Redesign Board makes recommendation for future of janitorial and catering services

19th October 2016

The Redesign Board of The Highland Council will recommend keeping Catering, Cleaning and Facilities Management/Janitorial Services (CCFM) in house within the Council.

Options for the future management of Catering, Cleaning and Facilities Management/Janitorial Services (CCFM) were considered by the Redesign Board today. The Board examined two proposed options, together with the potential savings, key benefits and risks associated with each model.

One option is for High Life Highland (HLH), the Council's arms length organisation, to manage all or part of the services.

The alternative option, which was supported by the vast majority of the Redesign Board, is to continue to manage these services in-house under a new Property Management Service within the Council. The Redesign Board will recommend this option to the full Highland council for approval and implementation.

The options appraisal demonstrates that all the options deliver some improvement over the current service and that there are advantages and disadvantages of each.

The Business Case for redesign of the £20 million service was developed under the supervision of a Project Board which included CCFM Managers, HLH, staff-side representatives, and noted the input provided by Head Teacher and Parent Council representatives.

The strategic objective of the project is to achieve effective use of total resources by delivering a local, coordinated and integrated service.

Chair of the Redesign Board, Cllr Isobel McCallum said: "This was a very well supported decision and I am very pleased for staff who will be anxious to know what is happening. There was good discussion and we recognise some of the issues which will need to be addressed. If approved by Council, this will bring about redesign within council services to drive improvements and efficiencies and the need to explore commercial opportunities."

Vice Chair, Cllr Bill Lobban added: "This is a tremendous opportunity for the Council to develop services for the future. This option provides a better and more efficient way of delivering these services, whilst maintaining more flexibility for redesign."

John Gibson (Unison) Staff-side representative on the Redesign Board welcomed the decision: “People who work for Highland Council have chosen to work for the council and to live and work in their communities. The best people to give advice on how to improve services and make them more efficient are the people who deliver them.

“We are delighted that the Highland Council Redesign Board have shown confidence in their greatest asset which is their staff.”

The full business case and options can be found at http://www.highland.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/3762/re-design_of_the_highland_council_board