A FORMER Council Leader has questioned whether a pricey Council contract was value for money.

Councillor Dave Green (Lab, Wibsey) was referring to a £1.061m contract with consultancy group Impower set up last year. It involved the company looking at Bradford Council departments and determining how the authority can reduce its costs.

At a meeting of the Council's Corporate Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, members were given an update on the contract, which began in September 2020 and has now come to an end.

A report to members said Impower's work had led to changes in the Health and Wellbeing, Children's Services and Localities departments that would save cash in the long run.

One suggestion made by Impower to change day service provision was likely to save £1m a year.

But Cllr Green said: "I'm struggling to get the value for money out of this. The Council is bringing in people to tell us how to do our day job. This report doesn't tell us why we weren't doing all this in the first place."

Question over Council's plan to pay company £1m to look at best way to save money

Officers said the expertise by Impower would help support more people with health conditions to remain at home, which would contribute to a further £3.2m savings for the Council.

Cllr Green replied: "Making decisions like that is still our day job. And decisions on Children's Services isn't just our day job, it is our bottom line.

"If we weren't doing our day job before Impower came in, will we be doing it in 12 months time after they've left?"

He was assured new ways of working identified by Impower would be taken on board by the Council.