Should Frank Field have declared £2,000 USDAW donation to his 2017 General Election campaign in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests?

Should Frank Field have declared £2,000 USDAW donation to his 2017 General Election campaign in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests?

Should Frank Field have declared £2,000 USDAW donation to his 2017 General Election campaign in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests?

                                 

Rt Hon Frank Field MP (Chair) and Ken Abraham (solicitor (Wirral Council)) at the meeting of the Birkenhead Constituency Committee on the 8th October 2015
Rt Hon Frank Field MP (former Chair, left) at the public meeting of the Birkenhead Constituency Committee on the 8th October 2015

In 2017 USDAW made a £2,000 donation to the Birkenhead Constituency Labour Party for Frank Field’s election campaign on the 26th April 2017. You can see the declaration signed by Frank Field and the donations page below (the thumbnail of the donations page links to a higher resolution and more readable version).
Continue reading “Should Frank Field have declared £2,000 USDAW donation to his 2017 General Election campaign in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests?”

How did general election night in 2017 go on the Wirral?

How did general election night in 2017 go on the Wirral?

How did general election night in 2017 go on the Wirral?

                                            

Accredited Observer John Brace Electoral Commission 2017 7857
Accredited Observer John Brace Electoral Commission 2017 7857

I was always planning on publishing a report on the first general election I have been an election observer for and this is it.

Polling station – Holy Cross Catholic Primary School (AC – Birkenhead Constituency (Bidston and St James ward))

When I visited this polling station along with my wife (who was also an election observer), we were both there to vote.

So I told the Poll Clerks who we were and our addresses. Unfortunately they initially didn’t give us ballot papers as one of them was too tired to look up our address properly. We live in Boundary Road and the poll clerk instead of looking at the page for 134 Boundary Road to mark the register, was instead looking at a different page for a different part of Boundary Road where there is an elector with the number AC 134 instead. This caused a delay in receiving our ballot papers.

They were apologetic about it.

The Count (Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre)

We then walked the short distance to the count centre which was to be held inside the Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre.

Unlike in May, for the Mayoral and Claughton byelection, the gate to the footpath was padlocked, so we went round to the entrance to the car park.

We were immediately stopped by Wirral Council’s Community Patrol who insisted we wait by the entrance to the car park (this was while Wirral Council staff, councillors and others arrived unchallenged).

I explained we were both election observers accredited on an individual basis by the Electoral Commission and therefore entitled to attend the count. I showed them our photographic ID.

Obviously this was a part of elections Wirral Council hadn’t planned for or expected as Community Patrol insisted we wait while they find someone.

We waited for about 15-20 minutes (which is fine for myself but Leonora after the walk from the polling station was suffering a little from the standing as there was no chair to sit on). Even the police officer was feeling sorry for her!

Eventually Kate Robinson started walking in our direction with two men either side from Community Patrol.

We walked towards them.

We then had to explain again that we were election observers accredited by the Electoral Commission, here was our ID etc.

She wanted to look at our ID and didn’t seem happy with our presence.

She insisted we wouldn’t be allowed to use recording equipment in the count. I pointed out that in my opinion wasn’t a lawful instruction and that we only had to follow lawful instructions from the election authorities. I pointed out that in my view it breached the Human Rights Act 1998 and asked for the name of her manager to appeal the decision to. She said that was Eric Robinson (Acting Returning Officer) who she said wasn’t there.

I pointed out that I didn’t have recording equipment on my person anyway. I had an iPad to use but that was for making notes as I have a writing disability (that makes it painful to write).

She then gave us both a short lecture about not telling anyone anything at all about what happened during the count for “secrecy” reasons.

Anyway, she went with us to where people were checking in by the turnstile and it was insisted (despite me pointing out earlier about the writing disability making it painful to write) that I write our names and individual observer numbers on the attendance list.

We were then instructed to go through the turnstile, which Leonora pointed out she couldn’t do as it’s impossible for someone with a walking stick to go through that design of turnstile. So she went round through another side door instead.

We then walked down a corridor past the refreshments area. Unlike election counts in previous years where the tea and coffee had been free (but a voluntary donation suggested) Wirral Council was charging for drinks and food this year. From memory hot drinks were a £1.

It is also to be noted (unlike the Mayoral count and Claughton byelection in May) that this time the whole Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre was closed to the general public from 6 pm on the Thursday to 6.30 am on Friday morning (the tennis hall where the count was held was closed to the public from Monday to Saturday).

The count itself was being held in a large room in the leisure centre called the tennis hall which is usually tennis courts. The netting to catch balls around the sides was still in place, but the floor covering had been covered with a white floor covering kept together with tape.

One half of the hall was for the count for Birkenhead and Wallasey constituency and was also where ballot boxes arrived.

The other half of the hall was used for the Wirral West and Wirral South constituency counts and a raised stage for the platform for announcing the result.

Both halves of the hall had a projector and a screen showing the BBC election coverage.

In the middle in the raised area up steps was an area for the media where they had their video cameras set up and other equipment. From memory the Wirral Globe, Liverpool Echo, BBC, Radio City and others from the media were all there.

At 10.00 pm Eric Robinson (Acting Returning Officer) announced over the PA system that the count of the postal ballots would start. Around this time the BBC announced the result of the exit polls.

A short time later, the ballot boxes started arriving from the polling stations. Counters sat at flip down tables, with baskets on the table and paper clips.

Just before 11.00 pm I went for a walk past the Wallasey constituency tables and somebody dropped a large number of ballot papers on the floor. Thankfully they were bundled in bundles of 25.

The Birkenhead and Wallasey counts went quicker, therefore a result was expected earlier.

By twenty past twelve, Kevin McCallum (Head of Communications) (I had asked him earlier for turnout figures) told me that the turnout for Birkenhead was 67.9%.

A result in Birkenhead was announced at around 1:10 am, Wallasey at 1:45 am, Wirral West at 2:03 am and Wirral South at 2:12 am.

We had made earlier requests to film the speeches of the candidates after the result was declared but this was denied.

The candidates returned were Frank Field (Birkenhead), Angela Eagle (Wallasey), Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) and Alison McGovern (Wirral South).

Mayor of Wirral Ann McLachlan announced the results for the Birkenhead and Wallasey constituencies. Stephen Burrows (High Sheriff of Merseyside) announced the results for Wirral West and Wirral South constituencies.

Here are some quotes from the speeches we would have liked to have shown you. Frank Field referred to it as a “disaster for the Prime Minister”, Angela Eagle said that the “country rejected Theresa May” and referred to her [Theresa May] as a “vampire avoiding the sunlight”, Margaret Greenwood referred to a “stunning victory” and Alison McGovern thanked many groups of people including the people reporting on the count.

There were also some speeches from the second placed candidates who in summary congratulated the winning candidate and then went on to make various political points.

Once all four results were declared, people started to go home.

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Frank Field's election campaign spent £254.40 on balloon gas but what else was money spent on?

Frank Field’s election campaign spent £254.40 on balloon gas but what else was money spent on?

Frank Field’s election campaign spent £254.40 on balloon gas but what else was money spent on?

                                                  

Today I went to Wallasey Town Hall and inspected several candidates’ election returns for the 2015 elections. Below are the pages from Frank Field’s campaign.

Unlike the local election where there is just one period that expenditure and donations need to be declared for, in a General Election there are two periods called “campaigns”. The “long campaign” is from 19th December 2014 to the date the person became a candidate. The “short campaign” is from the date they became a candidate to polling day.

Frank Fields’ campaign spent £31 during the long campaign (£19 on a mobile phone and £12 with WordPress for a website). However during the long campaign he received a £1,000 donation from USDAW (the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers).

During the short campaign £7,651.25 was spent (£1,200 on an advertising wraparound in the Wirral Globe, £4,794.35 on leaflets, £35.50 on taxis, £500 on the deposit, £254.40 on balloon gas, £437 on a market stall, £400 on office space in the Lauries Centre, £30 on topping up the mobile phone (presumably the one bought during the long campaign).

In the short campaign, the Birkenhead Constituency Labour Party donated £6,675.75, the Communication Worker’s Union £90 plus there were also two donations from individuals for £100 and £250. Updated 22nd June 2015: Wirral Council has been in touch and said that the names of the individual donors being blacked out was a mistake. £100 was donated by Ken Tasker and the £250 by Abhii Mantgani. These total £7,115.75.

The difference between expenditure and donations for this period was £535.50 was met by the candidate.

However I will point out that in the short campaign there was still £969 unspent from the donation from USDAW.

The documents submitted as his election expenses returns for the short and long period are below.

Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 1
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 1
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 2
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 2
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 3
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 3
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 4
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 4
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 5
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 5
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 6
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 6
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 7
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 7
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 8
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 8
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 9
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 9
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 10
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 10
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 11
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 11
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 12
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 12
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 13
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 13
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 14
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 14
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 15
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 15
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 16
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 16
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 17
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 17
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 18
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 18
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 19
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 19
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 20
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 20
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 21
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 21
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 22
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 22
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 22
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 22
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 23
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 23
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 24
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 24
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 25
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 25
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 26
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 26
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 27
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 27
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 28
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 28
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 29
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 29
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 30
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 30
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 31
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 31
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 32
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 32
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 33
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 33
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 34
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 34
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 35
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 35
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 36
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 36
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 37
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 37
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 38
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return short campaign page 38
Birkenhead General Election 2015 Declaration election expenses Frank Field
Birkenhead General Election 2015 Declaration election expenses Frank Field
Birkenhead General Election 2015 declaration election expenses George Davies
Birkenhead General Election 2015 declaration election expenses George Davies
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 39
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 39
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 40
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 40
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 41
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 41
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 42
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 42
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 43
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 43
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 44
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 44
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 45
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 45
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 46
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 46
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 47
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 47
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 48
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 48
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 49
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 49
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 50
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 50
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 51
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 51
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 52
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 52
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 53
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 53
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 54
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 54
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 55
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 55
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 56
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 56
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 57
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 57
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 58
Birkenhead General Election 2015 election expenses return long campaign page 58

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Biffa asks Wirral’s Cabinet for a 10 year extension to bins & street cleaning contract worth at least £120 million

Biffa asks Wirral’s Cabinet for a 10 year extension to bins & street cleaning contract worth at least £120 million

Biffa asks Wirral’s Cabinet for a 10 year extension to bins & street cleaning contract worth at least £120 million

                                                      

Biffa Waste Service Limited November 2013 Invoice Wirral Council £1036840.28
Biffa Waste Service Limited November 2013 Invoice Wirral Council £1036840.28
Biffa Waste Service Limited December 2013 Invoice Wirral Council £1032201.28
Biffa Waste Service Limited December 2013 Invoice Wirral Council £1032201.28
Biffa Waste Service Limited January 2014 Invoice Wirral Council £1032201.28
Biffa Waste Service Limited January 2014 Invoice Wirral Council £1032201.28

Above are three of the recent monthly invoices to Wirral Council from Biffa Waste Services Limited for November 2013 (£1,036,840.28), December 2013 (£1,032,201.28) and January 2014 (£1,032,201.28).

I did not request the invoices for other months during that financial year (2013/14), but I would assume that the other nine are for similar amounts of around a million pounds. So why am I writing about this and what does Biffa Waste Services Limited actually do for it’s ~£12 million it receives each year from the taxpayer?

Well as shown on the invoices it’s for collecting the bins, cleaning the streets and extra amounts for working on a Bank Holiday. I’ll be looking more closely at the current contract with Biffa Waste Services Limited (which runs to 2017) tomorrow morning (if all goes well).

However there is some political news on the Biffa front, in fact Wirral Council seems to be bolstering itself for a bit of bad press coverage judging by the Cabinet papers for tonight’s Cabinet meeting (only tonight if you happen to reading this on the 11th September 2014).

If you’re interested in reading the papers yourself on Wirral Council’s website, it’s the Streetscene Environment Services Contract Extension item which is item 4 on Cabinet’s agenda.

I remember Mark Smith (a Wirral Council officer who is Head of Environment and Regulation) getting a grilling by the Chair (Rt Hon Frank Field MP) at a recent Birkenhead Constituency Committee meeting about what the Rt Hon Frank Field MP seemed to see as a lack of openness and transparency in the area of how Wirral Council manages the Biffa contract.

In the Rt Hon Frank Field MP’s view (from my memory of the meeting) he wanted (rather reasonably some might say) to know exactly what the public were getting for the ~£12 million a year that the taxpayer pays Biffa Waste Services Limited through Wirral Council. Sadly there was no one present at the meeting to answer for Biffa Waste Services Limited and Mark Smith seemed to struggle a little to give the kind of answers that Rt Hon Frank Field MP seemed to want to hear. However moving on from the frustrations of Birkenhead’s MP/Chair of the Birkenhead Constituency Committee to more local politics (although isn’t all politics local)?

Rather helpfully Appendix 5 to the Streetscene Environment Services Contract Extension item contains the following two entries on the risk register (copied below):

Risk No Description of risk Risk category Risk Owner Gross likelihood Score Gross impact score Total Gross Score Net Likelihood Score Net Impact Score Total Net Score Proposed Controls Responsibility Target date RAG Status
1 District Audit scrutiny on decision process likely Legal / Regulatory Tara Dumas 3 4 12 3 2 6 Member decision based on thorough analysis of risks. Best value comparison work to be undertaken – Local benchmarking plus APSE/Audit commission comparison Update on market position sought from previous consultants contracted to review Biffa contract. Process to be reviewed by internal audit TD
TD
TD
MGa
07/07/14
completed
07/07/14
07/07/14
G
C
G
G
2 Negative political and
media attention
Political/societal PR team – Kathryn Green 5 3 15 3 2 6 Proactive approach by PR with press releases Confirm offer not linked to service/workforce changes LF Post decision 31/5/2014 G
C

In other words, Wirral Council know (before any decision is formally made tonight to enter into negotiations) that it will cause all kinds of trouble. They’ve already decided (it seems) on a public relations line of telling the press it won’t lead to job losses/workforce changes and giving them the “gift” of a press release in the hope that most of the media will just print the press release more or less verbatim and not ask too many awkward questions about the matter.

They even know their external auditor (Grant Thornton) will be asking them a whole bunch of questions to do with it too but surprisingly there are even bigger risks than the media and Wirral Council’s auditors to tackle, although read the risk register at appendix 5 and hopefully you’ll see what I mean.

So how can I sum up what is proposed to be decided tonight quickly? The current contract will Biffa Waste Services Limited will end on March 2017.

The impression I get from reading between the lines of the Cabinet papers, (a lot of the detail has been kept deliberately secret by officers who are recommending to politicians to keep it secret too on grounds of commercial confidentiality) is that Biffa Waste Services Limited seemed to be somewhat concerned that if their multi-million pound 11 year contract ends on March 2017, that they would have to bid in a competitive tender against other companies and organisations for the new contract.

There’s then uncertainty (from Biffa’s perspective) over whether they would end up being the successful bidder or not. It’s called “competition” and is generally required for such large multi-million pound contracts because of all kinds of laws I won’t go into at this point and competition is therefore required for a whole bunch of good reasons.

So someone as Biffa Waste Services Limited has read through the contract they have with Wirral Council and found a caveat. There was a part in the contract that could extend it a further ten years (current prices of ~£12 million a year but yearly increases and variation are usually built-in). This contract covers “all household waste and recycling collections, street cleansing and fly tip removal, waste collection from schools and council offices and wheeled bin deliveries.”

All Biffa had to do to get a further ten years (at ~£12 million a year) was make a formal offer to Wirral Council (which they did) and have this agreed to by Wirral Council (which hasn’t happened yet with the earliest date expected being October 2014).

Due to the size of the amounts involved it has to be a decision made by politicians, specifically Wirral Council’s Cabinet and the councillor with responsibility for this area is the new(ish) Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability Councillor Bernie Mooney (who replaced Brian Kenny earlier this year when he lost an election in May to the Green Party councillor Pat Cleary).

However what’s in the currently exempt appendices?

Well appendix 1 covers the “value and suggested terms of the formal offer from Biffa in return for the Council extending the contract to 2027. In summary the proposal offers the Council a one-off saving split between 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17 followed by a continued annual reduction in the core contract price throughout the remainder of the extended contract period to the equivalent value. Officers asked Biffa to clarify the benefits to Biffa if the contract extension was agreed.”

I’m not allowed to link to appendix 1 (as it’s currently a big secret and you’d get an “access denied” type message from Wirral Council’s website if I did), but as the language used by a Wirral Council officer is rather opaque, it has to boil down to how I imagine a summary of what Biffa offered Wirral Council … “give us a further ten years and we will give you very good price if you pick us. Our price is very reasonable, many savings to be had, very good price, you buy from us again we treat you well. We are very good supplier and will take your bins to tip and keep streets clean for another 10 years for a very reasonable price.”

Wirral Council officers asked Biffa to clarify what Biffa would get out of extending the contract a further ten years.

Biffa responded to this on the 10th February 2014. Again I’m not allowed to show you Biffa’s response either on the instructions of Wirral Council officers!

The summary of this response is again in rather opaque language “Biffa indicated that the savings they could offer arose from avoiding future procurement and mobilisation costs, the ability to re-finance their operations and a reduction in overheads due to the stable nature of the contract. The discount is not linked to any service changes.”

In other words Biffa are saying “grant us a monopoly, save us the cost of having to retender for the contract in 2017, Wirral Council will save money from having to retender the contract” (which is a bit of a debatable point really anyway considering the extra costs this will cause doing it this way) “and Biffa will be able to borrow money cheaper because we’ll have a longer contract.” To be honest I don’t agree entirely with Biffa’s point about overheads being significantly lower to justify this.

Another letter from Biffa (exempt appendix 3) is also currently being kept secret by Wirral Council officers (pending a decision by politicians). This letter is about an offer to redesign the fleet of bin lorries from 2017 to collect things such as food waste (to meet Wirral Council’s recycling targets).

However Biffa make it clear that this is absolutely Biffa’s final offer (well unless Wirral Council’s Cabinet say no to negotiations or no to the offer in October 2014 and Biffa have to bid for the new contract starting in 2017)!

Wirral Council officers seem very keen to have the Labour councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet agree to Biffa’s plan. “80p cheaper per a Wirral person than Liverpool” they state in the report, but strangely 15p more per a person than in Sefton!

Of course Wirral Council’s Cabinet could just choose to reject Biffa’s proposal and decide to bring the service in-house from 2017.

The recent street cleansing cuts to the contract, have been the source of both political and media attention in the recent past. However, what’s the officer’s recommendation?

Oh and before I get to that, Wirral Council asked Eunomia (are they consultants?) in 2012 to look at the Biffa contract, the consultants in fact suggested the contract should be retendered! Eunomia also suggested that if Wirral Council did agree to extend the contract by a further ten years than there should be changes to “contract clauses relating to indexation, labour cost inflation and future efficiency gains” which would be extremely sensible to do considering the current contract is linked to RPI (and let’s face it inflation is quite high)! However the Eunomia assessment is now two years out of date and things have changed somewhat since then.

As Wirral Council officers freely admit in 5.3.4 of this report, they don’t really know if this will save any money at all versus retendering the contract, it all just seems to be educated guesswork and unknown quantities.

The estimated savings have been listed, but surprisingly (and isn’t this usually the case?) not the increased costs (such as an increased audit bill from Grant Thornton for extra work).

It’s the report gets to “legal implications” that things start to get interesting!

Here’s a quote from 10.2 “The Legal colleagues have highlighted that it is necessary to limit the amount of material changes to the contract in order to minimise the risk of the Council being challenged on the legalities of the extension.”

In other words, do it right otherwise one of Biffa’s competitors, or in fact anyone could sue Wirral Council over how it was done.

Then entering into catch 22 territory the legal advice continues:

“Due consideration has been given to establishing whether the Biffa proposal offers Value for Money (Sections 4 and 5 refers) as required under the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules. However, it is important to note that the only decisive way to determine whether a more advantageous contract could be secured by the Council would be through retendering the contract.”

In other words, Wirral Council don’t know whether this saves them money without retendering the contract in 2017, but if they agree to Biffa’s proposal they won’t be retendering the contract in 2017 so they’ll never really know or be able to prove “value for money” to their external auditors Grant Thornton.

However let’s see, what do officers want? They want politicians to agree to them to enter into negotiations with Biffa, more specifically the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment (currently Kevin Adderley) and then report back to Cabinet no later than October 2014.

Personally (and this is just an opinion) I think politicians on the Cabinet will probably agree to enter into negotiations with Biffa tonight (even though Labour’s tendency in the past has been to bring back services in-house), if only just to keep their options open in October 2014. Quite what the Rt Hon Frank Field MP’s views on this latest development in the Biffa saga are at the time of writing unknown.

Coming up next today: What Wirral Council’s Cabinet is planning to do about Children’s Centres.

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The text of the emotional handwritten responses to the Lyndale School Closure Consultation

The text of the emotional handwritten responses to the Lyndale School Closure Consultation

The text of the emotional handwritten responses to the Lyndale School Closure Consultation

                                      

Phil Ward (Wirral Council's SEN Lead) at a later meeting of Wirral Schools Forum 2nd July 2014 (who chaired the consultation meeting at Acre Lane on the 16th June)

Phil Ward (Wirral Council’s SEN Lead) at a later meeting of Wirral Schools Forum 2nd July 2014 (who chaired the consultation meeting at Acre Lane on the 16th June and is referred to in some of the responses)

Further to the publication of the ninety responses to the Lyndale School closure consultation on this blog this morning, below is the typed text of the handwritten responses and one text response that is very hard to read because of poor contrast with the background.

The first is from pages 9-10 of the file marked Lyndale parents.

     Lyndale is a vital service to children with the most difficult lives.

     They can’t cope with moving schools, because for the most part their health is very fragile.

     I want to see a 2-19 facility at Lyndale School so that the children there can continue to receive the care they so desperately need. No other school on Wirral can provide this.

     See ‘Parents Response to the Lyndale Consultation Document’ for a further explanation of my views.

Name, address, telephone number and e-mail address is all blacked out apart from Wirral in the address field.

From Page 17 of the Lyndale parents file:

PLEASE SEE OUR SEPARATE SHEET ENCLOSED WITH OUR FEEDBACK COMMENTS. THANK YOU.

===========================================

These are from the file marked Lyndale others starting at page 3.

member of the friends of Lyndale School association

Having helped with fund raising and attended events at the Lyndale School I have always been impressed by the ‘can do’ attitude of the staff and the calm and the happy atmosphere of the school.

Because of the very special and complex needs of these children I do not believe and neither do their parents that these needs can be met at the other special schools on the Wirral. I feel that the welfare or even the lives of these children may be endangered.

I would ask the Council not to sacrifice these very special children for ???? ???? of financial criteria or rationalisation process that is not in their best interests.

Surely the mark of a civilised society is the way that they care for its most vulnerable members

Contact details blacked out apart from Wirral.

From page 27:

I write this as a grandparent to my 3 year old granddaughter who has PMLD. I have witnessed the amazing progress she has made since she began attending Lyndale School. She has clearly benefitted from the range of professional skills of the staff team based there.
It seems cruel to uproot her from the school to another of two schools which appear to be oversubscribed. It is also devastating for the parents of Lyndale School, whose lives are tough enough dealing with their childrens complex needs, to have to endure the uncertainty facing their childrens schooling.
Keep Lyndale School open to maintain a geographical spread and encourage more parents to send their children there, to benefit from all the outstanding resources on offer

Contact details blacked out apart from MERSEYSIDE in address field.

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From Stanley others file (page 3)

Having read the consultation document, if both Elleray Park and Stanley have the capacity to offer an additional 40+ places, then ideally, the children from Lyndale should be offered these places.

This will only be an issue if the numbers of children requiring specialist provision increases within the borough.

(Other staff section from page 7 onwards)

Member of staff ticked “THE OBSERVATORY SCHOOL” written in Other.

Whilst I understand all the reasons for the closure of Lyndale School, I would hope the opinions and feelings of the parents and carers of the pupils attending the school are listened to sensitively and with genuine regard for them.

Personally, I have real affection for the Lyndale School but also acknowledge the amazing provision offered by Stanley and Elleray Park schools.

I would love to see all three schools continuing to provide for CLD/PMLD children but understand Elleray Park and Stanley School can provide for Wirral’s children and also understand the financial implications and issues. I am confident that the correct decision will be made and know that this consultation will be well supported. I wish Wirral Cabinet well in their decision-making process.

Name is blacked out. Address: THE OBSERVATORY SCHOOL, BIDSTON VILLAGE ROAD, BIDSTON, WIRRAL Postcode: CH43 7QT. Telephone and e-mail address blacked out.

Page 9 onwards

Other: HEADTEACHER BHSC

1. Logically keeping a small school open in an area where alternative provision is available of equal quality of provision is not a feasible option. I base this judgement on financial basis, community flexibility, breadth of staff experience, staff workload.

I agree that Lyndale should close and students reallocated.

2. I agree that any financial savings must be redirected into receiving schools to ensure no detriment to student provision.

3. Other options proposed:-

– Restricting places at Elleray + Stanley would lead to possible under occupancy and therefore no financial security

– 2-19 is an interesting option worth a feasibility study.
– Federation can lead to leadership issue and lack of focus for all schools in the federation including competing agendas – not feasible
– colocation is possible but why? when alt schools can accommodate demand
– Academy or free school does not alter the facts at present re student numbers or finance. If Lyndale improved to to this change there are only so many students to go around + the issues are only deflected into alt schools
– Additional places at Elleray + Stanley + closure of Lyndale is the most sensible option financially and educationally

Name blacked out Address: Bebington High Sports College Wirral Postcode CH63 2PS Telephone and e-mail address blacked out.

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From the Others file starting at page 57:

I HAVE LISTENED TO THE DISCUSSIONS FOR AND AGAINST THE CLOSURE OF THE LYNDALE SCHOOL. TO PUT TO ONE SIDE THE EMOTIONAL ISSUES THAT THE THREATENED CLOSURE HAS CAUSED, IN MY VIEW THIS IS A MEDICAL POSITION. THE CHILDREN REQUIRE SUCH INTENSE ONE TO ONE ATTENTION THAT SOME HOW THE MONEY MUST BE FOUND, POSSIBLY JUSTIFIABLY INTO A 5TH BAND THEREBY QUALIFYING FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDING. ANOTHER OPTION IS TO APPEAL TO THE D OF E FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDING DUE TO THE CHILDRENS’ VULNERABILITY. SURELY THERE MUST BE A MORE HUMAN APPROACH TO CARE FOR THE ELDERLY AND VULNERABLE IN OUR SOCIETY TODAY RATHER THAN BASE THEIR NEEDS ON CALCULATIONS.

This is not a handwritten response but is very hard to read due to a lack of contrast with the background (from page 59 of the other responses):

Dear Councillor

I am writing to tell you how worried I am about the possibility that the Lyndale School in Eastham may close. This is because the children at the school are very vulnerable and need to be with people they know well. Their fragile health means they will not be able to cope with losing all that they know and adjusting to a new environment.

The staff at The Lyndale School have years of experience, knowledge and expertise in caring for and educating children with a very high level of special needs. They create a very special environment where each child is valued and given the support they need to enjoy a good quality of life and achieve their potential. Parents feels that no other school on Wirral can provide the same safe and caring environment.

The children who attend Lyndale have many challenges to face in their everyday lives and their families are there alongside them. But this threat of the Lyndale closure is a challenge too ??? and many of the families are feeling under great strain at this time, worrying about having to send their children to schools that they know won’t be suitable for them.

The Lyndale School provides a service that is really needed both now and to future generations. It supports and gives hope to children and their families through some of the most difficult times in their lives. Will you please pledge to support the school and prevent its loss as a valuable asset in our community.

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