The Mayor advised that since the last meeting of Council she had the pleasure of attending a variety of events, which included the unveiling of Thurrock’s latest Heritage Plaque at the London Cruise Terminal in Tilbury and visiting schools and having afternoon tea.

The Mayor informed Members that Coalhouse Fort would be hosting a World War One Commemorative Sports Day on 24 August 2015 from 11.00 am to 3.00 pm and that visitors would have the opportunity to participate in sporting tournaments throughout the day as the solders did at Coalhouse Fort in 1915, in addition to interactive tours by Creative Blast where visitors could learn about stories from the Fort and re-enactments by the Great War Society.

The Mayor informed the Chamber that at the event the Engine Room Café would also be launched, which was completed as part of the Heritage Lottery Fund at Coalhouse Fort.

The Mayor further reported that the 7th Big Lunch event would be held the following week on Wednesday 29 July 2015 from 11.00 am to 3.00 pm in Grays Town Park and that she hoped as many members as possible would be able to attend.

The Mayor informed Members that she had put St Luke’s Hospice donation boxes in each of the group offices and that the total money donated would be announced at the Council meeting in September.

The Mayor advised that the extraordinary meeting of Council to discuss matters relating to the Frost Estate and the proposal to create a parish council would be held on Wednesday 26 August from 7.00 pm in the main hall at Hassenbrook School.

Members were informed that residents of the Frost Estate would be receiving letters in the post the following week inviting them to the meeting and a formal notification and diary invitation to Members would be circulated following the meeting.

The Mayor further advised that a revised political balance calculation would also be ratified at the extraordinary Council meeting in August.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor J. Kent, made the following announcement:

As everyone will know, yesterday we announced that the contract with our strategic partner, Serco, will end in November.

Also, as everyone will understand, the negotiations to end such a large and complicated contract have been long and detailed; the negotiations also include what can and what should not be said publicly. So tonight’s statement is worded very carefully.

The contract costs Thurrock Council around £20 million every year – Serco admit that.

We have agreed to pay just under £10 million to end the contract – a lot of money, but only half what we have paid Serco – and before that Vertex – since 2005, and would pay them for the next five years too.

Obviously it’s not quite that simple, but we know that in these times of austerity we would rather any profits, so to speak, went direct on services to local people rather than Serco’s shareholders.

That money is not simply a pay-off, but includes things like computer equipment and telephony that will transfer back, as well as some sub-contractor costs – but admittedly there is a loss of profit payment within it.

This is not the time to detail the savings to the council – and council tax-payers of Thurrock – that will become clear over the coming months as we analyse the future savings we have to make, here in the chamber, in cabinet, in overview and scrutiny and in the public meetings we will be holding.

However it is clear that there will be major savings of between £3½ million and £4 million every year. 

Back in 2004 when the contract was signed, times were very different, local authorities had money and it was thought the so-called efficiencies of the private sector would improve services in the public sector.

Eleven years on and things have changed, yet the contract signed all those years ago did not allow for our contractor’s services to change with the times.

As you can tell from this we are looking at all of our outsourced services and staff – Billfinger for example – with a view to closely examining the advantages and disadvantages of bringing them back in-house or not.

I don’t want to commit to making any further decisions here tonight, but I do know the hard work and effort our facilities management team and others put in on behalf of local people and I want us to find the best way forward for them and us too.

Finally tonight, I’d like to assure the 350 or so people who will be returning to the council that we will be working very closely with Serco to make that move as smooth as possible over the coming months – we value their expertise and experience, and we are looking forward to them joining the Thurrock Council family.