Cabinet Member Report
Date:
Subject:
2 May 2007
The creation of two new Pest Control Officer posts
for 1 year
Summary
This report seeks approval to create two additional pest control operative posts in order
to maintain the current level of service required under the SLAs with City West.
Initially these would be filled using fixed term contracts to reflect the reliance of the
posts funding by the continued SLA income
It is anticipated that the two posts and ancillary costs can be funded as a result of the
projected income being exceeded by as much as £110,000 because of the increased
volumes of the work.
Recommendations
That the Cabinet Member for Community Protection approves the proposal to create
two additional pest control operative posts.
That the Cabinet Member for Community Protection instructs the Environmental Health
Manager, Residential to explore further opportunities to develop the service, namely

Introduce SLAs with other Council departments, such as the schools and library
services.

Respond to requests from private resident’s associations who have previously
stated that they would be willing to pay for a service to eradicate rodent pests.

Respond to requests and proactively make our service known to commercial
and residential companies to carry out treatments in their premises.
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Cabinet Member Report
City of Westminster
Cabinet Member:
Cabinet Member for Community Protection and
Licensing
rotection
Date:
Classification:
Title of Report:
Report of:
Wards involved:
Policy context:
Financial summary:
Report Author:
Contact Details:
2 May 2007
For General Release
The creation of two new Pest Control Officer posts
for 1 year
Deputy Director of Community Protection
All Wards
The Council’s Pest Control Service
Revenue:
The current Pest Control Service is anticipated to
receive an additional £110,000 on its current SLA in
2007/08, which would more than offset the employee
and other costs of £90,000. A contribution toward
the 2007/08 business plan of £20,000 is anticipated.
The net
Richard Drew
Environmental Health Manager, Residential
020 7641 1768
rdrew@westminster.gov.uk
Page 2 of 9
1
Background Information
1.1
Westminster’s Pest Control service is currently managed by the Pest Control and
Mortuary manager supported by the Pest Control and Mortuary Assistant Manager
both of whom spend approximately 50% of their time managing the service. They
manage 1 technical support officer and 4 pest control officers.
1.2
The work of the team almost wholly consists of responding to requests for
treatment and carrying out proactive inspections of City West Homes under
Service Level Agreements (SLAs), a brief description is provided in Appendix A.
1.3
No work is carried out in private homes apart from a small service where we will
respond to residents complaints when they have a rat inside their house
1.4
Table 1 shows a breakdown of reactive visits over the last three years.
Table 1
Pest
Bed Bugs
Cockroaches
Fleas
Garden Ants
Insects
Mice
Rats
Tropical Ants
Wasps
2003/4
95
381
18
246
359
2221
957
599
44
2004/5
300
457
12
122
617
3169
852
460
90
2005/6
625
383
6
113
415
3971
758
388
46
Total number of
visits
4920
6079
6705
1.5
It is clear that there has been a dramatic rise in the number of requests for
treatment received by the service in the last few years (2002/3 was 3644). The
projected 2006/7 figure is 7,140 which continues the upward trend. It should be
noted that the most dramatic rise has occurred in respect of mice and bed bug
complaints.
1.6
There has not been any increase in the establishment of the service for the last 5
years so the dramatic increase in visits has put the service under considerable
strain which is leading to a risk that the Service Level Agreements cannot be
maintained. Currently Performance Targets are just being maintained.
1.7
The Department raised the issue of pest control capacity as a risk last summer and
is now in a position to provide proposals to consolidate performance, provide
resilience to the existing SLA income and consider opportunities for enhancing the
service and income opportunities.
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2
Proposal
2.1
This year the pest control service anticipates income from the City West SLA’s to
exceed our projected income targets by as much as £110,000 as a result of the
increased volumes. An element of this has been used to offset agency costs of
maintaining cover within the service.
2.2
However, this income is at risk in future years if the service is unable to provide the
level of service agreed. It is therefore proposed that the service move to create two
additional pest control operative posts.
2.3
Initially these would be filled using fixed term contracts to reflect the reliance of the
posts funding by the continued SLA income.
2.4
It is anticipated that new 3 year SLA’s will be agreed in 2007/8 providing a
sustainable income level with a positive net effect on the cost of the pest control
service.
2.5
In addition this would help realise three further opportunities to develop the
service, namely

Introduce SLAs with other Council departments, such as the schools and library
services.

Respond to requests from private resident’s associations who have previously
stated that they would be willing to pay for a service to eradicate rodent pests.

Respond to requests and proactively make our service known to commercial
and residential companies to carry out treatments in their premises.
2.6
The latter two opportunities would be supported by the “freedoms to trade” open to
the council as an excellent authority. There are legal impediments to making use of
these opportunities which are being explored with the legal department. Although it
may be possible to set up a “Trading Company” to treat pests in private and
commercial properties in Westminster.
3
Financial Implications
3.1
There are current overspends in salaries, transport, and supplies and services
budgets of approximately £70,000 as a consequence of increased spend in order
to meet the performance targets of the existing SLA. The creation of 2 new posts
and an increase in other budgets would mean that future overspends will not
occur.
3.2
The full year cost of two Pest Control Officer posts (PRP Range 5.100) will be
£68,000. This would secure the ongoing SLA income by providing City West with
greater certainty of the department meeting its performance targets and provide a
surplus of £20,000 of income against existing budgeted figures.
3.3
Income generated in 2005/06 was £320,697, current income invoiced for in
2006/07 is £301,552, and is projected to be £333,152 for the full year. The current
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income budget for the City West Homes SLA for 2007/08 is £223,200, thus this
could be increased by £110,000 to £333,200 in order to fund the two new posts,
increase running budgets, and create the surplus of £20,000.
Financial Analysis - 2007/08
2 Pest Control Officers
Salary (Range 5.100)
Transport
Supplies and Services
£
68,000
10,000
12,000
Additional SLA Income
-110,000
Net income generated
-20,000
4
Legal Implications
4.1
There are no legal implications in the creation of 2 additional pest control officer
posts.
4.2
Preliminary legal advice has been sought in respect of charging residential and
commercial customers for pest control work. However, the funding of the 2 posts is
not dependent on the potential income from this work.
5
Staffing Implications
5.1
Unison consulted and have no issues with the proposals.
6
Business Plan Implications
6.1
There will be a significant risk to the Community Protection’s Business plan if
approval for the two additional pest control posts is not authorised. This is because
the Pest Control service is already struggling to achieve its targets under its
current SLA as there has been a steady increase in service requests over the last
3 years.
7
Outstanding issues
7.1
There are no outstanding issues.
8
Consultation
8.1
The report is not ward specific so ward members have not been consulted.
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9
Crime and Disorder Act 1998
9.1
There are no Crime and Disorder issues.
10
Health and Safety Issues
10.1
There are no Health and Safety issues.
11
Human Rights Act 1998
11.1
There are no Human Rights issues.
12
Reasons for Decision
12.1
It is recommended that the creation of the two posts is approved in order to
maintain the current level of service in the SLAs.
If you have any queries about this report or wish to inspect any of the background
papers, please contact Richard Drew on 020 7641 1768; email address
rdrew@westminster.gov.uk; fax number 020 7641 1740
Background Papers
There were no other documents used or referred to in compiling this report.
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For completion by Cabinet Member for Community Protection
Declaration of Interest:

I have no interest to declare in respect of this report
Signed ……………………………. Date ………………………………
NAME:

I have to declare an interest
State nature of interest ……..……………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………..
Signed ……………………………. Date …………………………………
NAME:
(N.B: If you have an interest you should seek advice as to whether it is appropriate to
make a decision in relation to this matter).
For the reasons set out above, I agree the recommendation(s) in the report entitled The
creation of two new Pest Control Officer posts for 1 year.
Signed ………………………………………………
Cabinet Member for Community Protection
Date …………………………………………………
If you have any additional comment which you would want actioned in connection with
your decision you should discuss this with the report author and then set out your
comment below before the report and this pro-forma is returned to the Secretariat for
processing.
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Additional comment: …………………………………………………………………
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………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
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NOTE: If you do not wish to approve the recommendations, or wish to make an
alternative decision, it is important that you consult the report author, the Director of Legal
and Administrative Services, the Chief Financial Officer and, if there are staffing
implications, the Head of Personnel (or their representatives) so that (1) you can be made
aware of any further relevant considerations that you should take into account before
making the decision and (2) your reasons for the decision can be properly identified and
recorded, as required by law.
Note to Cabinet Member: Your decision will now be published and copied to the
Members of the relevant Overview & Scrutiny Committee. If the decision falls
within the criteria for call-in, it will not be implemented until five working days have
elapsed from publication to allow the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to decide
whether it wishes to call the matter in.
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13
APPENDICES
13.1
Appendix 1 - Outline description of City West SLAs
Block control treatment for pests
The block control programme aims to control cockroaches, tropical ants and mice
in 2,419 dwellings in 49 blocks. This results in 4,231 visits. Properties are
assessed over the year and if they achieve a 10% or above infestation level the
blocks are then included on the pro-active block treatment.
Proactive rat baiting programme on estates
A new programme has been included to enhance the block control and sewer
programme. This is in the form of a baiting programme to bring under control and
eradicate surface rat infestations from various housing estates in the City of
Westminster Council. This new scheme was piloted in 2004/5 on two estates that
resulted in a vast improvement to the treated areas. 2005/6 and covered three
estates, Brunel Estate, Grosvenor Estate and Lisson Green Estate. This year’s
programme covers ten estates, the three above and Warwick, Church St,
Fisherton, Lillestone, Hall Park, Lillington and Longmore.
Sewer and drains
The service aims for control of rats in Council owned estate sewers, drains and
street property drains. A total of 999 manholes are inspected and baited each year.
Drainage covers are lifted to enable an approximate length of every 50 metres of
drainage to be treated. This programme has enabled Westminster to keep the
reports of rats at a constant level and to be able to report a drop in reported
infestations from a high of 602 in 1995/6 to 329 in 2003/4. Other years are 269 in
2004/5, 302 in 2005/6 and 198 for April to September 2006.
Drainage defects, such as missing rodding eye caps and blocked interceptor
chambers are reported to the appropriate estate office.
Parks and gardens
Currently we carry out inspections and treatment for the control of rats and mice in
31 parks and gardens throughout the City of Westminster. Additional areas may be
inspected throughout the period by request from the parks department. Inspections
and treatments are carried out monthly or fortnightly which is adjusted according to
the need to bring an infestation under control. Innovative baiting methods are used
such as using disguised manhole covers and down pipes to place bait in.
Pipes and subways
The objective of this service is to eradicate rodent infestations occurring in the
underground utilities service tunnels. This is to limit damage to electricity,
telephone cables etc that may be caused by rodents. It also helps to control
surface infestations by baiting these areas which may give harbourage to rodents.
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