A remarkable transformation in the fortunes of DGFirst has been achieved, with a profit of £181,000 being made in the last year compared to Combined Services’s deficit of £2.7 million three years ago. Leader of the Council Ivor Hyslop, said, ‘We have turned around the fortunes of this service. In the most recent financial year, DGFirs t made an operating profit of £181,000. This figure is particularly impressive considering that the service absorbed significant costs relating to the severe weather this winter, which caused extensive flooding and significant damage to our roads. Over the last three years we’ve achieved an outstanding turnaround as we inherited a Combined Services organisation that recorded a £2.7 million deficit in 2009.
The extreme winter weather in November and December 2009 cost the Council an additional £832,000, however, only £309,000 needed to be drawn from corporate funds. The balance was met by DGFirst.

The deficit of three years ago was largely due to trading losses on Home Care, Cleansing, and Building Maintenance, which did contract work for DGHP. The ending of the contract between Building Maintenance and DGHP and the subsequent staff transfer enabled a complete remodelling of Building Services.

Establishing DGFirst as the Council’s delivery partner in a corporate commissioning structure provided the first real opportunity to deal with genuine underfunding issues in services such as Cleansing and the need to completely rationalise major services such as Home Care.

Councillor Graham Nicol, chairman of the Resources committee, said, “This outstanding improvement has been the result of this Council Administration facing up to tough choices and making hard decisions. We are not afraid to take decisions that need taking. And we look forward to continued improvements in future years. Since 2003/04, the service has downsized significantly. It reduced its number of offices and depots, which originally totalled 26 across the region. Today, around 2,550 employees operate out of 7 sites, which are modern and fit for purpose. As a consequence, efficiency has been significantly increased while overheads have been greatly reduced. Geoff Lewis, managing director of DGFirst, said, ‘Over the last three years we’ve carried out a radical re-engineering of our business and downsizing of our infrastructure and made significant efficiency savings while protecting the delivery of vital services. Our benchmarking shows that compared to similar organisations in Scotland our operational infrastructure is definitely one of the most modern and robust. The new management committee will provide the basis for continued modernisation, appropriate scrutiny, and ensure even greater value for money for the people of Dumfries and Galloway.”

Individual reviews of trading services have been carried out over the last two years, putting the majority of DGFirst’s delivery services on a strong business footing for the future. School Catering dies remain as a significant corporate challenge but a way forward was agreed by the Council earlier this month.

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