Public and Commercial Services Union

Bob Lanzer, Council Leader and Leader of the Conservative Councillors Group 

1. PCS is campaigning for fair pay for its members, meaning that their pay should increase in line with inflation and be negotiated nationally instead of 200 separate sets of negotiations. Do you support PCS’s campaign for fair pay for public servants?

I support the principle of pay increasing in line with inflation to maintain the standard of living for working people. It is important to be clear about which inflation measure is being used - CPI (Consumer Price Index) or RPI (Retail Price Index) as these differ by around 2%.

The existence of 200 separate sets of negotiations seems wasteful and capable of leading to disparities in pay for essentially the same jobs. It is likely that adopting a national approach would free up some of the resources necessary to assist with pay at least keeping pace with inflation.

2. The government has proposed to cut over 100,000 civil and public service jobs. They claim these cuts will not impact service delivery to the public, however every day our members are seeing how less staff means a poorer service to the public. Where do you stand on cutting civil and public service jobs?

I believe in delivering the best possible public services at the best value cost while providing the best terms and conditions that we can for our employees. Reductions in staffing should only be considered if there is no negative impact to service levels. If employees are displaced, it is very important that local authorities invest in processes that give best practice assistance to properly help people to find alternative and satisfactory employment. This approach should be part of a local authority covenant with their staff.

3. PCS is concerned that privatisation of the civil service has continued since 1997. We believe this is costly and unnecessary and jeopardises services being delivered to the public, often the most vulnerable in society. Where do you stand on privatising public services?

The priority for councils is to deliver the best services that we can for our residents. We will periodically review how these services are delivered and sometimes it will be appropriate to consider whether the private sector can be a provider, perhaps jointly with the council. However there should be no presumption in favour of this or we would not be entering an objective process. Other service delivery mechanisms include joint working with other councils for more seamless service delivery to the public.