Author: John Brace

New media journalist from Birkenhead, England who writes about Wirral Council. Published and promoted by John Brace, 134 Boundary Road, Bidston, CH43 7PH. Printed by UK Webhosting Ltd t/a Tsohost, 113-114 Buckingham Avenue, Slough, Berkshire, England, SL1 4PF.

Refund of £60 court fee for judicial review against Wirral Council

Administrative Court refund of £60 fee in The Queen on the application of John Brace v Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

The graphic says it all really. Click for larger version.

Administrative Court letter and £60 cheque for refund of court fee

Prenton/Oxton Area Forum 1st November 2012 Part 1 Belmont Suite, Tranmere Rovers Football Club

Prenton/Oxton Area Forum 1st November 2012 Belmont Suite, Tranmere Rovers Football Club Part 1

Prenton/Oxton Area Forum
1/11/2012
Belmont Suite, Tranmere Rovers Football Club

1830 to 2030

Present
Louise Harland Davies (Community Engagement)
Cllr Tony Norbury Labour (Chair)
Steve Preston (Community Safety)
Sarah Goulding (Community Rep)
Kay Crook (Community Rep)
Brian Griffiths (Merseyside Police)
Ian Lowrie (Community Safety)
Chris McCarthy (Interim Director, Technical Services)
Cllr Stuart Kelly
Cllr Paul Doughty
Paul Murphy (Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service)
Cllr Patricia Williams
Cllr Alan Brighouse
Cllr Denise Realey (arrived late)

The Chair, Cllr Norbury welcomed people to the Area Forum and informed people he had been elected as a councillor in May [2012]. He asked people to introduce themselves and gave apologies for a number of people who couldn’t make it including the Lead Officer.

Chris McCarthy, deputising for the Lead Officer who wasn’t present read out a brief statement on the suspension of the Neighbourhood Forum funds. He said the fund was frozen as it was “non-essential” and there was a projected £17 million overspend.

Ed – at the time the projected overspend as of September 2012 was £13.2 million not £17 million as claimed, as the figure for £17 million was the position five months prior to the November Area Forum meeting (June 2012). However no-one will know the true figure until the 2012/2013 accounts have been audited in September 2013, until then it’s “just a guess” and falls into the selective quoting of statistics Wirral Council is famous for, where incorrect information supplied by others is repeated until some of the press and public believe it through repetition.

Merseyside Police and the leaked custody record

Merseyside Police and the leaked custody record

It’s nice to know that even during this Police and Crime Commissioner election the police staff are managing to leak a custody record to a member of the media (please note I’ve black boxed out most of it as proceedings are “active”) in relation to a charge of arson and breach of a restraining order on 31st October 2012. Wasn’t that the whole sort of thing the whole Leveson inquiry was supposed to address?

However the recently resigned Norman Bettison (infamous down to his role in Hillsborough) is a former Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, do you expect them to be following procedure or indulging in coverups?

I don’t see the point in making a complaint about this as invariably complaints about the police result in a whitewash. They usually don’t want to know about their own mistakes do they?

One day, maybe the police will stop leaking like a sieve, but I won’t hold my breath until it happens….

Wirral Council: Proposal not to pay £250 to employees earning less than £21000

Wirral Council: Proposal not to pay £250 to employees earning less than £21000

Wirral Council previously agreed back in March of this year (2012) (when it decided the Budget for 2012/2013) to pay all its employees earning less than £21,000 (which comes to over 2,000 employees) an extra £250 (net of National Insurance, Income Tax, pension contribution etc) in December 2012.

It was put thus in the budget and £600,000 was put aside for it. I quote from this document (which is the agreed Budget for 2012/2013, as agreed by Conservative and Lib Dem councillors (36)), but not the 29 Labour councillors.

“Our staff are those who are best placed to point out where we are failing and to tell us how we can improve the services that we will deliver. We are therefore investing to ensure we listen and properly engage with them in the future:”

…..

“We recognise the importance of leading by example as an employer and we will again make provision for a payment of £250 for our lower paid workers – those earning under a full time equivalent of £21, 000.

£600,000”

Now go forward to now and there’s a proposal to the December Council meeting not to pay this £250 to 2,470 employees earning less than £21,000. The linked document goes into the detail and shows it affects a higher proportion of their female employees (calling this an “unintentional disadvantage”), a higher percentage of black and ethnic minority employees, a higher percentage of non-Christian employees, a higher percentage of transgender employees and a higher percentage of its young (under 30) employees.

So what have they done to mitigate the impact of this? They state they’ve written to the 2,470 employees that would be affected by this and they’ve discussed it in meetings with the trade unions.

As to the reasons why it’s being done, as the music hall song chorus goes:-

“It’s the same the whole world over,
It’s the poor what gets the blame,
It’s the rich what gets the pleasure,
Isn’t it a blooming shame?”

However if last March is a guide, then the Labour councillors will vote for this proposal and the Conservative/Lib Dem councillors will vote against. Labour have seven more councillors (plus Cllr McLaughlin can now vote as she’s no longer the Mayor). Conservative and Lib Dems have seven less. So whatever Labour decide will happen… and they tend to go by what the senior officers of the Council tell them to do.

This proposal (if it goes through which seems likely) just makes a small dent in the currently projected £13.2 million overspend. Quite what awaits the staff in the New Year is probably a much reduced workforce…. as to who is for the chop we’ll just have to wait and see.

Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 5th November 2012 Agenda and reports

Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee 5th November 2012 (Wirral Council) agenda and reports

As Wirral Council are having trouble publishing the agenda and reports for Monday’s Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee (5/11/2012) on their website they are available from this website until Wirral Council sorts out their issues.

Edit: Update 31/10/2012 The agenda and reports including the missing What Really Matters Consultation result (Cabinet report) are now on Wirral Council’s website.

Maybe their IT department is as overworked as ours is. 😉

Health and Well Being Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Date: Monday, 5 November 2012
Time: 6.00 pm
Venue: Council Chamber, Wallasey Town Hall

Contact Officer: Lyndzay Roberts
Tel: 0151 691 8262
e-mail: lyndzayroberts@wirral.gov.uk
Website: http://www.wirral.gov.uk

AGENDA

1. MEMBERS’ CODE OF CONDUCT – DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST/ PARTY WHIP
Members of the Committee are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non pecuniary interests, in connection with any application on the agenda and state the nature of the interest.

Members are reminded that they should also declare, pursuant to paragraph 18 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, whether they are subject to a party whip in connection with any item(s) to be considered and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of the whipping arrangement.

2. MINUTES (Pages 1 – 12)
To receive the minutes of the Health and Well Being Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 10 September 2012.

3. CONSIDERATION OF FINDINGS – WHAT REALLY MATTERS CONSULTATION
Report to follow

4. DELIVERING THE CORPORATE PLAN: 2012/13 SECOND QUARTER PERFORMANCE AND FINANCIAL REVIEW (Pages 13 – 24)

5. WELFARE REFORM (Pages 25 – 40)

6. TRANSFORMATION OF DAY SERVICES – OSC SUB GROUP REPORT
To receive a Verbal Update Report

7. PROGRESS REPORT OF ACTIONS TAKEN TO IMPLEMENT OUTSTANDING RECOMMENDATIONS IN RELATION TO DASS: PERSONAL BUDGETS (Pages 41 – 50)

8. TACKLING THE LIFE EXPECTANCY GAP (Pages 51 – 64)

9. FORWARD PLAN

The Forward Plan for the period September to December 2012 has now been published on the Council’s intranet/website and Members are invited to review the Plan prior to the meeting in order for the Committee to consider, having regard to the Committee’s work programme, whether scrutiny should take place of any items contained within the Plan and, if so, how it could be done within relevant timescales and resources.

10. WORK PROGRAMME
The Committee was requested to consider what issues should form the basis of its work programme for the ensuing municipal year.

11. ANY OTHER URGENT BUSINESS APPROVED BY THE CHAIR