Trade unions march on Wirral Council, only to hear how wonderful the 2014 Open Golf championship was
Trade unions march on Wirral Council, only to hear how wonderful the 2014 Open Golf championship was
Cllr Phil Davies tells people at the start how pleased he is to see so many members of the public at the Cabinet meeting of the 6th November 2014
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The first part of the Cabinet meeting can be watched above (apart from a short video that has been edited out.
Prior to last night’s Cabinet meeting there was a trade union march from Seacombe Ferry to Wallasey Town Hall. Wirral Council’s Cabinet have managed to not just cause public sector union troubles, as part of the Cabinet has managed to cause trade union issues in my private sector workplace too.
The trade union strife and march is already covered in the Liverpool Echo.
Wirral Council of course knew this was coming, so with the “Green” party in the audience the first part of the meeting was about the “Royal and Ancient” (no, I’m not referring in any way to Wirral Council’s Cabinet) & the recent Open Golf Tournament.
So are Wirral Council’s Cabinet caught in the political equivalent of madly swinging at the ball in a sand bunker whilst there’s union trouble brewing back at the club house or does Cllr Phil “Golf Club Captain” Davies just take the “rough” with the smooth?
Ed – enough of the golf puns John!
Well caught in the PR nightmare of trade union issues, obviously Wirral Council had to have a “good news” story to tell.
So the meeting started by someone telling the audience about how great TV coverage and coverage about Wirral on websites was. For a moment I thought I was in a bizarre dream. Usually Cllr Phil Davies is saying how “irresponsible” the press is or how they’ve got things wrong. A politician having to sit through a meeting where somebody says nice things about the press is a rare event indeed!
Then it got even better, a guy said there was an “economic impact” of TV and online coverage about Wirral.
So next time a Wirral Council councillor stops me filming a public meeting, I will not only remind them of the law states but I will accuse them of the “economic carnage” and people that’ll be put out of work that they’re deliberately inflicting on the local economy. Probably hyperbole, but then a lot of politics often seems to be hyperbole.
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Oh well, I can always go old-fashioned, print off a copy and deliver it in person on Tuesday evening! As some councillors don’t have an email address shown on Wirral Council’s website it might be necessary anyway.
What’s also interesting is that the automatic forwarding of emails to addresses outside Wirral Council, I thought that used to be prohibited by their IT policy or has that changed?
Users must comply with the Code of Practice relating to the Use of Internet, Electronic Mail and Telecommunications Facilities (reproduced at Appendix 4). The equivalent Code of Practice for Members must be adhered to by all Councillors. The following points should be noted:
The automatic forwarding of electronic mail from a Wirral Council email account to another email account in a lower classification domain (eg – an internet email account such as hotmail) is prohibited by Government Connect.
15. In the interest of national security, Members using Government Connect Secure Extranet (GCSx) or Government Secure Intranet (GSi) e-mail addresses may have their communications monitored by Government agencies. The contents of a Members email folders may be accessed by officers of the Council, or Police Officers, as part of any investigation into inappropriate use of e-mail, or complaint against the conduct of a Member.
16. Members must not automatically or manually forward electronic mail from a Wirral Council email account to another email account in a lower classification domain (ie – an internet email account such as Hotmail or personal email account).
As if to confirm my views on Wirral Council and censorship within minutes of emailing I started receiving these replies (which as my email didn’t contain any attachments are incorrect anyway). I might point out these emails also reveal councillors’ private rather than Wirral Council email addresses in a lower classification domain and certainly an attempt by automated systems to breach s.16 of this code of practice.
Blocked email – Undetermined format out
Subject: Blocked Email Outgoing – Undetermined Format
Dear john.brace@gmail.com,
Inline with Corporate Policy an email addressed from you has been blocked.
This email contains a potentially unsafe attachment and therefore has been blocked. Emails in an undetermined format cannot be further scanned for viruses and are quarantined.
If it is essential that you have it delivered, then simply reply to this email and a job will be logged with the IT Service Desk on your behalf.
If you need to include a message to IT Services regarding the release of this email, please scroll to the very bottom of this email and write your comments as indicated.
If you experience any problems carrying out the above, please call the IT Service Desk on (0151) 666 4080. Otherwise the email which has been blocked will be automatically deleted within 30 days.
The details of the email are as follows:
Addressed To: andrewhodson@entirefm.co.uk
Blocked from: john.brace@gmail.com
Dated: Thu, 6 Nov 2014 12:34:52 +0000
Subject: filming of public meetings at Wirral Council
Message area: Message Processing Failure Outgoing
Kind regards,
IT Services
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For IT Services Use Only
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[Standard Call] Release a blocked email
[Call reference 3] Via VQSMDaemon
[Comments]
Addressed To: andrewhodson@entirefm.co.uk
Blocked email – Undetermined format out
Subject: Blocked Email Outgoing – Undetermined Format
Dear john.brace@gmail.com,
Inline with Corporate Policy an email addressed from you has been blocked.
This email contains a potentially unsafe attachment and therefore has been blocked. Emails in an undetermined format cannot be further scanned for viruses and are quarantined.
If it is essential that you have it delivered, then simply reply to this email and a job will be logged with the IT Service Desk on your behalf.
If you need to include a message to IT Services regarding the release of this email, please scroll to the very bottom of this email and write your comments as indicated.
If you experience any problems carrying out the above, please call the IT Service Desk on (0151) 666 4080. Otherwise the email which has been blocked will be automatically deleted within 30 days.
The details of the email are as follows:
Addressed To: j.salter446@btinternet.com
Blocked from: john.brace@gmail.com
Dated: Thu, 6 Nov 2014 12:34:52 +0000
Subject: filming of public meetings at Wirral Council
Message area: Message Processing Failure Outgoing
Kind regards,
IT Services
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For IT Services Use Only
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[Standard Call] Release a blocked email
[Call reference 3] Via VQSMDaemon
[Comments]
Addressed To: j.salter446@btinternet.com
Blocked email – Undetermined format out
Subject: Blocked Email Outgoing – Undetermined Format
Dear john.brace@gmail.com,
Inline with Corporate Policy an email addressed from you has been blocked.
This email contains a potentially unsafe attachment and therefore has been blocked. Emails in an undetermined format cannot be further scanned for viruses and are quarantined.
If it is essential that you have it delivered, then simply reply to this email and a job will be logged with the IT Service Desk on your behalf.
If you need to include a message to IT Services regarding the release of this email, please scroll to the very bottom of this email and write your comments as indicated.
If you experience any problems carrying out the above, please call the IT Service Desk on (0151) 666 4080. Otherwise the email which has been blocked will be automatically deleted within 30 days.
The details of the email are as follows:
Addressed To: steve.niblock@ntlworld.com
Blocked from: john.brace@gmail.com
Dated: Thu, 6 Nov 2014 12:34:52 +0000
Subject: filming of public meetings at Wirral Council
Message area: Message Processing Failure Outgoing
Kind regards,
IT Services
=================================================================
For IT Services Use Only
=================================================================
[Standard Call] Release a blocked email
[Call reference 3] Via VQSMDaemon
[Comments]
Addressed To: steve.niblock@ntlworld.com
Blocked from: john.brace@gmail.com
Dated: Thu, 6 Nov 2014 12:34:52 +0000
Subject: filming of public meetings at Wirral Council
Message area: Message Processing Failure Outgoing
=================================================================
Comments for IT Services :: For Customer Use Only
Below is a communication I will be emailing to those listed below later.
Dear Surjit Tour,
councillors
senior management team (Wirral Council)
Rt Hon Frank Field MP
I am publishing this response which relates to a dispute between myself and Wirral Council.
I believe there should be openness and transparency when it comes to public bodies and the press.
I will firstly deal with the recent Youth and Play Service Advisory Committee meeting. Prior to the meeting, as some councillors and officers will already be aware the meeting was delayed starting because of the filming issue. As it was the first public meeting of the Youth and Play Service Advisory Committee since August 6th (which officially consists just of councillors) I was willing to accede to a request on this occasion and pointed out I was not setting a precedent.
Earlier this year (on August 6th) the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014, which can be read at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2095/contents/made came into effect.
The effect of regulations 3-5 were to amend (and in some cases repeal) legislation about public meetings of bodies in England such as Wirral Council, but also public meetings of other public bodies such as the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (amongst others).
Regulation 5 only at Wirral Council applies to Cabinet meetings, so I will be referring to regulations 3 and 4.
Regulation 3 alters the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 and puts this legal duty on Wirral Council:
“in the case of a meeting of a relevant local government body, while the meeting is open to the public any person attending is to be permitted to report on the meeting.”
For the purposes of clarity Wirral Council is a “relevant local government body”. The definition of newspaper in that legislation is changed to include “in the case of a relevant local government body, for use in electronic or any other format to provide news to the public by means of the internet”.
There is a part added to state (which applies not just to meetings of Council, but also committees and subcommittees):
“(7E) Any person who attends a meeting of a principal council in England for the purpose of reporting on the meeting may use any communication method, including the internet, to publish, post or otherwise share the results of the person’s reporting activities.”
Therefore the law is quite clear on this matter.
On the 2nd December 2013 Council agreed the committee calendar for the 2014/15 Municipal Year. This includes the following entry for November 11th 2014: “COUNCIL (Youth Parliament)”.
The list of attendees is the list of 66 Wirral Council councillors and this meeting has in previous years been chaired by the Mayor. In fact the first item on the agenda is “Mayor’s Announcements”. The agenda frontsheet, which can be read on your website in fact states “Dear councillor
You are hereby summoned to attend a meeting of the Council to be held at 6.15 pm on Tuesday, 11 November 2014 in the Council Chamber, within the Town Hall, Wallasey”.
Therefore by your own words, by your own calendar and own agenda it is a meeting of all 66 councillors, chaired by the Mayor. It is therefore a meeting of a local government body and your arguments about the presence of young people (who like the councillors have been elected by their peers) somehow meaning that it should not be filmed are incorrect and frankly hard to comprehend. How can there be an expectation of privacy at a public meeting?
Wirral Council have no legal power any more to prevent filming at public meetings because the power you had in the past (but have no more) was as has been well documented abused numerous times and that is what led (in part) to the legislation change and repeals of earlier legislation that you relied upon previously. This change came into effect on 6th August 2014.
If Wirral Council carries on like this Wirral Council opens itself up to a legal challenge on ground of illegality, irrationality, proportionality, fairness and because of what happened at the Birkenhead Constituency Committee meeting legitimate expectation. These are also grounds in Wirral Council’s constitution for not engaging in what I perceive as misguided attempts to censor the media.
Wirral Council could also face a claim for human rights damages as the legal argument would be made that as a public body it was breaching s.6(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998, more specifically Article 10 (freedom of expression). As I’m sure you will be aware there is plenty of existing case law upholding the rights of individuals to political speech and against the strong desire of public bodies to suppress views they don’t want the public to hear.
As management, the trade union representative has discussed the matter with me and union rule 1 has been discussed which states “At all times upholds and defends the principle of media freedom, the right of freedom of expression and the right of the public to be informed.”
Therefore that trade union member would be quite within their rights to refuse to work on 11th November and Wirral Council carries on taking such an intransigent attitude, I would be forced to implement industrial relations contingency arrangements. This is therefore becoming an industrial relations matter both internally within this organisation and externally with yours.
I fully expect however based on recent past experience and a conversation I had on November 5th that Labour councillors will neither side with the trade unions or the press on this matter. I fully expect from past experience that it is always awkward particularly for some councillors to be seen to be either promoting trade union interests, good industrial relations, people’s human rights, constitutional decision-making or in fact the public interest.
It is perfectly clear (at least to me) from past decisions made at the political level exactly what Wirral Council’s current policy is on this. These past policy decisions made on this are quite clear that any filming, photography, audio recording or other types of recording (whether during public meetings or not) is unrestricted in Wirral Council buildings. That policy came about because one councillor took a photograph of another councillor eating if I remember correctly a sandwich.
The recent legal change just implements Wirral Council’s existing policy and puts it on a statutory basis with regards to public meetings.
I have had these arguments with Wirral Council over filming for a very, very long time. Wirral Council’s position and the position of various individuals has been made abundantly clear to me over the years. I have been shouted at during public meetings, bullied and treated badly which considering Wallasey Town Hall is also my workplace is not the way for anyone to be treated. I have also seen another member of the press working for a local newspaper mistreated in the same way by a senior politician.
There are many other important matters that we should all be concentrating our collective minds on rather than Wirral Council deliberately picking battles with the press, which do nothing to improve Wirral Council’s tarnished reputation or that of senior officers and councillors.
I am making my position as clear here as I can make it. The only advice I can give you at this stage is to seek external independent legal advice on your position before this matter ends up being independently adjudicated by a court and I suggest you circulate a report on this to all councillors and myself ahead of the 11th November meeting (if it takes place).
Yours sincerely,
John Brace
P.S. The Monitoring Officer comments verbally on November 5th 2014 on my report (without having read it himself) of the YPSAC public meeting and my description of the young person at that meeting. I deplore censorship of any kind and when it relates solely to the political views of an individual in a protected minority with disabilities even more so. Before the meeting was held I advised the Monitoring Officer that he could have advised councillors to exclude the press and public. The Monitoring Officer chose not to advise politicians to do so but instead to advise to adjourn the meeting if I attempted to film, audio record or photograph it.
There was also attempted censorship in February 2014 of the Coordinating Committee meeting to decide the call in to consult on the closure of Lyndale School. Again this was meeting involved the political views of parents of children with disabilities. The parents expressed the view to the Vice-Chair (chairing the meeting) at the time Cllr Steve Foulkes (who will also be chairing the meeting on 11th November) that they wanted it done in an open and transparent manner. So there seems to be a running theme here at Wirral Council of gagging the press trying to report on matters involving the disabled, which even hark back to the days of gagging one of your own former employees who used to work in your Adult Social Services department from raising with the press serious allegations of wrongdoing.
I find this all deeply worrying and possibly arguably allegedly breaches of other legal responsibilities you have which have been already repeatedly brought up in letters before with you which are already in the public domain.
I repeat here what your legal duty is as Monitoring Officer under s.5(2) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 c.42:
“it shall be the duty of a relevant authority’s monitoring officer, if it at any time appears to him that any proposal, decision or omission by the authority, by any committee, [or sub-committee of the authority, by any person holding any office or employment under the authority] or by any joint committee on which the authority are represented constitutes, has given rise to or is likely to or would give rise to—
(a) a contravention by the authority, by any committee, [or sub-committee of the authority, by any person holding any office or employment under the authority] or by any such joint committee of any enactment or rule of law [or of any code of practice made or approved by or under any enactment]; or
(b) any such maladministration or injustice as is mentioned in Part II of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 (which makes corresponding provision for Scotland), to prepare a report to the authority with respect to that proposal, decision or omission.
Section 5 then states:
(5) It shall be the duty of a relevant authority and of any such committee as is mentioned in subsection (4) above—
(a) to consider any report under this section by a monitoring officer or his deputy at a meeting held not more than twenty-one days after copies of the report are first sent to members of the authority or committee; and
(b) without prejudice to any duty imposed by virtue of section 115 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (duties in respect of conduct involving contraventions of financial obligations) or otherwise, to ensure that no step is taken for giving effect to any proposal or decision to which such a report relates at any time while the implementation of the proposal or decision is suspended in consequence of the report;
You as Monitoring Officer have statutory duties and there is a legal framework to follow when such matters involving Wirral Council’s decision making are raised with yourself and the Deputy Monitoring Officer.
It is of course up to yourselves what action you take (if any).
Wirral Council is not in the position where it can or it is advisable to censor the political views of the protected minorities of the Wirral population in an attempt to alter media reporting of Wirral Council activities or gag the press. These repeated attempts at censorship give me the personal impression that Wirral Council is not as open and transparent as Wirral’s politicians would claim it is. I am neither in a politically restricted post, nor am I a councillor or officer at Wirral Council.
There is therefore unless you propose either adjourning the Youth Parliament meeting (as you did with the YPSAC meeting) in response to the views in this letter or alternatively bringing a late report to the meeting of 11th November 2014 on this matter, I do not see that there is anything that can be done at this stage to resolve this current impasse.
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As the issue of Wirral Council’s/Biffa’s response to flytipping (an issue as common to politics as leaves falling from trees at this time of year) has come up again (see above), I familiarised myself with the manual handling procedures and retrieved the Biffa contract from our archive. The whole contract is marked confidential and is currently being renegotiated with Biffa around the issue of a 7 year extension. The whole contract will be published by Wirral Council by the end of the year (as it’s a new legal requirement on them). Below is an excerpt from part of it.
This is the bits on flytipping in the “Environmental Streetscene Services Contract Waste, Recycling and Street Cleansing Services 2006-2020 (2027)”:
The Street Cleansing specifications are pages 89 to 101. Page 116 is Street Cleansing Daywork Rates (this page of the contract was deliberately erased on the copy supplied to me as part of the audit).
I have included pages 89 to 102 below. However parts of erased page 116 have been reproduced in public papers for the Birkenhead Constituency Committee meetings. I’m not entirely sure where in a ~1000 or so page contract that schedules 3A and 3B refer to, but 3A & 3B also relate to the street cleansing specification. There may be the odd typographical error as I typed this up, however there are also typographical errors as part of the contract which I have reproduced as written.
Page 89
Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7
7.1 Street Cleansing Specification 7.1 General Description of Services
7.1.1 The Council requires the highest possible standard of Street Cleansing throughout the Borough. The standards to be achieved by the Contractor are specified and are in line with the standard required by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (hereafter known as The Act) and in particular the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (CoPLR) as it applies to the zone classifications of every Location throughout the Borough.
7.1.2 The Contractor should not rely upon any assistance being given by any other organisation to keep the Borough free of all Litter.
7.1.3 The Contractor shall provide for:
7.1.3.1 Removal of all Litter, bulky items, hazardous Waste and other specified materials from every Location specified, irrespective of size or type of material and irrespective of how the material arrived at the Location;
7.1.3.2 Clearance of leaf, blossom and fruit fall from every Location specified;
7.1.3.3 The clearance and disposal of all weeds and moss from all hard areas as requested by the Authorised Officer, shall form part of the normal Street Cleansing work.
7.1.3.4 Collection of other categories of Waste including flytipping, dead animals and other items from any Location, public spaces, highways, lay-bys, Roadside verges, watercoueses, etc. as instructed by the Authorised Officer.
7.1.3.5 Collection of Waste from other Cleansing activities as required at fairs, markets, and any other public or special events;
7.1.3.6 Clearance of sand and tidal debris;
7.1.3.7 Cleansing of rear passages and Entries;
7.1.3.8 Cleansing of car parks;
7.1.3.9 Cleansing of promenades, embankments, revetments, associated areas;
7.1.3.10 Emptying of Litter bins as specified;
7.1.3.11 Removal of graffiti and flyposters (Provisional Item);
7.1.3.12 Provision of a Rapid Response Service (Provisional Item);
7.1.3.13 Removal of abandoned shopping trolleys (Provisional Item);
7.1.3.14 Street washing in specified areas (Provisional Item);
7.1.3.15 Gritting of zone 1 town centre Locations (Provisional Item);
7.2 Hours of Operation
7.2.1 In zone 2, zone 3 and zone 4 areas normal daily Cleansing Services may take place from Monday to Sunday inclusive and should not normally commence prior to 0600 hours and not normally continue after 2000 hours in order to avoid nuisance and complaint. However, it is recognised that works outside these hours may be required to satisfy the requirements of the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse or the requirements of certain Services. The Contractor should request written approval from the Authorised Officer prior to commencing Cleansing Services between the hours of 2000 hours and 0600 hours.
7.2.2 In zone 1 areas normal daily Cleansing Services many take place from Monday to Sunday inclusive. There are no specified core Service hours for zone 1 areas.
7.2.3 The Contractor should be aware that Mechanical Sweeping should not be undertaken in some residential areas at times that will cause reduction in amenity, statutory nuisance or complaint.
7.2.4 The Contractor must note the opening hours of the Waste disposal Sites could be a constraint on his operations and he must ascertain from the Waste Disposal Authority when the facilities are open. If the Contractor wants to operate outside these hours then he shall make arrangements with the Waste
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Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7
Disposal Authority and be responsible for any additional special charges made by the Authority in complying with the Contractors’ request.
7.3 Bank and Public Holidays
7.3.1 Bank and public holidays may be treated as normal working days.
7.3.2 The Contractor shall provide the Service 364 days per year, the only exception being Christmas Day.
7.4 Area Zoning
7.4.1 The whole Borough has been zoned in accordance with the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse and can be described as follows:
7.4.1.1 Zone 1 – Town centres, shopping centres, shopping Streets, major transport centres, central car parks and Locations adjacent to these (e.g. footways, highways, passageways, etc);
7.4.1.2 Zone 2 – High density residential area, suburban car parks and transport centres;
7.4.1.3 Zone 3 – Low density residential areas, other transport centres and areas of industrial estates;
7.4.1.4 Zone 4 – All other areas.
7.5 Cleansing Standards
7.5.1 The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse prescribes four standards of cleanliness:
7.5.1.1 No Litter or refuse, known as grade A;
7.5.1.2 Predominantly free of Litter and refuse apart from small items, known as grade B;
7.5.1.3 Widespread distribution of Litter and refuse with minor accumulations, known as grade C;
7.5.1.4 Heavily Littered with accumulations, known as grade D.
7.5.2 Grade A shall be achieved by the Contractor after Cleansing and shall conform to the photographic standard contained within Appendix 9.9.3 and contained in the CoPLR.
7.6 Minimum Cleansing Frequencies
7.6.1 The minimum Cleansing frequencies required by the Council at each location shall be in accordance with that outlined below and the appropriate zoning allocation.
Zone
Frequency
Manual
Mechanical
1
Daily
Weekly
2
Weekly
Fortnightly
3
Monthly
Monthly
4
Monthly
Quarterly
7.6.2 It is recognised that these frequencies may be insufficient to maintain the output standard described in the Code of Practice for Litter and Refuse (COPLR) and the Contractor will be required to assess for himself the actual frequencies he proposes to adopt for all Locations throughout the district.
7.7 Carriageway Sweeping
7.7.1 Road Channels and the adjoining carriageway on each side of the Road and car parks shall be thoroughly swept and de-Littered at the minimum frequencies stated, or as otherwise directed by the Authorised Officer in accordance with the Act.
7.7.2 No additional payment will be made for hand sweeping at the heads of cul-de-sacs, traffic islands or other areas and the Contractor shall include for this work within the tender.
7.7.3 Pedestrian refuges and similar features may require additional manual sweeping. Manual sweeping shall be done concurrently with the sweeping operation to the standards set out in the COPLR, or as
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Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7
otherwise directed by the Authorised Officer. The areas shall be thoroughly Cleansed to ensure all litter, detritus and vegetation is removed and the area is left clean. No additional payment will be made for this work and the Contractor shall include for this work within the tender.
7.7.4 The minimum frequencies stated do not replace the requirement for the Contractor to achieve the standards required under the COPLR and the Contractor will be required to alter frequencies and provide additional resources to ensure these standards are met.
7.8 Footway Sweeping
7.8.1 All areas designated for footway sweeping shall be throughly swept and de-Littered at the minimum frequencies stated, or as otherwise directed by the Authorised Officer in accordance with the Act.
7.8.2 Areas around Street furniture, where it is impossible or impractical for the footway to be mechanically swept, shall be concurrently Cleansed by hand to ensure all litter, detritus and vegetation is removed and the area is left clean. No additional payment will be made for this work and the Contractor shall include for this work within the tender.
7.9 Shopping Areas and Precincts
7.9.1 The main shopping areas in the Borough are located at Birkenhead and Liscard and are listed in the Streets Data File, contained within Appendix SC2, with maps of these areas contained in Appendix 9.9.1. The areas of the covered precincts in Liscard and Birkenhead are privately owned and are Cleansed by others. All other shopping Streets are identified in the Streets Data File.
7.9.2 The Contractor is to include for the Daily Cleansing of all surface areas within and around shopping areas, frontage to frontage, incorporating all features such as furniture, shrub beds, grass areas, hard surfaces, passageways, pathways, drainage slots and channels, Service Roads, delivery bays and Walkways, etc.
7.9.3 All drainage channels and gratings, etc., shall be kept cleared of Litter, sludge and debris.
7.10 Inner Area Cleansing
7.10.1 The Inner Area of the Borough is delineated on the map contained within Appendix 9.9.4 The area comprises part or all of the districts of New Brighton, Liscard, Egremont, Seacombe and the Birkenhead areas of North End, Central, Tranmere and Rock Ferry together with part of New Ferry.
7.10.2 The Contractors attention is drawn to the problems that exist within these areas, particularly where the property is terraced with rear Entries. The Contractor must include for the thorough Cleansing of the areas in accordance with this Specification irrespective of the volume of material to be removed.
7.11 Cleansing of Entries
7.11.1 The Contractor is required to thoroughly Cleanse all Entries in the Borough, as detailed in Appendix 9.9.1, once every four Weeks, in accordance with this Specification irrespective of the volume or type of material to be removed.
7.11.2 All Cleansing operations shall be carried out at the time of visit to include the removal:
7.11.2.1 Flytipping;
7.11.2.2 Litter (including animal faeces);
7.11.2.3 Detritus;
7.11.2.4 Dead weeds;
7.11.2.5 Flyposters;
7.11.2.6 Grafitti.
7.11.2.7 Any other items.
7.11.3 Some Entries are gated. The Authorised Officer will issue gate keys to the Contractor at the commencement of the Contract. Should the Contractor lose any keys, then the Contractor shall be liable for the cost of replacement keys.
7.11.4 The Contractor shall allow for this within the tendered price, and no additional payment shall be made.
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Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7
7.11.5 The Contractor shall submit a schedule for these Works to the Authorised Officer for approval prior to the commencement of the Contract. The Contractor is required to request prior written approval from the Authorised Officer before amending the agreed work schedule.
7.12 Cleansing of Estates and Low Density Residential Areas
7.12.1 A significant proportion of the residential areas of the Borough have been included within zones 3 and 4 and include most of the private and social housing estates as well as the lower density residential areas. The Contractors attention is drawn to the Litter problems on some of the estates where there are large open spaces which need to be maintained to the standards prescribed in the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
7.13 Schools
7.13.1 The Contractor is advised that, in addition to scheduled Cleansing, the Contractor is required to provide an additional Weekly Cleanse to the areas surrounding secondary schools within the Borough. These schools, along with details of the surrounding areas, are listed in Appendix SC11.
7.13.2 The Contractor shall allow for this within the tendered price, and no additional payment shall be made.
7.14 Car Parks
7.14.1 Pay and Display car parks are provided adjacent to all the main commercial areas in the Borough and are heavily used. The Contractor is required to maintain the standards of all Pay and Display car parks.
7.14.2 All other car parks, including those at Council offices, are required to be Cleansed regularly, except for those identified in clause 7.15 of this specification which form part of the summer Cleansing requirement.
7.14.3 Car parks shall be classified as the same area zone as the adjacent Road and shall be Cleansed accordingly. Locations and sizes of car parks can be found within the Streets Data File, contained within Appendix 9.9.1.
7.15 Promenades, Revetment Walls and Associated Areas
7.15.1 For the purpose of this Contract, “Promenade” shall be defined as the end lengths of Road, pavement and associated features at Seacombe Promenade, Sandon Promenade, Egremont Promenade, Magazine Promenade, Tower Promenade, Marine Promenade, Marine Promenade Car Park, Kings Parade, Coastal Drive, former Derby Pool car park and access Road, Leasowe Common Roadway from Leasowe Road to the rear of the sea wall and grass areas from front to rear of the kiosks, North Parade and Meols Parade, Hoylake Promenade from Hoylake to Meols and South Parade West Kirby including the car parks at both ends of the Marine Lake.
7.15.2 The Contractor is to include all pedestrian access to promenade areas via Roads, passages or steps and carry out Cleansing as if they were part of the promenade.
7.15.3 During the prescribed summer season (twenty-six complete Weeks commencing with the first Monday in April each year) the Contractor is required to thoroughly Cleanse the entire grassed areas of Kings Parade and Leasowe Common on daily basis to remove all Litter and dog fouling in order to maintain these locations at Grade B.
7.16 Litter Bins
7.16.1 Litter bins of the post mounted or free standing varieties are provided in large numbers throughout the Borough, as detailed in Appendix 9.9.2. The Council has a progressive policy both to replace any existing Litter bins that are damaged and also to provide additional Litter bins at any Location the Authorised Officer considers may help to reduce Litter problems.
7.16.2 The Contractor is required to empty all existing Litter bins together with any additional Litter bins installed by the Authorised Officer as frequently as necessary to prevent the escape of Waste. For the avoidance of doubt no Litter bin should be more than 3/4 full at any time and no additional payment will be made for additional Litter bins.
7.16.3 The Contractor shall also be required to empty any Litter bin, at the request of the Authorised Officer, within 2 hours of the request being made.
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7.16.4 At the time of emptying, the Contractor should remove any Litter within one metre of the Litter bin.
7.16.5 The Contractor is to inspect all Litter bins for damage as they are emptied and report any damaged bins to the Authorised Officer each evening by e-mail.
7.16.6 Most bins provided for use by the public have lockable inner liners and the Contractor is to ensure that these liners are replaced and locked back in after each emptying.
7.16.7 The Contractor shall be required to lock in any inner liners that are found to be not locked in, at the request of the Authorised Officer, within 24 hours of the request being made.
7.16.8 Any liners which, in the opinion of the Authorised Officer, were not locked in after emptying, and subsequently suffer loss or damage, shall be replaced by the Contractor at no cost to the Council. The Authorised Officer’s decision is final.
7.16.9 At the request of the Authorised Officer, the Contractor shall be required to wash, disinfect and clean out Litter bins in order to maintain them in a clean and sanitary condition. Payment for this work shall be made in accordance with the schedule of Daywork Rates.
7.16.10 At the request of the Authorised Officer, the Contractor shall be required to cap Litter bins in a given area when the alert status increases, so that they cannot be used for the duration of the increased alert. The Contractor shall be required to remove the caps, at the request of the Authorised Officer, when the alert status returns to normal. Payment for this work shall be in accordance with the schedule of Daywork Rates.
7.17 Drugs Related Litter
7.17.1 The Contractor shall include for the collection and removal of drugs related Litter from all Locations included in the Contract as a normal part of the Street Cleansing Service.
7.17.2 The Contractor shall be responsible for the collection and removal of drugs related Litter encountered as part of the normal Street Cleansing Service. The Contractor shall also respond as and when instructed by the Authorised Officer. The Contractor shall respond as soon as possible and, in any case, within ninety minutes of the instruction being issued during normal hours of operation.
7.17.3 The Contractor shall ensure all Employees are fully trained and carry the appropriate protective equipment to enable them to respond to such incidents.
7.17.4 All incidents of drug related Litter must be noted and reported electronically to the Council on a Weekly basis.
7.17.5 No additional payment shall be made for drugs related Litter removed as part of the normal Street Cleansing schedule or from occupied residential properties. On occasions when the Contractor responds to incidents which are not in areas scheduled to be Cleansed as part of the normal Street Cleansing Service or residential properties the Contractor shall receive additional payment based upon the Daywork rates. (Removal from residencies which are under renovation or managed by agents will be chargeable).
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7.18 Leaf Fall
7.18.1 Whilst most Roads in the Borough suffer an increased Street Cleansing work content during the leaf fall period the Contractors attention is drawn to the Oxton, Heswall and Caldy areas of the Borough where the problem is more prevalent than in other areas.
7.18.2 The Contractor shall include for the collection of leaf fall from all Locations included in the Contract as a normal part of the Street Cleansing Service and deploy such additional resources, such as a dedicated resource for the clearance of leaves, as are necessary to maintain the Cleansing Schedule.
7.18.3 On collection, the Contractor shall take clean leaf fall for Composting wherever possible.
7.19 Grass Cutting and Weed Control
7.19.1 Any cut grass accumulated on footpaths and Roads etc. after mowing or cutting, shall be swept up and removed by the Contractor as part of the normal programmed Cleansing activity.
7.19.2 The clearance and disposal of all unwanted vegetation from all hard areas, grass margins, obstructions, shrub beds, and other ad-hoc Locations as requested by the Authorised Officer, shall form part of the normal Street Cleansing work. Moss is defined as unwanted vegetation and shall be removed as part of the Service.
7.19.3 The contractor will be responsible for the removal of weed once weed spraying has been successfully undertaken by or on behalf of the Council. The contractor shall remove live weeds from channels where the presence of such weeds has been caused by the contractor’s failure to cleanse the channels.
7.20 Graffiti and Fly Posting Removal (Provisional Item)
7.20.1 The Contractor shall remove graffiti and fly posters from Relevant Land within the Borough, including highway signs and apparatus (but excluding traffic management and utility apparatus) as requested by the Authorised Officer and/or members of the public. The Contractor will remove graffiti and fly posters by a method approved in writing by the Authorised Officer.
7.20.2 Where chemicals are proposed to be used by the Contractor to remove graffiti, the Contractor shall provide the Authorised Officer with COSHH Assessments of the chemicals to be used, and the Authorised Officer’s written approval must be gained in advance.
7.20.3 The Contractor shall remove graffiti from underpasses through paint-out.
7.20.4 Racist or offensive graffiti or fly posting, and illegal advertising graffiti or fly posting, will be removed by the Contractor within 24 hours of notification. All other graffiti or fly posting will be removed by the Contractor within 5 days of notification.
7.20.5 If the graffiti or fly posting has been removed, but stains or residue have affected a permeable surface, the Contractor will inform the Authorised Officer by e-mail within 24 hours of completion of the work.
7.20.6 Graffiti removal and fly posting removal from private property and utility apparatus will be through private arrangement between the Contractor and property owner. Payments will be made direct to the Contractor by the customer requesting the Service. The Contractor will retain any income generated by this Service.
7.20.7 The Contractor is to submit a Weekly report to the Authorised Officer detailing the graffiti and flyposting that has been removed during that Week.
7.20.8 The Council treats the problem of flyposting and graffiti very seriously and will prosecute anyone caught or suspected of committing such an offence providing that sufficient evidence can be gathered. The Contractor is to assist the Council in this regard by obtaining photographic and written evidence (i.e. time, date, location, posters, etc.) and supplying this information to the Authorised Officer in an agreed format at the end of each day. The Contractor may also be required, from time to time, to assist the Council in the preparation of prosecution statements and attendance at court hearings.
7.21 Sand and Tidal Debris
7.21.1 Promenades and Roads which are near to beaches and slipways become covered, on occasions with quantities of sand, shingle or tidal debris. The Contractors attention is especially drawn to the large
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amount of wind blown sand which is deposited on the highway at West Kirby, Hoylake and New Brighton that will need to be removed in order to ensure highway safety.
7.21.2 The Contractor shall provide all equipment and include in his tender for the removal of any such sand, shingle or debris from Roads affected as part of his normal Cleansing operation and, upon referral from the Authorised Officer, within 24 hours.
7.22 Rapid Response Service (Provisional Item)
7.22.1 The Contractor shall engage sufficient dedicated personnel to provide a Rapid Response Service. This Service is to be provided from 08.00 to 17.00 Monday to Saturday inclusive to deal effectively with any matters which, in the opinion of the Authorised Officer, are of an urgent nature.
7.22.2 The Contractor is not required to provide this Service on Bank Holidays.
7.22.3 Recent experience indicates that approximately 250 requests for the Rapid Response Service are made by the Authorised Officer each year although no guarantee is given or implied that this figure is the maximum which should be expected.
7.22.4 The Contractor is to respond immediately, upon request from the Authorised Officer, to any matter of an urgent nature and in any event must have satisfactorily dealt with the occurrence within one hour of receiving the request. If the Authorised Officer or his representative attend an incident his instruction must be observed.
7.22.5 The Contractor must make available between the hours of 08.00 and 17.00 Monday to Saturday inclusive, a responsible person to receive requests for the Rapid Response Service and have sufficient seniority to be able to act upon the receipt of that request.
7.22.6 No other resources are to be diverted from their normal tasks in order to provide a Rapid Response Service.
7.22.7 Examples of occurrences which the Authorised Officer may refer to the Rapid Response Service are:
7.22.7.1 Clearance of debris after a traffic accident;
7.22.7.2 Broken glass or other debris on the highway;
7.22.7.3 Damaged bus shelters;
7.22.7.4 Debris or loads spilled from vehicles;
7.22.7.5 Oil spillages on the highway which require sanding and subsequent sweeping up of the sand. OR cleaning up of such spillages using other methods approved by the Authorised Officer;
7.22.7.6 Dead animals on the highway and/or beaches;
7.22.7.7 Flytipping (no exclusions);
7.22.7.8 Flytipping industrial Wastes;
7.22.7.9 Responses to public complaint, which in the opinion of the Authorised Officer, requires immediate action in order to bring about customer satisfaction.
7.22.8 The Contractor may also be required to respond to occurrences outside of the core hours stated, or to respond to incidents occurring at the request of the Authorised Officer. Payment for such call out shall be made in accordance with the schedule of Daywork Rates given in the Pricing Schedule.
7.22.9. Within 24 hours of responding to such an occurrence, the Contractor shall submit a report to the Authorised Officer in an agreed format giving details of the incident, timings, actions taken and outcomes, etc.
7.22.10 The Council treats the problem of flytipping very seriously and will prosecute anyone caught or suspected of committing such an offence provided that sufficient evidence can be gathered. The Contractor is assist the Cuoncil in this regard by obtaining photographic and written evidence (i.e. time, date, location, posters etc.) and supplying this information to the Authorised Officer electronically at the end of each day. The Contractor may also be required, from time to time, to assist the Council in the preparation of prosecution statements and attendance at court hearings.
7.23.1 The Contractor should be aware that the Council has resolved to recover, store and make a charge for shopping trolleys abandoned on relevant land or highways under section 99 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
7.23.2 It will be the responsibility of the Contractor to recover any shopping trolleys which appear to be abandoned and store such trolleys at the depot under the control of the Contractor. A Weekly log of all trolleys so repossessed and in the possession of the Contractor will be passed to the Authorised Officer stating:-
7.23.2.1 The Location where the trolley was located;
7.23.2.2 the identified owner of the trolley (where possible);
7.23.2.3 the condition of the trolley.
7.23.3 The Contractor will only be required to release trolleys in their possession recovered as part of the requirement upon production of a written receipt from the Authorised Officer indicating that the recovery charge has been made. The owner of the trolleys will be requested to acknowledge receipt of his equipment at the time of collection and the owner will be responsible for all transport charges in respect of the collection of the same.
7.23.4 Unclaimed trolleys in the possession of the Contractor may be disposed of after they have been stored for a minimum period of six Weeks, following certification from the Authorised Officer that they may be disposed of. Any income from the sale of unclaimed trolleys may be retained by the Contractor.
7.24 Gritting (Provisional Item)
7.24.1 The Contractor shall be responsible for the gritting of zone 1 town centre areas in accordance with schedule detailed in Appendix 9.9.1.
7.24.2 The Contractor shall use a urea based product which shall be provided to the Contractor by the Council free of charge.
7.24.3 The Contractor shall also be required to provide an ad hoc gritting Service, as and when required by the Authorised Officer.
7.24.4 Payment for these works shall be in accordance with the Daywork Rates given in the Pricing Schedule.
7.25 Street Washing (Provisional Item)
7.25.1 The Contractor will be required to provide a Weekly Street washing Service to the shopping areas as detailed in Appendix 9.9.1.
7.25.2 The Contractor shall allow for this within the tendered price, and no additional payment shall be made.
7.25.3 The Contractor may also be required to provide a Street washing Service at other Locations, at the request of the Authorised Officer. Payment for this Service will be in accordance with the schedule of Daywork Rates given in the Pricing Schedule.
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7.26 Special Events and Voluntary Organisations
7.26.1 To cater for special events in the Borough such as shows, fairs, sports activities, etc. (for example, the Wirral Show), or voluntary groups undertaking special clearance and Litter picking tasks in the Borough the Authorised Officer may require the Contractor to supply labour, vehicles, Plant or equipment to assist with or promote clearance operations.
7.26.2 The Contractor will be paid in accordance with the schedule of Daywork Rates given in the Pricing Schedule for any item supplied under this clause.
7.27 Volume and Type of Material
7.27.1 The Contractor shall not place any constraint on the volume or type of Litter which is to be removed from any Location, and all such eventualities shall be included for within the Contract price.
7.27.2 Any item of Litter discarded or deposited at any Location to which this Contract applies having a volume not exceeding 1 cubic metre must be removed at the time and day programmed for Street Cleansing. The volume of 1 cubic metre shall be applied to single items and not be the aggregate of smaller items. If any item of Litter discarded or deposited at any Location to which this Contract applies and has a volume of more than 1 cubic metre it shall be collected by the Contractor using separate resources if he so wishes but in any event must be cleared within 24 hours of its detection.
7.27.3 The Contractor’s attention is drawn to the fact that Waste Collection in this Borough is carried out using wheeled bins. There are occasions when householders fail to use the Waste Receptacle provided and put Waste out in bags or boxes or loose. If this occurs the Contractor is required to ascertain where the Waste has come from and recover any documentary evidence, prior to removal, and inform the Authorised Officer immediately so that enforcement action can be taken against the householder. The Contractor is required to remove all such deposits as part of the normal Cleansing operation.
7.28 Organisation and Methods
7.28.1 Subject to the approval of the Authorised Officer the Contractor is permitted to organise the delivery of the Service in any way which fulfil all the requirements of the Contract to the required standard within the required times, although the Council does have a preference for area based Service provision and tandem working to ensure task completion.
7.28.2 The Contractor is permitted to use both heavy and compact mechanical sweepers anywhere in the Borough where they can be effectively utilities and subject to normal weight restrictions.
7.28.3 The Contractor is encouraged to consider using compact mechanical sweepers in some of the high profile areas of the Borough.
7.29 Programme of Work
7.29.1 The Contractor shall submit a full and detailed programme of work to the Authorised Officer for approval, not later than four Week prior to the commencement of the Contract.
7.29.2 The Programme shall include details of all rounds to be worked and shall include the days when each Location is programmed to be Cleansed. This information shall be provided electronically and may also be presented as colour coded maps or lists of work programmed per day per round provided that the information is supplemented by clear indication of the direction of progress of work throughout the day. The Authorised Officer may audit the quality of the work undertaken throughout the course of the day.
7.29.3 The programme of work shall not be altered in any way without the prior approval of the Authorised Officer.
7.30 Performance Monitoring
7.30.1 The Council will require the Contractor to achieve the highest standard of Cleansing at each programmed Location on each day. The actual level of performance achieved on each day shall be measured by inspecting a random sample of programmed Locations after Cleansing operations are complete and noting the standard observed by comparison with the photograph standards within Appendix 9.9.3.
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7.30.2 Grade A denotes compliance with the Contract whilst any other grade will denote a failure to perform.
7.30. The random selection of Locations to be monitored will be computer generated by the Authorised Officer daily. It is envisaged that 5% of programmed work for a given day will be subject to inspection although a higher or lower percentage may be used depending on the level of confidence built up between the Contractor and the Council. For the avoidance of doubt the percentage sample size shall be determined at the sole discretion of the Authorised Officer.
7.30.4 Performance monitoring is to be carried out by the Contractor on seven days each Week, Monday to Sunday, with the Contractor’s representative being accompanied by an officer of the Council who will verify the grades being noted. In the case of disagreement between the Council’s and Contractor’s representative a photograph will be taken by the Council of the disputed Locations and the Authorised Officer will adjudicate after viewing the photographs.
7.30.5 It is hereby declared that the results of the daily performance monitoring inspections are to be accepted as being representative of the performance achieved across the Street Cleansing Service for that day and will be used in the calculation of performance in accordance with clause 4.14 and Clause 4.37 of the Conditions of Contract.
7.30.6 The Contractor is expected to carry out additional supervisory inspections in the normal course of business, but any such additional supervisory inspections will be excluded from the computation of the Contractor’s percentage performance for the purposes of Clause 4.14 and Clause 4.38 of the Conditions of Contract, unless in the opinion of the Authorised Officer, the inclusion of the additional supervisory inspections in the computation is statistically valid.
7.30.7 Without prejudice to the obligations of the Contractor to achieve the standards of Cleansing specified herein, should any supervisory inspection reveal that the standard of cleanliness at any Location inspected is below grade A, the Contractor will ensure that such Location is returned to grade A standard within the time stipulated in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse for the zone specified for that Location, namely:
7.30.7.1 In zone 1 areas, if at grade B, it shall be restored to grade A within six hours. If at grade C it shall be restored to grade A within three hours. If at grade D it shall be restored to grade A within one hour.
7.30.7.2 In zone 2 areas, if at grade B, it shall be restored to grade A within twelve hours. If at grade C it shall be restored to grade A within six hours. If at grade D it shall be restored to grade A within three hours.
7.30.7.3 In zone 3 areas, if at grade C, it shall be restored to grade A within twelve hours. If at grade D it shall be restored to grade A within six hours.
7.30.7.4 In zone 4 areas, if at grade C, it shall be restored to grade A within one Weeks. If at grade D it shall be restored to grade A within three days.
7.30.8 These standards shall apply between the hours of 0600 and 2000 daily in zone 2, zone 3 and zone 4 areas, and at all times in zone 1 areas.
7.30.9 The contractor shall keep electronically contemporaneous and accurate records of all operative and supervisory inspections it has carried out and of all remedial action taken pursuant to such inspections, and shall make such records available for inspection and copying by the Authorised Officer as and when required. The Contractor shall retain the inspection records for a minimum period of eighteen Months. The Contractor is hereby reminded that the daily random performance monitoring inspection records form the basis for the computation by the Contractor of its Weekly Certificate of Performance for the purposes of clause 4.14 and Clause 4.38 of the Conditions of Contract.
7.30.10 Notwithstanding the provisions of this clause the Council reserves the right at all times to inspect the quality of the work being undertaken by the Contractor for the purposes of assessing the effectiveness of the Street Cleansing Service.
7.31 Oil Pollution and Other Incidents
7.31.1 Due to the proximity of main shipping lanes and oil transfer facilities there are occasions when the Council may be required to respond to incidents of oil pollution in the area.
7.31.2 The Council may also, on occasion, be required to respond to other incidents in the area, natural or otherwise (for example terrorist attacks).
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7.31.3 In the event of any such incidents requiring a response by the Council then the Authorised Officer shall be empowered to divert some or all of the Contractors resources as deemed necessary by the Authorised Officer. The Contractor will not receive any additional payment for such diversions where they occur within the Contractors normal working hours and are directed to be undertaken in place of the Street Cleansing workload programmed for the duration of the diversion. Where the Authorised Officer requires assistance at other times outside the Contractors normal working hours then Daywork Rates shall apply.
7.31.4 Any specialised equipment, materials and protective clothing necessary to deal with such incidents will be provided by the Authorised Officer at the Council’s expense.
7.32 Parking
7.32.1 Some Streets in the Borough are regularly parked with cars that can cause difficulty in thoroughly Cleansing the edges of the carriageways. The Contractor will, however, be expected to make every effort to keep such Roads thoroughly Cleansed using any special equipment he may consider necessary. It is expected that the Contractor will have made himself familiar with the problems to be experienced and to overcome the difficulties in sweeping which parked cars can cause. Allowance should be made for this when submitting the tender, as no additional payment will be made by the Council in respect of this problem.
7.33 Supplementary Information
7.33.1 The Street Database computer file provided to the Contractor in Appendix 9.9.1 does not form part of the Contract documents and the Contractor is to verify the information himself, as its accuracy is not guaranteed or implied.
7.33.2 The data base file gives a guide to the lengths or surface areas of Locations to which this Contract applies and shows the zoning of those Locations.
7.34 Continuous Service Improvement
7.34.1 The Council have a policy of reviewing the Services it provides to the residents of the Borough and the Street Cleansing Service will be subject to such reviews.
7.34.2 Any review of the Service will be undertaken jointly between the Contractor and the Authorised Officer and will entail market research to canvas opinion from the residents of the Borough that the standard of Cleansing required by the Contract is being met.
7.34.3 The Contractor will cooperate with the Authorised Officer in improving the Service to meet the aspirations of the residents of the Borough. If such improvements are necessary to enable the originally Contracted Service to be performed then no additional payment will be made to the Contractor in making any such improvement.
7.35 Performance Monitoring (Street Cleansing)
7.35.1 At all times after the Commencement Date the Contractor will be required to assess performance in conjunction with the Council in accordance with the provisions of clause 7.30 of the Specification and to deliver a Certificate of Performance each week to the Authorised Officer to identify the percentage achieved through the performance of the Street Cleansing Services that Week.
7.35.2 Monitoring of a randomly selected statistically valid sample of work performed by the Contractor in a given period is to be used to assess the quality and extent of the Contractor’s performance during that period.
7.35.3 In the first instance, the computation of any default in performance by the Contractor shall be made in accordance with the provisions of clause 7.30.3 of the Specification, but, as set out below, should the Council in its absolute discretion consider that for any given period the use of the normal method of performance monitoring has not given or may not afford a sufficiently accurate measure of the Contractor’s default in performance for that period, the Council may carry out its own audit of the Contractor’s work which includes inspection of the physical Cleansing operation, all administration and documentation and the activities relating to the production of the performance assessment figures. In this case the results of such audit shall be used as the basis for calculating the performance by the Contractor.
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Part 7
7.35.4 The certificate of performance shall be submitted to the Authorised Officer Weekly to show the percentage of the Services performed in strict accordance with the Contract. The performance percentage shall be calculated on the basis of the Contractors records of the inspections it has carried out pursuant to clause 7.30.3 of the Specification and in accordance with the following formulae:
100 – (Number of Items not Grade A upon Inspection x 100)
Total Number of Inspections 1
7.35.5 In order to calculate the deductions for failure in performance for any monthly period, the Contractor shall:
7.35.5.1 average the performance percentages for the days/weeks covered by that certificate of performance.
7.35.5.2 the deductions appropriate to that averaged figure should be ascertained from the Table 1, Performance Monitoring Valuations.
7.35.6 The Contractor shall undertake to exercise the utmost good faith in assessing its monthly percentage performance.
7.35.7 The Council may at any time carry out an audit inspection of the work undertaken by the Contractor in accordance with the agreed auditing procedure set out in clause 7.30.1, in order to ascertain whether the Contractor is complying fully with its obligations under the terms of the Contract. The Authorised Officer shall give the Contractor prior notice of the commencement on any such audit inspections and invite the Contractor to observe the audit.
7.35.8 The agreed auditing procedure will comprise one or any combination of the following, as the Council in its absolute direction may determine.
7.35.8.1 assessment and verification of the Contractors performance based on the Contractors documentation;
7.35.8.2 a physical inspection of a sample of locations where work has been programmed to be performed by the Contractor during the day based on an independent monitoring of a random sample of locations by the Auditor. The number of locations sampled shall not be less than that required of the Contractor under clause 7.30.3 of the Specification.
7.35.9 The results of the Authorised Officer’s audit will, as soon as practicable, be given to the Contractor. If the results of any audit inspection undertaken by the Council demonstrate a lower percentage performance for a given period than the percentage performance claimed by the Contractor, the percentage performance demonstrated by the audit shall be used by the Contractor for the purpose of calculating the deductions appropriate to that period for the purposes of clause 7.30.1 and could be used by the Council for the purposes of clause 4.50.
Table 1
Performance Monitoring Valuations
Street Cleansing Service
Contractors Performance
Value of Lost Service
100-95%
Nil
94%
1% OF CONTRACT SUM
93%
2% ”
92%
3% ”
91%
4% ”
90%
5% ”
89%
6% ”
88%
7% ”
87%
8% ”
86%
9% ”
85%
10% ”
84%
11% ”
83%
12% ”
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Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7
82%
13% ”
81%
14% ”
80%
15% ”
79%
16% ”
78%
17% ”
77%
18% ”
76%
19% ”
75%
20% ”
74%
26% ”
73%
27% ”
72%
28% ”
71%
29% ”
70%
30% ”
69%
31% ”
68%
32% ”
67%
33% ”
66%
34% ”
And thereafter the Value of Lost Service shall increase by 1% for every decrease of 1% in the Contractor’s performance figure so that if the Contractor’s performance figure falls to 1%, the value of Lost Service figure shall be 99%.
1%
99% ”
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Wirral Council Employee Survey 2013: Industrial relations: a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
Wirral Council Employee Survey 2013: Industrial relations: a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
One of the quandaries you face in the press is just what you do over leaked documents. When I was working in print it was easy, the procedure was everything just had to be double sourced. With Wirral Council that has in the past often caused problems as two bits of Wirral Council would flat-out contradict each other over the same facts!
The particular document I am referring to is the Ipsos Mori “Wirral Council Employee Survey 2013”. This contains such classic lines such as:
“The contents of this report are of a commercially sensitive and confidential nature and intended solely for the review and consideration of the person or entity to which it is addressed. No other use is permitted and the addressee undertakes not to disclose all or part of this report to any third party (including but not limited, where applicable, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 2000) without the prior written consent of the Company Secretary of Ipsos MORI.”
In an “open and transparent” public sector, where Wirral Council wanted to show how it had emerged from the nightmare of its past “industrial relations” issues, here’s just one industrial relations issue that would not be happening:
a) employee appeals/grievance hearings of Wirral Council employees now decided by Wirral Council management behind closed doors instead of councillors (unlike other local councils) at public meetings behind closed doors. Yes it was a Labour administration and Labour councillors that decided to change the constitution and go against the trade unions on that one!
b) excessive secrecy on HR matters (but I’m the press and I would say that wouldn’t I?), however it’s not just me but others that state the same thing?
The whole ninety-page document that is the Wirral Council Employee Survey 2013 (before you get to the appendices) is the kind of thing that councillors, the public, employees and others should be able to read, but I’m sure management would rather not like to ever see the light of day.
“To act as Head of Paid Service to the Council and to provide workforce leadership for the Council.”
In other words the buck stops at him. OK answerable to the public then are councillors who are Cabinet Members, but from an officer perspective ultimately Graham Burgess (or whoever replaces him after the end of this year) sets the culture of the organisation when it comes to workforce matters.
It was during Graham Burgess’ tenure as Chief Executive/Head of Paid Service that the changes to the grievance and appeals procedures were changed. One of the reasons given at the time was that with large-scale redundancies, councillors would’ve been snowed under dealing with employee appeals.
That may be a legitimate reason to put forward for the change (and yes I have heard at least one former councillor moan during a public meeting about how terribly long-winded some employee appeals/grievances were). However taking councillors out of grievance appeals meant that any future whistleblowers would only be heard by management. Then management have a vested interest in making sure issues are resolved behind the scenes (such as paying off whistleblowers to leave and keep quiet) and then the underlying issues are not talked about by councillors in public meetings (making life easier for management) or indeed written about in the press.
I think it is about time I published some of the Human Resources related invoices to do with Employment Tribunals and employee issues so that the public can see how expensive to the public purse it is to not have effective internal processes to deal with employee matters. Previously such procedures (despite their flaws) relied not on the more independent decisions of councillors but now it’s purely officers who decide instead. I’m not saying councillors would make decisions that were less likely to result in large expensive legal bills, it’s just I personally disagree (a rare political point on my part) with the lack of political oversight in employee matters as it means councillors are less likely to know what’s going on.
I fully realise matters have been dealt with behind closed doors, but there is a point where too much secrecy can be counter productive in the public sector as it results in no one being personally accountable for the results of their actions.
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