Fears commercialisation is putting too much pressure on already-stretched council staff

Due to government funding cuts, West Berkshire Council has been looking at raising income from commercial activities. 

These include investing £63 million in commercial real estate, designing transport safety apps, and charging for teaching children how to deal with emotional health problems. 

Andy Sharp, the council’s director of people, said: “There was some training for officers around what it is to be commercial … to instill a culture of commercialisation within the organisation.” 

Staff can present ideas about how the council can generate income and what commercial activity it would deliver in a Dragons’ Den-style way, which the council calls ‘the Lions’ Lair’. 

However, councillors have questioned the pressure on staff, and the overall commercialisation programme — at a meeting of the overview and scrutiny management commission on October 29. 

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Councillor Lee Dillon (Lib Dem, Thatcham North East) said: “We are a council to provide services. We’re doing commercialisation because we have to. It’s not our primary purpose as a council and we should make sure we keep the balance right.”

Cllr Steve Masters (Green, Speen) said: “We have seen over the last few years cuts and austerity; we have seen a drawdown in terms of staffing as well as financial constraints. 

“The officers are already doing a hell of a lot, with a lot less. The department heads are working with considerably less resources than they have had historically. 

“Is the danger that if we are trying to focus on generating a very modest return on investment, we are taking people away from an already tight workload? 

“There’s a lot of members of staff who work, with a lot of goodwill. I saw Sarah Clarke (head of legal) coming out of work at half past nine the other night.

“That’s not sustainable in the long term for an organisation such as West Berkshire.”

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But Nick Carter, the chief executive, said only a few staff members are actually involved in commercialisation. He also said it was important work to do, given the loss of funding. 

He said: “If you separate the council’s work into two areas: what we would term business-as-usual, which is what the vast majority of council officers are doing; and transformation, which is the work you do to take the business forward.

“A very small, very very small portion of staff are engaged in the latter. That will be different in a research company where it would be the other way around. 

“They tend either to be the most senior officers or particular staff in particular parts of the organisation whose specific job is to manage projects. 

“So I don’t think there is a case that the many many hundreds of staff you see are all sitting there working on these innovative projects.

“I think it’s important that the organisation is able to change, and one of the changes we have to adapt to is that we have got less resources. Part of that is about looking at digital, new ways of working, manage demand. 

“My view would be, we absolutely need to continue to invest in that. But it is still a very small part of the business.

“I would push back on the idea that hundreds of staff are being asked to do these transformation projects in addition to their daily role. They’re not.”