Review into Serco’s handling of waste deal to cost £25k
A REVIEW into the handling of the area’s waste contract by public services firm Serco is likely to cost around £25,000.
According to a report by Derbyshire Dales District Council, due to be discussed at a meeting this evening, the review will examine the contract that was signed between Serco and the district council, when the decision was made to outsource bin collections.
Several aspects of the way Derbyshire Dales District Council and Serco managed the contract, and the way Serco delivered that contract, will all come under professional independent scrutiny over the coming months.
The review will also study the ongoing disruption to bin collections, which is said to have been caused by a combination of the effects of the pandemic, the current driver shortage and a spell of industrial action.
The report is asking members of the district council’s environment committee to approve the terms of reference for the review, which will be commissioned following a petition by Liberal Democrat councillors submitted at the height of the bin collection crisis.
Nearly 600 residents signed the petition, which called for an independent inquiry into Serco’s delivery of its 2020 waste contract.
The petition asked Derbyshire Dales District council to impose penalties for non-compliance where they are found to be applicable. The report, compiled by the chief executive of the council, Paul Wilson, and the director of community and environmental services, Ashley Watts, recommended to councillors that former chief executive of Rushcliffe Borough Council, Allen Graham, who works for a specialist firm called Circling Squares Ltd, is signed up to carry out the review.
Mr Graham, who has also worked as a peer review chief executive lead for the Local Government Association, was recommended by North West Leicestershire District Council for an independent review he carried out for the authority.
The review, which will be jointly overseen by a firm familiar to Derbyshire Dales District Council called Recircle Consulting, will be bolstered by the appointment of five district councillors – one from each political party.
The councillors’ roles will involve feeding in insights from their colleagues’ wards, and it will also ensure resources of officers who are working on getting bin collection schedules back to normal are not spent on feeding into the review.
Summarising the aims of the review, the report states: “The review has been commissioned with the intention of providing assurance to members and residents, as well as identifying means for improvement to ensure that services are delivered according to their expectations and the provisions of the contract with Serco.”
Derbyshire Dales District Councillors will have the option of adding in their own terms of reference, or altering the existing terms of reference at tonight’s meeting, due to be held at Matlock Town Hall from 6pm.
The meeting will be broadcast live on the district council’s Youtube channel.