A Liberal Democrat success story

A partnership with a private sector company, set up by Chesterfield Borough Council when controlled by the Liberal Democrats, has just won a major national award for the quality of the service it provides for Chesterfield residents.The private sector partner, Arvato, has provided such back office services as revenues, accounts and information-technology for Chesterfield residents since the partnership was agreed by the then Liberal Democrat Council in October 2010.

Now, just over a year later, it has won the accolade of ' 'Public Sector Outsourcing Project of the Year' for the quality of its work. The agreement saves just over £400,000 a year for Chesterfield Council Tax payers, protects the jobs of all the staff involved for the 10 year life of the contract, guarantees that the jobs will remain based in Chesterfield - and provides over £1 million of investment for modernising Borough Council equipment and facilities.

Cllr Ray Russell ( Liberal Democrat Leader of the Borough Council when the agreement was signed ) said that ' this arrangement which has modernised and substantially improved service delivery is proving great for Chesterfield residents and is a major reason why the former Liberal Democrat Administration was able to leave the Borough Council's finances in such good order with the lowest Council Tax in Derbyshire and one of the lowest in the country - and also protect Chesterfield jobs and services in the very difficult economic climate.

In stark contrast, the Labour Opposition Leader at the time, and the now incumbent Labour MP, both condemmed the agreement when it was signed saying that they had looked for its merits but couldn't find any - the local Labour Party, in practice, being totally opposed to the involvement of the private sector in the delivery of Council services - even when it can be shown to improve services and save money. Unfortunately for Chesterfield residents Labour locally seem to have a very outdated approach to delivering public services which is more suited to the 1960's than to 2011 and beyond - and are seemingly not bothered about residents having to pay extra, or put up with inferior services.