Why are taxpayers not Merseyrail paying £139,000+ for each day of Merseyrail strike?

Why are taxpayers not Merseyrail paying £139,000+ for each day of Merseyrail strike?

Why are taxpayers not Merseyrail paying £139,000+ for each day of Merseyrail strike?

                                      

Cllr Steve Foulkes (middle) answers a question about the Merseyrail strike (L to R Cllr Chris Meaden, Cllr Steve Foulkes, Cllr Moira McLaughlin and Cllr Ann McLachlan) Birkenhead Constituency Committee 30th March 2017
Cllr Steve Foulkes (middle) answers a question about the Merseyrail strike (L to R Cllr Chris Meaden, Cllr Steve Foulkes, Cllr Moira McLaughlin and Cllr Ann McLachlan) Birkenhead Constituency Committee 30th March 2017

Further information has been supplied to this blog which shows new information about the Merseyrail strike planned tomorrow timed to coincide with the Grand National. For the background to this story please read Why are Merseyrail staff striking on the 8th April?

Last year I exclusively published the contract that councillors agreed to between Merseyrail and Merseytravel titled Deed to confirm the Consolidated Concession Agreement relating to the services for the carriage of passengers by railway to be provided by Merseyrail Electrics 2002 Limited.

That contract shows that the cost of the strike action tomorrow and the one day strike recently will not be met by Merseyrail but by Merseytravel.

It is estimated that just the one day strike tomorrow will cost the taxpayers of Merseyside at least £139,000 (plus the cost of any contingency arrangements).

Merseyrail is however required to use all reasonable endeavours to prevent a strike, which may explain Merseyrail’s recent unsuccessful court action to prevent a recent one day strike from happening.

However, financial considerations aside (pictured above is Merseytravel’s Lead Councillor for Finance and Strategy Cllr Steve Foulkes) the union also states that the public supports a guard on every train (as compared to the Merseytravel & Merseyrail view that a guard will not be required on every train once the new trains start running).

The public will have their say on who will decide the future direction of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Merseytravel when a new Metro Mayor is elected next month.

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What are 10 invoices paid by Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority totalling £4,758,470.23 for?

What are 10 invoices paid by Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority totalling £4,758,470.23 for?

What are 10 invoices paid by Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority totalling £4,758,470.23 for?

                                

Below are ten A4 images of invoices I requested during the 2015-16 audit of Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (that goes by the name of Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority).

They are in order from Mersey Waste Holdings Ltd, Veolia ES Merseyside & Halton Limited, FCC Recycling (UK) Limited, Wirral Council, JLT Speciality Limited and Liverpool City Council.

Some are for payments made to do with contracts, the one with Wirral Council is to do with a loan (MRDF stands for Merseyside Residual Debt Fund which MWDA’s share of the former Merseyside County Council’s debts), insurance and business rates to Liverpool City Council for the Gilmoss Waste Transfer Station in Stonebridge Lane.

Amounts for these invoices are for £2,136,797.83, £1,253,141.93, £650,990.21, £472,906.96, £182,600, £37,741.30 and £24,892 (total £4,758,470.23).

However, a good proportion of that ~£4.8 million is VAT as well as a small amount of insurance premium tax. Interestingly one of the invoices shows they are already processing kitchen waste in February 2015, which is part of a 6 week Wirral Council consultation on introducing kitchen waste collections to the Wirral as well as changes to the green bin collections.

I will point however that the costs of dealing with waste on these invoices is at the county level of Merseyside (possibly with Halton added too). Wirral Council’s share will be a fraction of what the total costs are).

Matters involving the current consultation by Wirral Council on food waste and changes to the green bin collection were recently the subject of a call in public meeting (26th July 2016) when opposition councillors requested that the Cabinet decision be reviewed. You can watch footage from that meeting below which discusses the proposed changes to the green bin collections and proposed new food waste collection.

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Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 26th July 2016 Call in of Cabinet decision on consultation on green bins and food waste


0 Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority Mersey Waste Holdings Ltd £2136797.83 Landfill Services Contract Page 1 of 1 February 2015
0 Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority Mersey Waste Holdings Ltd £2136797.83 Landfill Services Contract Page 1 of 1 February 2015
1 Veolia ES Merseyside and Halton Limited £1253141 93 Waste Management and Recycling Contract Page 1 of 2 March 2015
1 Veolia ES Merseyside and Halton Limited £1253141 93 Waste Management and Recycling Contract Page 1 of 2 March 2015
2 Veolia ES Merseyside and Halton Limited £1253141.93 Waste Management and Recycling Contract Page 2 of 2 March 2015
2 Veolia ES Merseyside and Halton Limited £1253141.93 Waste Management and Recycling Contract Page 2 of 2 March 2015
3 Veolia ES Merseyside and Halton Limited £6509901.21 Waste Management and Recycling Contract Page 1 of 2 February 2015 min
3 Veolia ES Merseyside and Halton Limited £6509901.21 Waste Management and Recycling Contract Page 1 of 2 February 2015 min
4 Veolia ES Merseyside and Halton Limited £6509901.21 Waste Management and Recycling Contract Page 2 of 2 February 2015
4 Veolia ES Merseyside and Halton Limited £6509901.21 Waste Management and Recycling Contract Page 2 of 2 February 2015
5 FCC Recycling (UK) Limited £472906.96 Interim Waste Services Management Agreement Page 1 of 1 February 2015
5 FCC Recycling (UK) Limited £472906.96 Interim Waste Services Management Agreement Page 1 of 1 February 2015
6 Wirral Council £182600 MRDF 2nd instalment 14 15 Page 1 of 1
6 Wirral Council £182600 MRDF 2nd instalment 14 15 Page 1 of 1
7 JLT Speciality Limited £37741.30 Comined Liability Insurance Page 1 of 1
7 JLT Speciality Limited £37741.30 Comined Liability Insurance Page 1 of 1
8 Liverpool City Council £248965 non domestic rates Gilmoss Waste Transfer Station Page 1 of 2
8 Liverpool City Council £248965 non domestic rates Gilmoss Waste Transfer Station Page 1 of 2
9 Liverpool City Council £248965 non domestic rates Gilmoss Waste Transfer Station Page 2 of 2
9 Liverpool City Council £248965 non domestic rates Gilmoss Waste Transfer Station Page 2 of 2

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Disclosure of 46 pages of PFI contractor’s banking details by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service described as “oversight”

Disclosure of 46 pages of PFI contractor’s banking details by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service described as “oversight”

                             

The author of this piece is an Appellant in a First-Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) case involving Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority.

Today, the eighteen councillors on the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority met. One of the decisions they agreed was a constitution which includes the following (Members means councillors), “Members should avoid public criticism of individual Officers, as it is unfair and oppressive.”

Last year during the 2014/15 audit, I requested the North West Fire and Rescue PFI contract. This is the PFI contract with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority for the Belle Vale, Birkenhead, Bootle/Netherton, Formby, Kirkdale, Newton-le-Willows and Southport fire stations on Merseyside as well as fire stations in Lancashire and Cumbria.

After Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority insisted I provide them with a blank DVD, a copy was provided to me on DVD which contained the entire contract. The contract (apart from 46 pages in section 4.7 (Bank account mandates and specimen signatures)) was published on this blog.

When it was published on this blog in October 2015, a former press officer working for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Lyndsay Young phoned me asking me to remove the contract from my blog. I explained why I wasn’t going to do so and alerted her to the 46 pages of bank account mandates and specimen signatures that I had not published.

Last week Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority’s Audit Sub-Committee met and discussed the Corporate Risk Register which included the risk of data loss and the possibility of regulatory action by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). I requested a press officer be present for this meeting so I could ask for a quote from Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service about its disclosure of this information. This request was denied.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service refused to comment (in part because of criticism in an article published that day about how Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority was managed and led) and instead asked us to speak to their solicitor on Tuesday 14th June.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Phil Garrigan (bottom left) tells Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority's Audit Sub-Committee 9th June 2016 about the risk of data being compromised
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Phil Garrigan (bottom left) tells Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority’s Audit Sub-Committee 9th June 2016 about the risk of data being compromised

After Deputy Chief Fire Officer Phil Garrigan’s glowing comments at that meeting about the efforts Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service had taken to prevent data loss at the Audit Sub-Committee meeting, I emailed the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services’ auditors Grant Thornton alerting them to this and also asked the contractor Balfour Beatty for a quote.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s position changed from their original “no comment” to an email requesting that the information be destroyed or returned (offering to pay any costs of doing so).

Louise McCulloch, Head of Media & PR for Balfour Beatty kindly gave us the following quote, “Last year, information relating to [the] North West Fire and Rescue (NWFR) [contract] in which Balfour Beatty has an interest, was inadvertently shared with an individual as part of a response to their request to the Fire and Rescue Authority under s 15(1)(a) of the Audit Commission Act 1998.

The Authority made NWFR fully aware of the oversight immediately. NWFR has taken the necessary steps to ensure no adverse impact.

NWFR has asked the Authority to request the individual destroy or return the information which has no public interest, which Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service has done.”

The 46 pages of disclosed information contain details of sort codes, account numbers, specimen signatures and names of those authorised to use various Barclays Corporate bank accounts connected to the PFI fire stations project run by Balfour Beatty.

Clearly this information should not have been disclosed to me, but it is worrying that Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service seemed to only realise this had happened after I told them first in October 2015 and again in June 2016!

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Is this what an “open and transparent” Council looks like?

Is this what an “open and transparent” Council looks like?

                                                  

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Public Question Time 14th December 2015 where I ask a question to Councillor Adrian Jones

In his answer Cllr Adrian Jones states that Wirral Council is being “open and transparent”.

I provide below four pages from what Wirral Council supplied when I requested the Highway Services Contract that Wirral Council have with Bam Nuttall on which millions of pounds are spent each year.

These first two pages (according to the preceding page) are to do with the NRSWA Team (whatever that stands for). This team is described as “a separate team of 4 inspectors monitoring utility works and repeat defects. This team could integrate with the highway teams

As usual the thumbnails link to higher resolution versions of the same image.

Bam Nuttall contract Service Breakdown Structure page 1 of 2 thumbnail
Bam Nuttall contract Service Breakdown Structure page 1 of 2 thumbnail
Bam Nuttall contract Service Breakdown Structure page 2 of 2 thumbnail
Bam Nuttall contract Service Breakdown Structure page 2 of 2 thumbnail

Next is an email detailing some last minutes changes to the contract. The unnamed author of this email receives this blog’s first ever Sir Humphrey Appleby award for the sentence “Please find attached a revised copy of P112 of Volume 1, which now includes the omitted Tender Amendment relating to the uplift on rates for Coastal Defence Work in tidal conditions, and an additional page for Volume 3 Method of Measurement to be inserted in the Preamble, which compiles the clarifications issued during the tender period in connection with Price List Bandings into a coherent single document.

Bam Nuttall contract email thumbnail
Bam Nuttall contract email thumbnail

Finally, even the author of the Scottish Power Energy Network’s guide to connecting street lights to the mains electricity gets the black box treatment.

Bam Nuttall contract SP Energy Networks Connection Registration and Management thumbnail
Bam Nuttall contract SP Energy Networks Connection Registration and Management thumbnail

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19 technical drawings of street furniture from Wirral Council’s contract with BAM Nuttall

19 technical drawings of street furniture from Wirral Council’s contract with BAM Nuttall

19 technical drawings of street furniture from Wirral Council’s contract with BAM Nuttall

                                               

These pictures are from Wirral Council’s contract with BAM Nuttall.

There is a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. So I include some pictures of various drawings. Sadly Wirral Council have only supplied odd-numbered pages of the index, so what half the pictures were of was a surprise to me.

First as everyone needs to hear Wirral Council apologise (what for this time you may ask?) there’s the Scheme Sign Board with “Sorry for any inconvenience caused” which if Wirralleaks is reading is written in a black Arial typeface.

Wirral Council contract BAM Nuttall Volume 4 Scheme Sign Board
Wirral Council contract BAM Nuttall Volume 4 Scheme Sign Board

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