To tea or not to tea, that is the question.

Posted By: Robin Parker
Date Posted: 20/06/2007

Options have been put forward by those responsible for catering to reduce costs on teas for Councillors. It is estimated that it costs just under £20k per year for teas for Councillors before meetings.
The four options are below.

Option 1 No charge.
This is where we are at the moment.

Option 2 Remove the provision of member’s teas and beverages.
Logically an option but it would make life extremely difficult for those members who have other jobs, come straight from work, and may have to wait as long as 9.30pm before they eat.

Option 3 Charge members a set amount a year to cover the cost of providing meals.  The proposed charge is £330 per annum, which would be deducted from Councillors allowance at source.

Reading between the lines, this is the officers’ preferred option. It puts a load of dosh back in the kitty without giving any pain to the officers. It could, however, give a lot of pain to members.

The more responsibility a member has, the bigger the allowance. A logical follow on from that is that the more time a member spends on civic duties, the greater the chances of needing to take meals.

I’m at the other end. Because of Deputy Mayoral duties, I have opted out of all Town Hall meetings other than Council, concentrating my work within Middleton Township. My calculation, based on the number of Township Committees and Sub Committees in the Municipal year, is that it would cost me £15.71 per meal. I have to say that while my socialism makes me favour the rich supporting the poor, the other way round is totally out of order! I sincerely hope that the Cabinet don’t go for this soft option and screw the back benchers. I would demand the right to opt out and feed myself.

Option 4 Township Committee and Sub-Committee meals continue to be funded from the General Council Expenses Budget, but Members be charged for teas provided in relation to all other formal Committees, sub-Committees and Working Groups.  Such meals would automatically be ordered and would be paid for by Members at a cost of £4.65 per meal.  Any meals ordered but not taken would be paid for out of General Council Expenses and a report prepared after 4 months.

Based on what I’ve said in option 3, this would be perfect for me but seems complex and messy.

What has not been taken into account with any of these options apparently, is the position of officers. They attend Townships and obviously they need to eat as much as the rest of us. Are they now going to be charged for their meals? I don’t know, but I’m not holding my breath. Officers have negotiated Conditions of Service. Members do not have that luxury and quite often are their own worst enemies when it comes to Conditions that officers would take for granted, e.g. the need to eat or receiving mileage allowances!

I would wish to put in an Option 5, which would involve catering getting their act together in terms of how much is provided.

I know they will say that they provide for a certain number and if less turn up then it is wasted, but the reality is, particularly on the Township buffets, they provide far too much for the numbers expected. On full turn outs there is always loads left, so my suggestion is that whatever the numbers expected, they provide 25% less food than they normally would for that number. Logically this would save around £5k on previous figures, but if officer numbers were included as well, it could be a good deal more.

So, in conclusion, before any radical decision be made, my suggestion would be that we remain with the status quo but the caterers reduce the volume provided thereby reducing waste. There’s nothing worse for me than to see them putting good food in the bin.