Month: October 2011

Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011 Declarations of Interest, Minutes, Child Poverty Strategy Action Plan – Progress Report Part 2

Cllr Foulkes welcomed people to the Cabinet meeting and asked for declarations of interest. There were three declarations of interest. Cllr Ann McLachlan declared a personal interest in items 4 and 5, Cllr Harry Smith declared a personal interest in items 4 and 5 and Cllr Adrian Jones declared a personal interest in items 4 … Continue reading “Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011 Declarations of Interest, Minutes, Child Poverty Strategy Action Plan – Progress Report Part 2”

Cllr Foulkes welcomed people to the Cabinet meeting and asked for declarations of interest. There were three declarations of interest. Cllr Ann McLachlan declared a personal interest in items 4 and 5, Cllr Harry Smith declared a personal interest in items 4 and 5 and Cllr Adrian Jones declared a personal interest in items 4 and 5. All three declarations of interest were to do with their involvement with the Merseyside Pension Fund.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 22nd September 2011 were agreed.

Cllr Foulkes asked for a change in the agenda order, after Item 3 on Child Poverty Strategy Action Plan – Progress Report, he wanted to go ahead to Item 23 on Job Evaluation, then back to the agenda as planned. The reason for this change was there had been interest from a trade union official in item 23 (Job Evaluation). Dealing with it earlier in the meeting would allow this person to go home.

Jim Wilkie, Chief Executive introduced the Child Poverty Strategy Action Plan – Progress Report. Jim Wilkie said this report on progress was a statutory duty. He said the previous report had been in April, he referred to the working group and a consultation event at the Floral Pavillion. The strategy and the action plan were appendices to the report and he was asking for approval to authorise further consultation. There were links with the Liverpool City Region Child Poverty and Life Chances Commission, which was chaired by Rt Hon Frank Field MP. Jim Wilkie also referred to supporting families, partnership arrangements and the Children’s Trust Board.

Cllr Foulkes asked for any comments.

Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011 Motions on Item 7 (Audit Commission – Annual Governance Report) & Item 19 (Report to the Corporate Governance Cabinet Committee: Independent Review) Part 1

There were motions on items 7 & 19 of last night’s Cabinet meeting.

The first was on item 7 (Audit Commission – Annual Governance Report) and the second was on item 19 (Report to the Corporate Governance Cabinet Committee: Independent Review). Both are included below (click on the images for larger versions).

Motion Item 7 Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011
Motion on Item 7


Motion item 19 Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011
Motion on Item 19

Free half-term football & tennis sessions at Wirral Tennis & Sports Centre (for teenagers)

Wirral Council are running free sessions of football and tennis over the half-term holidays for teenagers at Wirral Tennis Centre. The sessions are free, however advance booking is required, either in person, by telephone on 606 2010 or online on Wirral Council’s website. There are also a number of free sessions at other leisure centres across the Wirral (which also need to be booked in advance). Details are below.

Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre

  • Football – October 24th, 26th and 28th, 2pm-4pm
  • Tennis – October 25th and 27th, 1.30pm-3.30pm

The Oval, Wirral

  • Football – daily from October 24th-28th, 1pm-3pm

Guinea Gap

  • Football – October 25th and 27th, 3pm – 5pm

Leasowe Recreation Centre

  • Zumba, Dance Mats and Wall – October 25th, 26th and 27th, 2pm-2.45pm and 2.45pm-3.30pm

West Wirral Area Forum 6/10/2011, PACSPE (Parks and Countryside Services Procurement Exercise) contract Part 6

Dave Green continued that since 2008 different administrations had agreed to the need for Wirral Council to save money. There were pension costs to do with the contractor joining Merseyside Pension Fund, however there had been briefings and a report on this which detailed the risks and options.

The lack of a bid for in-house provision had been agreed by Bill Norman, Director of Law, Human Resources and Asset Management and Ian Coleman, Director of Finance. The Cabinet resolution called for a report to a further meeting in November detailing a three to five-year business plan. The Cabinet decision had not been executed, although the minutes had been published as the other political parties had called it in. The position was that on the 22nd September a decision had been made, but Cllr Green had submitted a call-in last night (5th October) so it couldn’t be enacted.

Mr. Green said there were time critical issues to do with mobilising the cheapest and best contractor or restructuring the service. However it was “in the hands of the politicians”. He thought it was a good tender at a cheap price. He had sought advice from the District Auditor about the inflation risks. Mr. Green thought it would be November before it was resolved and until then it was in limbo. He said “he never thought politics would impact on grass cutting”.

Cllr Jeff Green said he was interested in people’s questions.

Martin Harrison said he had been on the Parks Steering Group and was the Secretary of the Wirral Parks Forum (which is the forum of the Friends Groups).

West Wirral Area Forum 6/10/2011, PACSPE (Parks and Countryside Services Procurement Exercise) contract Part 5

Dave Green, Director of Technical Services continued by saying that they had received specialist help in going to tender and there had been a massive consultation with undertakers, bowlers, Friends groups and others. He said the undertakers had been the most fun. They had tried to address things and wanted a three-way partnership between the contractor, the Friends groups/users and Wirral Council (who would provide the cash and infrastructure). There were Key Performance Indicators and partnership targets that the Friends groups and users would develop and the contractor would deliver. There was a £100,000 bonus of the contractor met all the Key Performance Indicators.

Mr. Green said it would introduce imagination and innovation. The Early Voluntary Redundancies had reduced the size of the contract down to £7.4 million. However he said there was flexibility and accountability. Due to the size of the contract, European procurement rules applied. An invitation to tender had gone to seven contractors and was scored on a 70% price & 30% quality basis and it had been agreed how quality would be measured.

Six of the seven contractors had beaten the £7.4 million by a “fair figure”. The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations would affect about a hundred and fifty people working for Wirral Council. Tenders had gone out in mid-July using CHEST (the North West’s Local Authority Procurement Portal), which had led to the report to Cabinet on the 22nd September. The previous [Conservative/Lib Dem] administration had changed in May. The new [Labour] administration wanted to fully evaluate an in-house bid and how it could be delivered in-house.

On the 22nd September the Cabinet took the decision not to award the contract. The main reasons were to do with demonstrating value for money to the District Auditor, the governance report, Wirral Council’s ability to manage and dismiss contractors and concerns about inflation.