the actual percentage of their salary that can be attributed as part of the vehicle's running costs cannot be quantified and is not therefore held."
"Carmarthenshire employs 2 members of staff on a part time basis [20 hours per week] whose duties include driving the chairman and senior members to and from official functions where necessary."
"They could be asked to undertake driving duties from one day a week to most days of the week depending on the number of official engagements. There are weeks when no driving is required."
The council confirmed that the budget for chauffeurs is being cut by £3,000 as of this year.
Islington Council told Watchdog:
"The Green Wall on the Paradise Park Children's Centre in Islington was commissioned by the Liberal Democrats that ran Islington until the elections 10 days ago.
"One of the first acts of the newly elected Labour administration was to ask for a review of this project, which we believe does not represent value for money.
"Planning rules mean there does need to be a green wall on the building, but this can be built for far less money by simply growing plants up a conventional wall.
"A final decision on how to replace the expensive green wall with something much cheaper will be made in the next few weeks after a discussion with the Islington Play Association - the excellent voluntary sector organisation that runs the Children's Centre."
Cllr Richard Watts - Executive member for Children and Young People - Labour councillor for Tollington ward.
York City Council told Watchdog:
"(1) £602,459 has been paid to Northgate Kendric Ash consultants, who were hired by City of York Council last year to help identify £15 million worth of savings over three years.-
"(2) Northgate Kendric Ash pulled out of the project in December 2009.
"(3) £78,600 VAT from the total amount paid can be reclaimed.
"Dealing with these three queries together:-
"In January 2009, the council engaged Northgate Kendric Ash (NKA) to work with the council in connection with a corporate efficiency programme called 'More for York'.
"The programme's objective is to identify and implement efficiency and improvement measures across a wide range of council services with the aim of achieving costs savings of more than £15 million over a three year period.
"In early 2009, NKA conducted an initial scoping study to identify potential areas where efficiency improvements and costs savings could be achieved.
"This was completed in March 2009. NKA (in conjunction with the council) then started work on the next phase of the More for York Programme. This included the development of more detailed blueprints (business cases) for a range of services.
"Recommendations on future improvements were made in October 2009 and work has already begun on a number of the efficiency programmes which have been identified through that process.
"During the latter half of 2009, the council held discussions with NKA regarding their future involvement with the programme.
"Unfortunately, it was not possible to reach agreement with NKA on a way forward and NKA's involvement with the programme came to an end in December.
"It is correct that £602,459 including VAT has been paid to NKA for the work which it undertook in relation to the More for York Programme during 2009.
"(4) City of York Council is now running the More For York project in-house, without the assistance of outside consultants.
"The More for York Programme was always intended to be a council-led programme of efficiency and improvement and is now being delivered by a team of staff within the council.
"Where the council does not have the capacity or the right skill sets in specialist areas we are utilising specialists and experts in certain fields for short focussed engagements.
"The council presently has no plans to enter into a broader consultancy partnership to deliver the programme in the future.
"(5) How does the Council respond to questions raised about the value for money of hiring these consultants in the first place?
"At the point that the council engaged an external efficiency partner the authority, faced a number of financial challenges, needed to make significant savings and wanted to achieve this in a way that would lead to efficiency and improved service, rather than cutting services.
"At the time, the council did not have the expertise or the resources internally to review its working practices and identify this scale of transformational change within the timescale necessary. It therefore enlisted the services of NKA to identify where and how the council might make improvements to services and deliver £15m of savings.
"This extensive, wide ranging and detailed exercise would not have been possible without external assistance and therefore there was value in bringing external consultants in to do this.
"The benefits of the More for York programme are already being seen and significant costs savings have already been achieved.
"Can the Council explain the savings that were identified by the consultants prior to December 2009?
"NKA (in conjunction with the council) identified 10 workstreams where grater efficiencies and costs savings could be achieved. These focused on Procurement, ICT, HR, Property, Housing services, Neighbourhood Services, Adult Social Care, Customer Services and Income collection and a full Organisation Review.
"Savings were identified from consolidation of support services, improved use of assets, faster business processes using mobile technology, consolidation of customer services and a rationalisation of management across the whole organisation.
"Since the start of 2010, two further workstreams have been identified by the council to deliver further efficiencies and savings in Finance, Children's Social Care.
"In light of increasing pressure on public sector spending in future years and the need to make even greater savings, work on the More for York programme continues to look at all the work of the Council to identify further efficiencies.
"In excess of £500,000 in costs savings has already been achieved through the More for York Programme and the council fully expects that the programme will deliver more than £15 million in costs savings over a three-year period."
North Somerset Council told Watchdog:
"1) The Council's response to questions raised about the value for money of the use of consultants by North Somerset Council in the past few years, including the use of a space consultant at a rate of £650 per day on a 3-day a week (contracted from January 2010 to June 2010).
"We are a high-performing, low-spending council and through our financial prudence we have reduced our funding gap by £25m over the last three years which is tremendous work. The word consultant sometimes conveys they are some sort of luxury - but we employ them for specific tasks only as and when we require their expert level of knowledge. This is usually for concentrated short periods of time and the consultant rates paid are representative of the high level of expertise needed in these cases.
"2) The Council's total spend on consultants for the whole of the financial year 2009/2010, and the Council's view on how this represents value for money. (It is our understanding that the Council spent £1,363,881 on consultants in 2007/08, £2,390,246 on consultants in 2008/09, and £1,061,146 in the last financial year up to December 2009.)
"The 2009/10 spend on consultancy fees was £1,933,983.86. This represents value for money because consultants are only employed for concentrated periods of time on very specific projects. Using consultants in this way helps us save money because to employ people with these skills on a permanent basis would be unnecessary. Our expenditure on consultants accounts for only 1% of our total staff costs.
"3) The role that the space consultant is undertaking, and the reasons why they were contracted.
"As far as the office space expert is concerned, like any large organisation, our accommodation needs are complex. We are reducing the number of buildings we occupy, saving the tax payer money. We need to make the most of the working space we have, improve the environment for our customers and staff, and have brought in a nationally-recognised expert to work with us for a short period to help achieve this. This investment will produce long-term gains for the council, partners, residents and staff."
Hull City Council told Watchdog:
"We wrote to our residents thanking them for bearing with us while we rolled out a new kerbside waste and recycling collection service across the city, and to thank them for their support in achieving record recycling figures. In 2009 we reached a 24 per cent recycling rate, but in April 2010 we hit almost 52 per cent. The savings that we have already made on landfill tax are massive. This tremendous success has been achieved by keeping our residents on board, and designing our services in line with what residents asked for."
Stoke on Trent City Council told Watchdog:
Councillor Ross Irving, Leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: "The year 2010 represents the 100th anniversary of the federation of Stoke-on-Trent. We should be celebrating this and be proud of the events that have been organised to celebrate the contributions that people have made to Stoke-on-Trent.
"The Centenary Dinner honoured everyone from major figures in the city's history to people who work hard in their communities. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and was an extremely well supported event throughout the city and represented excellent value for money, as the compliments we have received since confirm, from Sir Stanley Matthews' family to notable charity workers to the everyday person in the street who we try and serve each day.
"Throughout the year there will be events to celebrate the anniversary. These include a free music event for 10,000 people, a faith celebration and a finale at the end of the year.
"The promotion of the centenary celebrations is important as we want people to get involved in the events we put on. The umbrella's were a simple and cheap way of doing this and they have been used at a number of events already - events which have received positive publicity all over the world. I think five councillors chose to auction their umbrellas off. That is entirely their prerogative."
Liverpool City Council told Watchdog, in response to our questions:
How many leaflets were sent out? 220,000
How much it cost to send the leaflets out? £20,000
The reasons given by the previous administration as to why the leaflet was sent out?
To inform the citizens of the efficiency of the services provided by the local authority
The response of the new administration about the publication of this leaflet, and the questions raised about the value for money after it was sent to residents:
Councillor Joe Anderson, leader elect of the city council, said, "This was nothing more than propaganda on the rates - and a shocking waste of money. We opposed this wasteful spending and it will not happen again under Labour. There is a need to provide useful information to residents about services the council provides and how we spend their council tax - but there's no excuse for spending £20,000 on leaflets crowing about achievements. Nothing outrages the public more."
Ron Odunaiya, Executive Director City Services, Sunderland City Council, told; Watchdog:
"We are aware of people's concerns about Millfield Pocket Park and have moved quickly to address them.
"Sunderland City Council is one of 30 local authorities chosen to be a national Play Pathfinder, based on its proven success in developing and delivering play facilities.
"The £2.5 million Capital pathfinder funding provided, together with match funding from the City Council and others, has brought the total investment in play facilities in the city to £3.9 million.
"This has been invested in 28 locations throughout the city; significantly improving existing or delivering new play facilities throughout the city, including the development of an Adventure Play Park.
"This will result in 47,000 children and young people in every part of the city having access to high quality play space within 1 km of where they live.
"This on-going process is only being achieved through massive consultation with our young people and their communities. This has already involved consultation with 4,500 young people and children, 28 schools and 30 voluntary organisations.
"Completed projects such as Roker Park and Kier Hardie Play Area demonstrate the success of the project, and we hope that Millfield Pocket Park will become another valuable community asset.
"The costs associated with this project were £64,000 for construction, and £6,000 to engage independent design and project management consultants Colour Urban Design. The Voluntary Sector organisation Tyne and Wear Play Association have led on community consultation to inform the design brief.
"We have been talking and listening to local people since February last year to ask them what they would like to see in the park. This has included letters to 350 local residents and a drop in event to enable their views to be considered. But given the strength of feeling which has emerged over the last two weeks about certain aspects of the park we are now reviewing our plans.
"We have acted quickly to remove the raised concrete stepping stones, which will now be re-used as boundary markers for the community allotments already planned for the site.
"While concerns were expressed about the concrete plinths, the design and construction of all play areas follow strict health and safety guidelines.
"Regular inspections are carried out at all our parks, and we take any reports we receive very seriously indeed. We want all our young people and their families to enjoy the play facilities we provide, and hope we can all continue to work together to achieve this aim."
Local government spending