MEMO

To:	Chief Executive - Ruth Bagley	Date:	Tuesday, 17 July 2007
From:	Leader of the Council
	Richard Stokes
Copies to:	Administrative Officers
	Executive Officers CMT
	Head of Communications - Trevor Lambert
Re:	Agency Staff

(1)During the past three years I have misled Members, the media and the public by inaccurate statements on the Council’s use of agency staff. I have given false information both in writing and verbally, on the clear advice of Officers. I have stated that we were spending approximately £ 4m per year on agency staff, that the trend of expenditure was downwards and that the Council was receiving value for money.

(2)We now know from the Officer’s Report that I withdrew at the last Cabinet Meeting (and on which I produced some initial comments) that the expenditure on agency staff was approximately double that reported to Members. We also now know that

"in many cases the Council was not receiving value for money".

(3)Members of the Employment and Appeals Committee had always suspected that the Council was not managing its agency staff efficiently and regularly questioned Officers about the level of expenditure and about the effectiveness of our agency staff management. The Officer responses were consistent but consistently misleading.

(4)The necessity of withdrawing a Cabinet Report could have been avoided if Commissioners had received the report at the Commissioners and Directors Meeting on 20th June 2007. The report was available and had already been forwarded to the Employment and Appeals Committee members.

(5)These events demonstrate once again that contract management remains a Council weakness and prompts the question - are there other contracts that are not being managed efficiently and of which we are unaware?

(6)We now need to rescue the situation as far as possible. Here is a suggested action plan:-