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10/06/04 - Council Improvement Programmes bring £4.7m benefit to local taxpayer

County Council Leader Rex Toft, this week, announced that employing Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) has saved the County £4.7m. PWC were instructed to advise Cumbria County Council on its Invest to Save and Improve Project (ISI) and Performance Enhancement Programme (PEP).    

County Council Leader Rex Toft says   

"As a direct result of using PWC we have achieved so far, in both receipts and savings, £4.7m. This is almost 3% off the council tax bill. The specific and substantial financial gains of the ISI programme will begin to materialise over the next 2 years. Using PWC has allowed us to identify major financial gains by importing the necessary expertise and commercial skills into the Authority which have been lacking in the past.   

It is important to recognise the need for the Council to invest in order to improve services for the people we represent. We are achieving significant increases in capital investment, and improvements in technology. For example: 

1. In partnership with Agilisys, we are introducing a programme to bring in new information and computer technology to improve services and assist staff.    

2. Through our Waste Management Strategy and the outsourcing of Construction Services, we are implementing policies which will achieve economies of scale, and bring in substantial investment which otherwise would simply not be available to us.   

3. Developing and improving our Human Resources relationships, in re-structuring the Council's departments, improving communication, and in improving our capacity to deliver high-quality services. We have now been credited with the Investors in People Award.    

As a result of PWC's work we are now in a much better position to keep Cumbria Care in-house and speed up our modernisation agenda. By any measure, we have already made, and are continuing to make, significant improvements in many areas of the Council. Using PWC to help us achieve these impressive, financial and non financial improvements has proved to be a stunning success."