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Picking up the bill

30th September 1993
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Page 46, 30th September 1993 — Picking up the bill
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

After the miners, health service and council workers, it is now the turn of the police. It was inevitable that a government tackling what it sees as vested interest groups in the public sector would turn its attention on this well-heeled force before subjecting its own servants in Whitehall to "market testing". The unpalatable recommendations by the Government's inquisitor, Sir Patrick Sheehy, have had the police rallying against the reforms like their public service predecessors.

But this summer's White Paper on police reform points a finger at another thin blue line—the men in overalls who maintain the big vehicle fleets of the police. The Home Office document confirmed that compulsory competitive tendering is to be extended to police vehicle maintenance.

VEHICLE REPAIR

More than 120m is spent annually in England and Wales by the 43 police forces on vehicle repair and maintenance. These fleet sizes vary from fewer than 200 vehicles in rural forces up to 4,000 in London's Met fleet. All forces run a sizeable fleet of vans and personnel carriers; many have tow-trucks, trailers, horse transporters, and tractive units, if only for training police drivers to take over at the scene of a traffic accident.

Most service their vehicles in their own workshops, but subcontract body repairs. A few rural forces, however, do it all in-house while others have traditionally relied on council workshops for all their maintenance.

A Home Office working group is now painstakingly drawing up the details of the regulations that will force the police authorities to invite private bids for this work. It has yet to finalise a definition of "vehicle maintenance and repair" before consultations, but crash repairs will almost certainly be excluded from CCT, and forces will have to put at least 90% of the rest out to tender.

September 1995 was the original deadline set for police forces to complete the long tendering process and have new maintenance contracts up and running. The likely upheaval as a result of the Sheehy police reforms and the re-organisation of local government may well see that slip into early 1996 and beyond. However, once the details are agreed, the new tendering regime can be ushered in quickly under existing legislation —the same 1988 Local Government Act that opened up councils' refuse collection services and vehicle maintenance work to private competition. And, as did local authorities, police forces may market-test some of their maintenance work before they are compelled to do so.

Chief constables, some of whom have threatened to resign over the Sheehy reforms, have no problems with vehicle maintenance CCT. says chief inspector Graham Glazier. "We fully support it," says Glazier, spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers' traffic committee. Like their senior officers, the police rank and file feel their main concern—security--can be met, even if it means a contractor's fitters signing the Official Secrets Act. But the quest for cost savings "must not sacrifice safety" a Police Federation spokesman says.

The Home Office expects a level of savings "comparable with those achieved in local government". But the record here is suspect, even according to the Government's own research, It suggests contract costs fell, increased and then dipped again in the first three years of CCT, shaving a dubious 1.3% off councils' vehicle maintenance costs overall. Which is perhaps why the Home Office adds that police fleet CCT "should not just be regarded as a cost-cutting exercise, but should also be seen as a means of improving quality and value for money".

In theory, what is saved on the bill for maintenance will go towards putting more bobbies on the beat. But some police fleet managers nowadays typically civilians like their mechanicsmay be less enthusiastic about carrying out Home Office orders.

SCEPTICAL

Surrey police fleet manager John Legg is sceptical about promised cost savings from CCT. "At the end of the day, on a like-for-like basis, I don't think there will be savings," he says. Surrey is preparing for competition by separating the maintenance operation--a central workshop in Guildford with two small satellite garages—to form a clear contractor-client relationship. The maintenance department has to recover its costs but only charges parts at net cost. "A private contractor might come in low on labour rates, butt bet he won't give anything else away," he says, adding that CCT "could be a licence for contractors to print money".

Legg, who is vice-chairman of the National Association of Police Fleet Managers, is concerned about the costs of ccr, including the need to monitor work done by a

successful bidder. His maintenance team, recently reduced to 19, services 360 vehicles, of which almost 1(X) are vans or minibuses. He is not impressed by the standard of work done by private firms when his workshops have been overloaded. "There's nothing mythical about a police car, it's just a vehicle,■ but they do get used to the limits. If something goes wrong we investigate it properly and we get to the bottom of it. That would be difficult with a contractor."

Local authority CCT taught some important lessons, Legg believes. Many councils did not plan early and carefully enough, and some ill-chosen contractors went bust half-way through contracts. "The local Ford dealer won't be in with a chance," says Legg, but there are probably a half-dozen national operators prepared to win the work.

Availability is the watchword of fleet managers everywhere but it has special pertinence for the police, says a spokesman for the Northumbria force. During the riots on Tyneside a few years ago some of its 30strong van fleet had to be converted—seating removed and protective grills fitted—during the small hours.

"We need our own workshops—and open 24 hours a day in emergencies," he says, arguing that it would have caused problems if it was down to a contractor. Northumbria employs 51 civilian staff to service more than 650 vehicles, including an artic for driver training and two horse-trailers. It already subcontracts crash repairs, but "there is no question of the whole lot being privatised".

Security looms as the largest concern for the West Midlands police. But this could boost the prospects of service operators specialising in commercial vehicles, according to John Hillier, the force's director of administration. The police are anxious to conceal the identity of covert cars and protect surveillance equipment, as well as encrypted radios and computers fitted in panda cars. Criminal contacts or a mechanic with a grudge against the police would present a danger, Hillier points out. Mechanics would also need some specialist knowledge of the special wiring and heavy-duty alternators in police cars.

Putting vans and heavier vehicles out to contractors would not raise the same risks. West Midlands already contacts out 20-30". of its workload on its hard-working fleet of 1,100 vehicles, says Hillier. Adding maintenance of its 110 Sherpa vans, plated up to 3,800kg, plus heavy vehicles—nearly 40 prison vans, trailers, horsebox and other trucks—could well meet the 40% requirement of the Home Office. However, that depends on the final definition, which is still unclear, and whether the force is given credit for work already contracted out. "The danger is that the Government could jack up the percentage over coming years," says Hillier. "We want to keep our saloon fleet inhouse and certainly the covert vehicles. That's our batting order."

Hillier has set up West Midlands' four garages on commercial lines. Two satellite garages, in Wolverhampton and Solihull, have been closed and mechanics jobs cut. The workforce has been put on salary, ending a "weird" bonus system that encouraged over-servicing of vehicles while others stood waiting, he says.

Citing his experience of catering, twice won in-house with savings, Hillier believes CCT is worthwhile whatever the politics. "It shakes out restrictive practices, over-staffing, and makes departments operate commercially." The workshops now provide 98% fleet availability. "They're in a far better position now. We have a good chance of winning the business. But you can't be complacent because there are a lot of good garages out there and they want to spread their overheads."

Forces will be expected to accept the lowest bid provided it meets a quality threshold, says the Home Office. But it is less clear-cut on the vexed question of the TUPE transfer of undertakings regulations, which would penalise a contractor who cut jobs, wages or conditions to win police service work. The Home Office is sticking to the government line that TUPE's application is a matter for the force and contractor, and will depend on the terms of each contract. This is despite a second union challenge—by UNISON and the TGWU, both of which represent civilians with the police force—at a Middlesbrough tribunal this month, hard on the heels of thc transport union's victory in the Eastbourne refuse collection case.

Would-be bidders should assess the case law as closely as their margins before they go chasing after police vehicles.

IT by Eugene Silke


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