Topic: | LBH Accounts; a response for Mr T Wood | |
Posted by: | John Todd | |
Date/Time: | 16/11/10 06:45:00 |
Dear Mr Wood, The “Third Party Payments” is a standard CIPFA description for payments for the cost of services run on behalf of the Council by outside contractors or other organisations. Examples include the payments we make to West Waste for Waste Disposal and to Fusion and Laing for running our Leisure Services. It does not include the payments made to KPMG for the PIP. In earlier sets of accounts these costs were lumped together with ordinary purchases of supplies and services under “Other Running Costs” They have tended to increase as more services are outsourced (for example waste collection) and are now shown as a separate category in their own right. Of course, when services are outsourced, the increase in “third party payments” is offset by reductions in staffing and other direct costs and is one of the reasons why the proportion of staff costs has reduced. Major sums involved included in 2009-10 were: - · Social Services Care Providers £45.9m · Leisure Services £14.7m · Voluntary & Special Schools £7.8m · West Waste £7.0m · Supporting People Agency Payments £5.8m · Revenues & Benefits Administration £5.2m I do hope this fully answers your query. Kind regards John |