Council to cut Dial A Ride funds (From Swindon Advertiser)
Get involved! Send photos, video, news & views. Text SWINDON NEWS to 80360 or email us
Council to cut Dial A Ride funds
9:00am Tuesday 25th May 2010 in News By Charley Morgan
FUNDING for a charity that provides transport for the elderly and disabled in Swindon is to be cut, the council has revealed.
Swindon Council says it can no longer pay the £331,000 a year it provides to Swindon Dial A Ride as the contract it has with the charity breaks EU laws.
The council says it is committed to providing a Dial a Ride service in the town, but will put the contract for it out to tender on the open market as it has to ensure value-for-money for council tax payers.
The charity will be able to put in a bid to run the service but it will have to compete against other private companies and the cheapest is likely to win. The current funding arrangements with Swindon Dial A Ride will continue for six months until the new contract with whoever wins the bid is finalised.
The procurement advisory group, which makes recommendations to cabinet, took the decision. The announcement throws the future of the charity into doubt as it is almost solely funded by the council.
Evelyn Ryder, director of Swindon Dial A Ride, said the charity had not been kept informed about council meetings to discuss the future of the service. She said: “The first I knew was when someone from the Swindon Advertiser called our office last week.”
The charity would consider bidding for the contract if the terms were favourable, she said.
“If it is work we feel a charity can do, we do have an opportunity to bid just like everyone else,” she said “But we would still be a charity and would have to apply for other funding.”
Swindon Dial a Ride operates 15 buses to take people who would otherwise be unable to use public transport to appointments, to meet friends or to go shopping. It made 50,000 single journeys last year.
The Conservative-run council threatened to cut £50,000 from Dial A Ride’s funding at the end of last year, but backed down in the face of fierce opposition from other councillors and members of the public.
The Labour group on the council believes that putting the Dial A Ride contract out to tender will end up meaning customers having to pay more to use the service.
Coun Derique Montaut, leader of the Labour group, said: “Despite all the talk of council funding to Dial A Ride breaching EU law, something disputed by commercial solicitors, and the Conservative administration publicly supporting the basic values of what Dial a Ride represents, it is quite clear that the replacing of Swindon's Dial A Ride service with a private-sector transport firm is a money-making exercise.”
Gavin Calthrop, head of communications at Swindon Council, said: “Swindon Dial A Ride has provided the Dial A Ride services for Swindon Borough Council since 1997. These were provided through a grant, £331K in 2009/2010, paid on a quarterly basis.
“During 2009, a review of the Dial A Ride service was undertaken and it was established that the current arrangement of providing a grant to Swindon Dial A Ride, does not conform to current European law.
“In order to maintain continuity of service to the public, an interim agreement for six months is urgently being put in place with Swindon Dial A Ride until the services are formally tendered to the open market.”
Comments(21)
Grimwald
says...
11:05am Tue 25 May 10
Anyway is it significant that this funding is withdrawn as our Council loans £450,000 of our money without Director's guarantees to a nine month old limited liability company? I am of course referring to Wi-fi an enterprise with a reported handful of customers. Is this money lost already?
Cllr Michael Dickinson
says...
11:31am Tue 25 May 10
1 – There is Labour representation on this committee (Des Moffatt) who was at the meeting & agreed with the recommendation of the group;
2 – The decision to put this out to tender, with consideration within the criteria for the fares charged to customers & the services offered not just the price to the council – this change was due to Conservative councillors & not Labour.
Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition should talk to his fellow Labour councillors who were at meetings before putting out such statements as these.
Billy Jo
says...
11:36am Tue 25 May 10
Cllr Michael Dickinson wrote:Oh dear.... Labour were useless when in power (both nationally and locally) and appear to be just as useless in opposition.
Couple of points that the Labour group ‘forgot’ to mention: 1 – There is Labour representation on this committee (Des Moffatt) who was at the meeting & agreed with the recommendation of the group; 2 – The decision to put this out to tender, with consideration within the criteria for the fares charged to customers & the services offered not just the price to the council – this change was due to Conservative councillors & not Labour. Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition should talk to his fellow Labour councillors who were at meetings before putting out such statements as these.
Pack the bags,fold the chairs and be on your merry way chaps!
reality_check
says...
12:43pm Tue 25 May 10
Countryman44
says...
2:14pm Tue 25 May 10
qualia
says...
3:27pm Tue 25 May 10
Instead of just saying that they are going to cut the service, they have had to try to apply an inappropriate EU law to hide behind.
They are using Articles 107 and 93 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
These sections of the EU treaty were designed to protect member states from other member states providing state aid to companies in order to gain a competitive advantage.
As a side note, David Milliband had to write to the EU commission (N 677/2009) about the £300 billion state aid given to UK banks. The commission said that was OK!
qualia
says...
3:35pm Tue 25 May 10
Countryman44 wrote:I'm sure that the council's Procurement Advisory Group will do a wonderful and fair job !
Will they use the same tender process as the wi-fi?
Gooey
says...
5:35pm Tue 25 May 10
Cuts,Cuts,Cuts.
Bobfm
says...
6:03pm Tue 25 May 10
qualia
says...
6:31pm Tue 25 May 10
Bobfm wrote:Unfortunately, a charity like Dial a Ride could not afford to challenge these SBC rulings through the courts even though they would certainly win.
qualia, perhaps the Adver could follow this up, if they are indeed using these Articles they are clearly wrong, as you point out. This smacks of the Council saying to their legal bod's find a reason to chuck out the existing team.
Anyway, SBC could still go out to tender without hiding behind their dubious interpretation of EU law but public support would swing further towards the charity's position.
Bobfm
says...
7:06pm Tue 25 May 10
qualia
says...
9:20pm Tue 25 May 10
Bobfm wrote:Sorry, I should have said 'Charitable Organisation registered as an Industrial & Provident Society' but that's a bit of a mouthful.
qualia, it was established on the other thread that are not in fact a charity.
For clarity:
http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Industrial_
and_provident_societ
y
I Too
says...
10:21pm Tue 25 May 10
Bobfm wrote:Ooh yes. Well done Bob.........?
qualia, it was established on the other thread that are not in fact a charity.
The point is....... they don't have the funds to challenge the SBC ruling.
I Too
says...
10:46pm Tue 25 May 10
Couple of points that the Labour group ‘forgot’ to mention: 1 – There is Labour representation on this committee (Des Moffatt) who was at the meeting
"
Does that make any difference Mike?
We have a Conservative led SBC (for many years now)
We now have Conservative MPs.
SBC should at least have the courage of their convictions, instead of blaming the other party.
SBC is not Westminster.
chris_p
says...
11:06pm Tue 25 May 10
dozens of other councils do this, good on them
gonefishin
says...
8:22am Wed 26 May 10
I Too wrote:Why not? They receive a third of a million pounds a year from the council-tax payer.
Bobfm wrote: qualia, it was established on the other thread that are not in fact a charity.Ooh yes. Well done Bob.........? The point is....... they don't have the funds to challenge the SBC ruling.
They spend up to 42k a year for a new vehicle, every year.
Operating costs are met by the fares they charge their customers. (And again I ask, what kind of 'charity' charges their customers?).
They have no staff costs, staff are unpaid volunteers.
'Special events' are paid for by local companies and fund-raising.
They receive grants from 'other areas' and receive revenue from hiring out their vehicles.
So, 331k+ in, 42k out, leaves £289,000+. Unless the 'directors' are paying themselves a fortune every year (which, like MPs, I'm sure would be well within the rules!) I'd suggest 289k is plenty for both the £180 clamp release fee discussed earlier *and* challenging the SBC ruling.
Of course, since this company is *not* registered with the Charities Commission there is no quick and simple way to view their annual accounts. It would appear the only charitable thing about Dial-a-Ride (who charges its customers *more* than the cost of 'normal' public transport) is the nobility and self-sacrifice of the voluntary staff.
Maybe the tendering process and the Adver's 2nd call to pitchforks might allow some public scrutiny of Dial-a-Ride's operations, because until that happens it looks like they're making a tidy profit.
Bobfm
says...
8:43am Wed 26 May 10
chris_p wrote:How did the 'wifi' project escape the rules then Chris.
All council contracts over £156k have to be tendered its called OJEU.
dozens of other councils do this, good on them
Classic security code. work-fair
nicewilly
says...
9:36am Wed 26 May 10
gonefishin
says...
12:07pm Wed 26 May 10
nicewilly wrote:Well, yes, more cuts to come, for as Labour's former Treasury Minister laughed "Sorry there's no money left." Wasn't that a funny joke, nicewilly?
as ushal tory cuts ,cuts and more cuts to come espically for the sick and disabled.
I don't expect that the cuts will be espically for the sick and disabled though. They'll doubtless affect everyone.
Bobfm
says...
1:01pm Thu 27 May 10
Bobfm says...
10:30am Tue 25 May 10