Sherlock in Wirral Council and the mysterious case of the £1,725.04 plate

Sherlock in Wirral Council and the mysterious case of the £1,725.04 plate

Colas invoice Wirral Council plate gullies River Streets Birkenhead

Sherlock in Wirral Council and the mysterious case of the £1,437.54 plate

                           

As usual you can click on the invoice for a higher definition and probably easier to read version. This Colas invoice is for a plate over gullies in the River Streets (presumably to stop them gumming up with detritus). River Streets is the local name for an area in Bidston & St. James ward where the roads names are all rivers (Ribble Street, Avon Street, Solway Street etc). The invoice states it is only for one plate, which certainly makes it the most expensive plate I’ve ever heard of! The invoice states that any queries are to be addressed to an Andrew Sherlock of Colas, which makes this blog post “Sherlock in Wirral Council and the mysterious case of the £1,725.04 plate”.

So why did Colas on Wirral Council’s instructions fit a plate to the drainage gullies here? Was detritus a particular problem? Was there a previous plate that was stolen for its scrap value? Sadly I do not have the answers to these particular questions but I’m sure Sherlock would know!

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£879,406.02 spent by Wirral Council on Seagulls

A blog post about a Colas invoice for services to Wirral Council totalling £879,406.02 (+VAT)

£879,406.02 spent by Wirral Council on Seagulls

                                       

Wirral Council Colas invoice seagulls small

I wrote on Twitter recently that not much surprises me with regards to Wirral Council. However this Colas invoice, you can click on the image for a larger version, received by Wirral Council in March from Colas is for £879,406.02 (+VAT) for work raised through its Seagulls system.

The detail as to what the taxpayer gets for just over £1 million spent on this item isn’t detailed on the invoice but a part of the contract details what the work on Seagulls refers to. The Colas contract shows that the Council has to raise work orders with Colas through a system that Wirral Council called Seagulls which keeps a track of various assets like drainage gullies. The Colas contract for Seagulls (and other matters) runs to 2014 and Wirral Council is looking for another company to do the work under a new contract.

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Incredible: Cllr Foulkes “we seem to have some whistleblowers who are courted, almost feted”

A report on Wirral Council’s Audit and Risk Management Committee Incredible: Cllr Foulkes “we seem to have some whistleblowers who are courted, almost feted”

Incredible: Cllr Foulkes “we seem to have some whistleblowers who are courted, almost feted”

                                                       
The above quote is from Cllr Foulkes at Wednesday’s Audit and Risk Management Committee in a long comment on Wirral Council and whistleblowing which starts here.

His extremely honest comments call for a further report on the BIG & ISUS business grants program, partly because the Council’s auditors won’t sign off on Wirral Council’s accounts until it’s resolved. Surely after spending an estimated £50,000 on reports by Grant Thornton’s forensic department an officer at Wirral Council must have some answers for Cllr Foulkes? He accuses whistleblowers of raising issues that "drag the Council back into the past" and hopes (rather optimistically) that all the outstanding whistleblowing issues will be resolved "simultaneously".

He then went on to say that some whistleblowers were "courted almost feted" whereas others were forgotten, such as the group over the Highways and Engineering Service Procurement Exercise contract. The whistleblowing over the Highways and Engineering Service Procurement Exercise contract hasn’t been forgotten. In that case the name of one of the whistleblowers, who wanted to remain anonymous was published on Wirral Council’s website. The matters raised by that group were written about at length by the independent person, Richard Penn (whose report was published) and although not everyone agrees with Penn’s opinion and interpretation of events, in most people’s minds the matters regarding the senior officer suspensions has been resolved. Colas’s contract ends next year and will be put out to tender with Colas stating that they won’t bid for it.

Cllr Foulkes also believes that "whoever blows the whistle or complains should be taken seriously and dealt with as efficiently and quick but in all senses fairly". He also said he finds the whistleblowing issue "quite worrying". Would whistleblowers be offered and be paid large amounts of money if they had been treated fairly? He also said that they "have to be fair to those in the firing line of a complaint". The whistleblowing concerns of late haven’t been because of one anonymous and unknown Inspector Clouseau type employee that sadly Wirral Council can’t sack, but have been brought about by systemic failings in Wirral Council’s corporate governance systems and its culture. These two areas are the responsibility of many different individuals including its politicians. Cllr Foulkes said that "words I’ve said tonight may be misconstrued".

He said that many councillors found themselves being contacted by people with complaints, complaints that he found the resolution of "almost impossible". He said he "did not believe whistleblowers should ever be used in a political fashion" and that councillors "don’t seem to have an up to date picture" as to how whistleblowers concerns were being resolved.

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Council (16th July 2012) Parts 1 to 7

I’ve finally uploaded the video footage from last Monday’s well attended Council to Youtube. Links to each part are below with part 7 being in HD.

Part 1 00:00 to 04:07
Part 2 04:08 to 06:34
Part 3 06:35 to 50:49
Part 4 50:50 to 53:43
Part 5 53:44 to 130:37
Part 6 130:38 to 136:00
Part 7 136:00 to 169:33

A playlist of all seven parts is below.

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Frequently Asked Questions, 1) Cllr Watt, 2) Colas Ltd, 3) Merseyside Pension Fund Job Evaluation 4) Cllr Gerry Ellis

Answers to readers questions:-

Q1. Councillor Geoffrey Watt is from what council?

A1. Councillor Geoffrey Watt is from the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral.

Q2. Who is the Colas representative on Wirral Council?

A2. There isn’t a Colas Limited representative on Wirral Council as Colas Limited and Wirral Council are separate organisations.

However, Steve Grimes is the Contracts Manager for Colas Ltd.

On Wirral Council, there are a number of people with responsibility for the Colas contract, some of whom are listed below.

Brian Smith, Highway Management/(0151) 606 2426/briansmith@wirral.gov.uk .

Cabinet Member (Streetscene and Transport) Cllr. Harry Smith.
Cabinet Member (Corporate Resources) Cllr. Adrian Jones

The Deputy Director of Technical Services is Mark Smith and there are others apart from the four people named above with varying responsibilities.

Q3. Merseyside Pension Fund job evaluation?

Merseyside Pension Fund is administered by the Administering Authority. The Administering Authority is the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral.

The current round of job evaluations (Stages 3 & 4) was agreed at the Cabinet meeting of 13/10/2011. This also involves a new pay and grading structure for all posts above spinal column point 34.

Stage One (up to SCP 34) and Stage Two (Schools) are not covered by this answer.

This is because Stage 2 does not apply to the Merseyside Pension Fund AFAIK, Stage 1 is already complete (except for appeals) at the time of asking the question.

Stage Three covers SCP 35 to 70 (£29,174 to £61,000) and Band H employees. This is contracted to the HAY Group with support from the Council’s in-house team.

Stage Four (Heads of Service and above) of the Job Evaluations is now contracted by the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral to the HAY Group. The Hay Group is supported by the Job Evaluation Team.

For further information contact either Wirral Council: Chris Hyams, Head of HR and OD, Department of Law HR and Asset Management Telephone: (0151 691 8590) Email: chrishyams@wirral.gov.uk or the HAY Group.

Disclosure of interest: The author of this piece has a close family member who is now in receipt of a Merseyside Pension Fund pension.

Q4. What party is the current Mayor of Wirral Cllr. Gerry Ellis from?

A4. Cllr Gerry Ellis is from the Conservative Party.