Why am I still waiting over 6 months later for an answer to my question to Councillor Tony Smith?

Why am I still waiting over 6 months later for an answer to my question to Councillor Tony Smith?

Why am I still waiting over 6 months later for an answer to my question to Councillor Tony Smith?

                                                

Council 15th December 2014 Agenda item 4 Public Question Time John Brace asks a question of Cllr Tony Smith on Lyndale School
Council 15th December 2014 Agenda item 4 Public Question Time John Brace asks a question of Cllr Tony Smith on Lyndale School

The picture above is of myself asking a question of Cllr Tony Smith on the 15th December 2014 last year. Here is my supplementary question to Cllr Tony Smith and Cllr Tony Smith’s reply.

JOHN BRACE: Earlier this year, a further decision about Lyndale School was made by Cabinet on the 16th January. This decision was called in.

The Coordinating Committee couldn’t decide on the call in until Council in February had added two parent governors with voting rights to the Committee.

That was because it was a legal requirement to have at least two parent governors with voting rights on the committee.

Now regulation 7(5) and 7(6) of the Parent Governor Representatives (England) Regulations [2001] state that parent governors representatives cease to be qualified if they fail to attend a meeting for six months and also fail to send an apology.

Now, the Coordinating Committee has met many times over the last six months and I’ve not seen either one of the two parent governors at any public meeting, nor have the minutes reflected that they sent their apologies.

Therefore it seems logical to conclude that it doesn’t have the required two parent governor representatives.

As any decision on the future of Lyndale School could be called in to the Coordinating Committee, how do you propose as Cabinet Member including the voice of parent governors in the current decision and to remedy that situation?

CLLR TONY SMITH: OK, thank you Mr. Brace. I think I will probably have to give you a written report on that development because of the technical nature of the representatives but I will give you a report on the representatives.
 

On the 23rd March 2015, I reminded Councillor Tony Smith that I hadn’t received a response to this question. I received an email from an employee at Wirral Council on the 27th March 2015 asking for a copy of the supplementary question. I replied with a copy of the supplementary question on the 27th March 2015 but have not had a reply to that email.

The papers for the Annual Council meeting (part 2) which is to be held tomorrow evening state “The Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee currently has four co-optees – there is a statutory requirement to have representatives of the Catholic and Church of England dioceses and of parent governors – who are entitled to vote on education matters. These co-optees should also be appointed to the Coordinating Committee for those occasions when it deals with education matters”.

In a section on the Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee it lists two parent governor representatives:

Mrs H Shoebridge (until 28 October 2015)
Mrs Nicola Smith (until 8 February 2017)
 

The minutes of the Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee meetings for the last 6 months show:

23/3/15
Mrs Nicola Smith Co-Optee Absent
Mrs H Shoebridge Co-Optee Apologies

2/2/15
Mrs Nicola Smith Co-Optee Absent
Mrs H Shoebridge Co-Optee Apologies

In the six months before my question being asked on the 15th December 2014 (8/7/14, 9/9/14, 3/11/14 and 2/12/14 Mrs H Shoebridge did not attend any of the meetings of the Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee nor do the minutes show that she sent her apologies.

So, as there have been periods of six months when both of the parent governor representatives have not attended any of the meetings of the Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee nor sent their apologies it would seem that both parent governor representatives have ceased to be so.

Regulation 7 means they cease to be qualified to be a parent governor representatives and as Wirral Council is required to have at least two parent governor representatives (see regulation 3), then it should hold an election for the two vacant parent governor representatives.

So isn’t it about time that a councillor queried why elections for the parent governor representative weren’t held after I raised this point back in December 2014 and (more importantly) got officers to commit to holding elections in the near future?

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Author: John Brace

New media journalist from Birkenhead, England who writes about Wirral Council. Published and promoted by John Brace, 134 Boundary Road, Bidston, CH43 7PH. Printed by UK Webhosting Ltd t/a Tsohost, 113-114 Buckingham Avenue, Slough, Berkshire, England, SL1 4PF.

27 thoughts on “Why am I still waiting over 6 months later for an answer to my question to Councillor Tony Smith?”

  1. Oo-roo, Oo-roo, Oo-roo, football shit, dunny-chain wearer, shyster, love you more than…..

    Just getting the inevitable out of the way.

  2. Hello fellow readers.
    Can anyone tell me, why the majority of respondees on this Site, reply to Mr Brace’s blogs in an infantile or incomprehensible way? How can those, not “in the know” form an opinion, if the dialogue is childishly indecipherable to the majority?
    Regards, Frank

  3. I do declare ” Anonymous ” Sharp as a Needle and Bright as a Button ” right on queue. I understand where Mr Griffiths and the other people who know what their talking about are coming from. Mr Brace you are an intelligent man, I cannot understand why you do what you do. You get moved from the Top Table to 4th Division, then where next Back Row?
    I have tried to make several points to you and you appear to want to go your own way. I made a promise to myself that I would try to help you, not lead in the hope you would reach a point where you basically could self help, but all you want to do is make subtle little cracks as though you are the pinnacle or font of all knowledge. OK so be it

    1. I do what I do, because I think there’s a public interest in the public knowing what’s going on with Wirral Council.

      Thanks for your points, however my role is to report on Wirral Council, not to fix its problems. No I don’t know everything.

  4. Well if its infantile pigswill and mindless rubbish, drivel and tripe that you don’t want. Have this……
    Bloody Bill Norman! If there’s one name or subject that fires my eczema and turns my fat face bright blotchy bloody red, it’s this little cutie and I’ll be damned if I don’t get me rotten guns out of their holster, fire off a few pointless and mindless shots just to hasten the departure of the red hives that appear upon my flesh when this fellas name is transmitted my bloody way.
    And the lads in the Ale House know full well what my personal feelings are on the subject. Whenever we gather together and play, ‘who would you be nice to for a billion quid’ and the lads pop in Bill’s name to me, I tell them, ‘lads, I’ll never, ever, under any circumstances cozy up to him’.
    What’s more, I tell the lads, ‘ whilst I’d love to have a billion quid I will never agree to be nice to Bill Norman.’
    Never! I’d sooner throw myself off Pier Head and on my decent swallow a measure of poison that’d dispatch me to meet my maker than ever spend time engaged in pleasant conversation with Bill Norman.
    That’s how strongly I feel about this fella who managed to make off away from the Wirral with a huge wad of public money simply because he was able to use his expertise and exploit Compromise Agreements or, as Cardin insists on calling them, ‘bloody Gagging Payments’.
    And if this rancid tripe isn’t enough for you and in some way falls short of the limited expectations you have of me and James Griffiths, have no fears.
    There’s plenty more where that came from!

    1. Another one who’s a little to fond of their own (online) voice. Go bother Herefords equivalent of John Brace instead and leave the pretentious waffling to griffiths instead

      1. Luv you Bobby

        I bet Mr Anonymous …Frank

        wrote Bill’s cheque.

        Ooroo

        James

        He offered me one Bobby to go away…still waiting for the offer…no substance.

    2. I mean seriously, how can so many words be used with so little actually said……

      1. Insult me as much as you like Mr Anonymous when you send the cheque you promised but not Bobby 47.

        The lad cares you obviously don’t.

  5. As a Wirral resident, I actually care a lot…..just not about you.

    i think back to Martin Morton and how he comported himself with dignity and aplomb when blowing the whistle.

    You, on the other hand, come over as a smug tosser who has systematically eroded any credibility that you may have had at the beginning of your saga – no mean feat!

        1. I don’t want credibility from you I just want justice.

          I will not stop till it arrives and I think the DCLG might just deliver…or should.

          Don’t forget to send the cheque you offered.

          Like what Wirral did to Norman Wilkie Garry etc etc etc

  6. Hello Anonymous. My good friend, don’t think for one single moment your critique of me and my writing style will have driven a wedge between us. It hasn’t and it won’t and I will always look out for your offerings and read them.
    As for what you’ve said regarding the content of the endless conveyor belt of shite that I shovel out, surprisingly perhaps to you, I agree with all you’ve said. I am the Duke of Dross. The King of Crap and I simply can’t help the way I think, the way in which I express myself and how I can be perceived by a reader. I completely take your point, I fully embrace it and I’ve no problem whatsoever in handling the truth, which is I write an awful lot without saying much.
    Mind, there is an art to it and often a sting in its tail and if I can select a few vowels and consonants, put them together in a sequence that tells ‘them’ to ‘get stuffed’, I’ll continue to do it and lampoon them all whenever I have an opportunity.
    The truth is my friend. Very little works when your dealing with these narcissistic types. The one single thing they hate, and I got that from the lips of Ken Livingstone, is that they hate being mocked, ridiculed and laughed at.
    This is why I write in this strange way and it works for me and I’m guessing it works for James.
    My very warmest regards to you pal.

  7. Tootle off Mr Anonymous

    You must have a Mayor making to go to.

    I took great pleasure last year on turning my back on “The Dunny Chain Wearer” when he came directly past me on four occasions.

    The man that has abused all of Wirral and is a disgrace.

    Ooroo

    James

    1. Ha! I wondered when you’d trot out that old chestnut….

      I’m a whistleblower and anyone who dares criticise me must be an agent of the Council/Steve Foulkes/George Davies red nose*

      Pathetic!

      No, I’m none of those things, I’m just a concerned Wirral Resident who’s sick to the back teeth of you hijacking every JB, Wirralleaks and WDTK article with your smug, inane drivel.

      *delete as appropriate

      1. I have now been doing this for 3 years 10 months and 14 days since I blew the whistle on Wirral “Funny” Bizz about a an approximate £2,000,000.00 fraud and to date all that has happened is the Clowncil spending about £200,000.00 defending them.

        Why clever clogs?

        Why would they defend criminals?

        I suppose you would just ignore it?

      2. How was the Mayor making Anoneemouse?

        Did you scamper down any Open Holes afterwards?

        £40,000.00 + X 2

  8. Mr Brace if Mr Anonymous is referring to me, to coin a phrase that is often used “Who gives a Tinkers Cuss”

  9. Good point well made Anonymous,

    As a Wirral tax payer, the reason I read this blog is to hear facts put forward by John Brace. Occasionally, I sometimes question the newsworthiness, but mostly I welcome facts presented in a way that allows people to make judgement – their own judgement. What I don’t like is a relentless call on the Council to spend a fortune on pointless investigations for the 26th time on the same issues or for clawback calls which may well impact on and affect key services in my area. How is this right? Justice? I’m not sure I want my hard earned going into a crusade by an individual trying to get back at a previous employer. If you were wronged Mr Griffiths take it to ACAS and save the tax payer anymore expense.

    Like Anonymous, I do find the stream of in jokes and name calling somewhat excessive within the comments. That said it is my choice whether I read them and I won’t be doing so in the future. I just wanted to concur with some of the other comments appearing here recently.

    To the Duke of Dross – you actually made me laugh. To Mr Griffiths – well all I can say is I hope you find a way of overcoming your narcissistic obsession.

    Good day to you all,

    Myron

  10. Mr Anonymous and Mr Bolitar who(m)ever both of you are, a Council is like the Police, you very rarely come into contact with them, but when you do, it can be a Nightmare. Both provide services that can hinder or help you. Unfortunately you only approach both of them when you need help in one form or another or are being Prosecuted.
    I would say to you wait to see if you are ever in need of any or either of these Services before calling anybody Narcissistic and apply at the end of the Financial year. May I take this opportunity to wish you both a long and happy life and hope that you never need help from any Emergency Service!!!

  11. G’day John

    Regarding this page the Clowncil just please themselves over the rules and the decency of answering in a timely manner.

    The whole Lyndale thing sums them up and why don’t people speak up on this disgrace?

    You stay on their case boy and that OBE will be arriving before you can say Annonymouse and My Ronnie think Wirral Gate and Wirral”Funny” Bizz cover ups should be ignored.

    Ooroo

    James

    1. Yawn………

      The only thing that I think should be ignored, is you.

      Have a busy and productive day

      Annonymouse

    2. People did speak up over Lyndale. I think Cllr Phil Davies said something at one of the meetings about Lyndale School along the lines of, just because we don’t agree with you doesn’t mean we didn’t listen to what you had to say.

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