Category: Lib Dems

Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (21st September 2012) (Wirral Council)

Investigation and Disciplinary Committee Date: 21st September 2012 Time: 9.30pm Committee Room 3 Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (6/7 present) Cllr Ann McLachlan, (Chair), Labour Cllr Adrian Jones, Labour Cllr Ann McArdle, Labour Cllr Lesley Rennie, Conservative Cllr Mike Hornby, Conservative Cllr Dave Mitchell, Liberal Democrat Wirral Council Officers Surjit Tour, Acting Head of Law, HR and Asset … Continue reading “Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (21st September 2012) (Wirral Council)”

Investigation and Disciplinary Committee
Date: 21st September 2012
Time: 9.30pm

Committee Room 3

Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (6/7 present)

Cllr Ann McLachlan, (Chair), Labour
Cllr Adrian Jones, Labour
Cllr Ann McArdle, Labour
Cllr Lesley Rennie, Conservative
Cllr Mike Hornby, Conservative
Cllr Dave Mitchell, Liberal Democrat

Wirral Council Officers
Surjit Tour, Acting Head of Law, HR and Asset Management
Shirley Hudspeth, Committee Services Officer
Chris Hyams, Head of HR & Organisational Development
Tony Williams, Acting Employee Relations Manager
David Armstrong, Deputy Chief Executive?
Unknown officer (male)

In attendance
Cllr Paul Doughty, Labour, Chair of Employment and Appointments Committee
Two members of the public (John Brace, Leonora Brace) (items 1 to 3)

The Chair, Cllr Ann McLachlan (Labour) apologised for starting the meeting late.

1. Declarations of Interest

The Chair, Cllr Ann McLachlan Labour asked for any declarations of interest. None of the six councillors (including the Chair, Cllr McLachlan Labour) made any declarations of interest.

2. Minutes of the meeting held on the 20th August 2012

The minutes of the Investigation & Disciplinary Committee on the 20th August 2012 had been published on Wirral Council’s website.

The Chair, Cllr Ann McLachlan asked if the minutes were agreed?

Cllr Lesley Rennie disputed the minutes and stated they were missing that she had said at the last meeting that she wanted it minuted that she wanted Richard Penn to be invited to the meeting.

"Richard

She pointed out that this was missing from the minutes.

The Chair, Cllr Ann McLachlan said it was fine as Mr. Penn was “in the building” [see above photo of Richard Penn waiting in lobby, Ground Floor, during agenda item 4 (not the room the meeting was being held in)]. She thanked Cllr Lesley Rennie for pointing this out. There were no more comments on the minutes of the meeting held on the 20th August 2012, so the Chair moved the meeting onto agenda item 3.

3. Exclusion of the Press and Public

The Chair expressed her opinion that the press and public should be excluded from the meeting for agenda item 4. She expected the two members of the public to leave, however a member of the public waited for the Committee to agree with this opinion. The reason she gave was that it related to “staff”.

The two members of the public left.

4.  Statutory Officers Preliminary Investigation – Preliminary Report/Report from the Independent Investigator

The Committee received the reports from Chris Hyams (Proper Officer), Tony Williams (Acting Employee Relations Manager) and Richard Penn (Independent Investigator).

Only Chris Hyams and Tony Williams were present at the start of this item.

The reports were about the suspensions of Bill Norman, Ian Coleman and David Taylor-Smith, following the decision made at the Investigation and Disciplinary Committee meeting of the 20th August 2012 (agenda item 4).

Decision:

David Green (Director of Technical Services): Unknown outcome
David Taylor-Smith (Deputy Director of Finance): Unknown outcome

Ian Coleman (Acting Chief Executive):
Outcome: request made to Employment and Appointments Committee (3/10/2012) for Early Voluntary Retirement (£82,528.50) effective from 5th October 2012.

Bill Norman (Director of Law, HR and Asset Management): “no case to answer”
Outcome:  “no case to answer” “no further advice appropriate”
Compromise Contract (£155,416) (agreed by Employment and Appointments Subcommittee (Compromise Contracts) of 20th September 2012. Made redundant as of 30th September 2012. 

Employment and Appointments Committee (Special) Wirral Council 18th September 2012 Part 1

The agenda and reports for this meeting are on Wirral Council’s website.

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

The meeting started at 5.30pm.

Employment and Appointments Committee

Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour, Chair)
Cllr Ann McLachlan (Labour)
Cllr Adrian Jones (Labour)
Cllr George Davies (Labour)
Cllr Phil Davies (Labour)
Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative, spokesperson)
Cllr Lesley Rennie (Conservative)
Cllr Mark Johnston (Liberal Democrat, spokesperson)

In attendance
Cllr Tom Harney (Liberal Democrat, Leader)
Three members of the public.

Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour, Chair) opened the meeting.

Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative, spokesperson) said that Cllr Peter Kearney (Conservative) had just qualified as a solicitor. A joke was made.

Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour, Chair) welcomed people and asked for declarations of interest. No declarations of interest were made.

Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour, Chair) asked Chris Hyams, Head of HR & Organisational Development to talk about item 2 (Senior Management Restructure.

Instead of Chris Hyams, Interim Chief Executive Graham Burgess spoke about the Improvement Plan, a “coordinated management approach”, a meeting on Thursday morning to significantly reduce tiers, a future Cabinet report in a “month or two” and a future Council meeting. He said the Strategic Directors would be at Deputy Chief Executive level and changes to the pay policy would have to be agreed by Council, he also talked about the acting appointments, suspensions and how they needed to extend and confirm a number of people in various posts. The Interim Chief Executive referred to Surjit Tour, Peter Timmins, Tom Sault, David Armstrong, Julia Hassall and Chris McCarthy.

Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative, spokesperson) asked a question, which was answered by Chris Hyams. She said they had had further representations and following advice, in September they would be setting up a subcommittee for the recruitment process. She referred to the outcome of the Chief Officers’ suspensions and an amended resolution, a consultation with Chief Officers and how it would be inappropriate to make permanent appointments.

Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour, Chair) asked if everyone had a copy?

At 5.43 pm, Cllr Peter Kearney (Conservative) arrived.

Cabinet (Special) (Wirral Council) 18th September 2012 5pm Senior Management Restructure

The agenda and reports for this meeting are on Wirral Council’s website.

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Present:
Cabinet (8/10)

Cllr Phil Davies (Labour, Chair, Finance, Leader)
Cllr Adrian Jones (Labour, Corporate Resources)
Cllr Harry Smith (Labour, Streetscene & Transport)
Cllr Pat Hackett (Labour, Regeneration and Planning Strategy)
Cllr Tony Smith (Labour, Children’s Services & Lifelong Learning)
Cllr Chris Meaden (Labour, Culture, Tourism & Leisure)
Cllr George Davies (Labour, Housing & Community Safety, Deputy Leader)
Cllr Ann McLachlan (Labour, Improvement and Governance, Deputy Leader)

Officers
Shirley Hudspeth (Committee Services)
Surjit Tour (Acting Head, Law, HR and Asset Management)
Graham Burgess (Interim Chief Executive)

In attendance
Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour, Chair, Employment and Appointments Committee)
Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative, Spokesperson, Employment and Appointments Committee)
Cllr Lesley Rennie (Conservative, Employment and Appointments Committee)
Cllr Tom Harney (Liberal Democrat, Leader)

The meeting started with Chris Hyams (Head of HR & Organisational Development), Kevin Adderley and Fiona Johnstone leaving the room as they would be affected by the proposals.

Cllr Phil Davies (Labour, Chair) welcomed people to the meeting. He asked councillors if they had any declarations of interest to make? None were given. He moved the meeting onto agenda item 2 (Senior Management Restructure) and indicated to the Interim Chief Executive Graham Burgess to speak about this item.

Graham Burgess referred to the Improvement Board, the Improvement Plan, the support of all three party leaders and proposals to address concerns. He said it was the first stage of a wider management reshaping. Mr. Burgess said the proposals would create three posts, which were key roles.

Cllr Anne McArdle (Labour, Adult Social Care and Health) arrived at 5.06pm.

The Interim Chief Executive continued to talk about “key corporate priorities”, his desire to “break down silos” and “challenge across departments”. He said that 5.4 [of the report] gave more detail and said it was his intention to make a further report. He referred to a Director’s meeting on Thursday and that there would be numbers of posts they would be losing and it was likely to look at and need to ask senior officers to leave.

Cllr Ann McLachlan (Labour, Improvement and Governance) spoke. Cllr Phil Davies (Labour, Finance and Best Value) said he wanted to address the corporate governance issues. He said he would support the recommendations and referred to the Employment and Appointments Committee later. Cllr Davies (Labour, Finance and Best Value)  referred to “radical changes”. He announced there was no “Any Other Business” and the meeting closed at 5.17pm.

Related articles

Economy and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) (5th September 2012) Declarations of Interest, Minutes, Business Presentation/Discussion David Downing of Drivecompare.com Ltd Part 1

The first part of a report on the public meeting of the Economy and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Metropolitan Borough of Wirral) 5th September 2012. This covers agenda items 1, 2 and part of 3.

Interest declaration: The blog is run by Level 80/John Brace that have a commercial relationship with Google.
Interest declaration: The author works in IT technical support/consultancy.

The agenda and reports for this meeting are on the Council’s website.

Present
Councillors
Cllr Mark Johnston (Chair) Liberal Democrat

Cllr Darren Dodd (Labour) deputy for Cllr Jean Stapleton (Vice-Chair) (Labour)
Cllr Denise Realey (Labour)
Cllr Stuart Whittingham (Labour)
Cllr Robert Gregson (Labour)
Cllr Janette Williamson (Labour)
Cllr Mike Sullivan (Labour) note arrived at agenda item 3, not present for agenda items 1 & 2

Cllr David Elderton (Conservative) deputy for Cllr Andrew Hodson (Conservative) (Spokesperson)
Cllr Tony Cox (Conservative)
Cllr Peter Kearney (Conservative) note arrived 6.25 pm (agenda item 3)

The Chair, Cllr Mark Johnston Liberal Democrat, welcomed people to the Economy and Regeneration Committee.

Agenda Item 1 – Declarations of Interest 00:07 to 00:15

The Chair, Cllr Mark Johnston Liberal Democrat, invited any declarations of interest from the Committee. There were no declarations of interest/s made.

Agenda Item 2 – Minutes of meeting held on 7th June 2012 00:15 to 01:20

Cllr Stuart Wittingham said he wanted it noted that Cllr Jean Stapleton sends her apologies. The Chair, Cllr Mark Johnston Liberal Democrat, asked a question about page three of the minutes, about the Green Growth Working Party. The answer given by David Ball was that they had arranged a meeting for the 27th September. Cllr Tony Cox referred to a speech he made last year ([2011]) in the Council Chamber. The Chair, Cllr Mark Johnston Liberal Democrat, asked if the Committee were happy to accept the minutes? The minutes were accepted.

Agenda Item 3 – Business Presentation and Discussion – Member of the Business Community 01:21 to 22:00

In the silence that followed the end of agenda item two, a squeaky door was heard opening and Cllr Mike Sullivan (the missing Labour Member of the Committee) appeared. Cllr Sullivan walked over to his Labour colleagues and sat down as the Chair, Cllr Mark Johnston Liberal Democrat, explained his plan for agenda item three.

The Chair, Cllr Mark Johnston Liberal Democrat, said that this was the regular business slot and that David Downing of Drivecompare.com Ltd was here.

David Downing, Chairman of Drivecompare.com Ltd addressed the Committee, accompanied by a Powerpoint presentation of nineteen slides. He explained that the market they were in was worth circa £900 million and that there were thirty-five thousand active driver instructors. Mr. Downing said it was a fragmented market, with large companies such as AA Driving School and BSM Driving School [Ed – AA Driving School and BSM are both owned by the same parent company Acromas] and explained that some of the large national driving schools were set up as a franchise business.

Mr. Downing referred to also to the independent and small schools. He said that the large driving schools accounted for fifteen percent of the market and that the “big guys” spend on Google. He told a story about a man in an unspecified organisation with twenty instructors that had spent £15,000 on business software and search engine optimisation and £6,000 on Google AdWords, that had cried. He explained that he had cried as he didn’t feel he was getting a return on the investment.

David Downing had come up with a business model when previously working for a driving school, but they weren’t interested, he felt that Google was so complex especially for a “one man band”. He said that the software needs to be tailored as the learners were using new technology. Their core product was providing driver instructors with a new learner. The problem he identified was that the driving instructors couldn’t answer the telephone in their car while they were driving, so they had developed a software platform and business service that included a diary, as well as learner resources so learners could practice for their theory test.

Mr. Downing said there had been challenges in the start-up, in going from part-time to full-time there had been some very long days getting ready for launch. He said they had registered the company in Scotland, as there had been a lawyer (and friend) in Scotland helping them, however the Head Office was in this area. Mr. Downing said they had spent a lot of time being pulled through processes about eligibility for grants and funding when one question up front would’ve been useful in finding out they were not eligible. Eventually he said they had decided to stop looking at them.

He explained that as a fluke he had spoken to Kevin [Adderley] at an Invest Wirral one day seminar on recruitment, he had been impressed by the people and been taken over to the table to talk to the Invest Wirral team at an event in Bromborough. Their three key things had been premises, recruitment and human resources. In his view Job Centre Plus (he mentioned Phil Kane) had been “phenomenal” and had helped in their recruitment in narrowing it down to twelve people and they had taken on six or seven. He also referred to the apprentice scheme and how he felt that [on the Wirral] they were all working as a cohesive team, compared to the “one-upmanship” he had experienced in Scotland.

Mr. Downing said they had opened on 1st August [2012] and had sourced as much as possible from local suppliers, with a soft launch on the 2nd August [2012]. He explained what they could have done better and that pride had stopped them opening doors, they had been lucky to get a bank loan but there were a lot of government schemes available if you got turned down by a bank, however as they had houses they couldn’t get funding. In his opinion they had chased things they thought they’d have an entitlement to, but he had given up his paid job in March, once he had been in it for months, somebody had asked him why he didn’t get tax credits? He said don’t be shy, they might wear a suit, but the team is working together and asked if there were any questions?

Cllr Jeanette Williamson (Labour, Liscard), said she had spent time with Invest Wirral and had nothing but praise. She declared an interest as a civil servant working for the Insolvency Service in Liverpool. Cllr Williamson said she had dealt with a bankruptcy for the Official Receiver and had just interviewed a BSM driving instructor, who had to pay £350 a week to guarantee new learners, which they had defaulted on and she wanted to point out the difference between a business offer and a franchise.

Mr. Downing said it had taken him six months to get his head around it as he couldn’t understand the [business] model. He explained that BSM were doing it and pumping instructors into the industry, with the franchise costing £350 a week and a good instructor getting £25 a hour, they had to put in many hours of work before making money. The guarantee of pupils had exasperated business owners and he said that when it was put in front of a Judge, the Judge said it promises nothing and delivers nothing. Mr. Downing said there would always be a place for driving schools but the industry was changing to a model that was a lot more user-friendly. His company had a guarantee that if a learner didn’t turn up then the next one would be free. He explained that in his view this was better than paying a franchise or Google (which he said he’d love to own) where it could be £600 a month for two learners and was speculative.

Cllr Jeanette Williamson (Labour) said people had less money for people’s cars and lessons, tax and insurance had both gone up, but brought up the example of a new learner, just leaving university for a job that needed to learn to drive, who would initially be driving their parent’s car.

A piece of technology that monitors how you drive and alters insurance premiums based on risk was referred to.

Cllr Jeanette Williamson (Labour) thanked Mr. Downing for his answer and wished him good luck.

Cllr Stuart Wittingham (Labour) started talking about engagement, the door squeaked again and Cllr Peter Kearney (Conservative) arrived late (at 6.25pm).

Wirral Council Overcharges (again) Department of Law, HR and Asset Management

Interest Declaration: The writer was a candidate in the 2012 elections for the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral.
Interest Declaration: The writer sued the Birkenhead Liberal Democrats in the Birkenhead County Court over an alleged breach of s.7 of the Data Protection Act 1998. Deputy District Judge Ireland found in favour of the author in April 2012 and issued a court order in the author’s favour against the Birkenhead Liberal Democrats.
Interest Declaration: The writer is once again involved with litigation against the Birkenhead Liberal Democrats.

So there I was at work and I got handed 56 pages of election expenses returns from candidates in Birkenhead (cost to where I work was £11.20 (20p*56)).

It turns out though that Wirral Council however loves:

a) to cover things up,
b) doesn’t know what an individual is,
c) to overcharge and
d) has a very vague understanding of the law.

Hmm, doesn’t that all seem familiar? First however, a little bit of history. The Returning Officer for this election was Bill Norman. He got suspended on the 28th June 2012 shortly after the elections, to be replaced as Returning Officer on the 16th July 2012 by Mr. Surjit Tour.

However the day-to-day running of the electoral services is done by staff in the department that Mr. Surjit Tour is the Acting Head of (Department of Law, HR and Asset Management).

Last month I made a request to see various candidates election expenses returns, which include a donations page detailed where the money came from. I went to see them on Friday 31st August), I queried why the names, addresses and status of all donors had been “blacked out” from the copies I was inspecting. When I queried it I was told by an employee (who I won’t embarrass by naming here) that it was the law to do so. So I requested copies anyway.

I queried this “interpretation” with the Electoral Commission and I quote below from their response this afternoon:

“Hi John,

I’ve had a look into this and, although the addresses should be redacted for data protection reasons, the names of the donors should be made available. Paragraph 2.18 on page 6 of our guidance to Returning Officers explains this http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/141985/Part-F-After-the-declaration-of-result-LGEW.pdf

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any further questions.”

So I read the link, and sure enough on page 6 at 2.18 it states:-

“The addresses of individuals who have made donations to candidates, must by law, be removed from all inspection copies and copies supplied on request.”

Odd, I thought considering this candidate didn’t receive any donations from individuals, but from a political party (which is an unincorporated association not a living, air-breathing person like the individual writing this article). Then I remembered something, this candidate got herself elected, so the information on who donated the £984.33 to her campaign, is already in her published Register of Interests on Wirral Council’s website as Birkenhead Liberal Democrats. So Wirral Council in irony worthy of a Greek tragedy are ironically covering up some information already available on their website!

Sadly this only applies to twenty-two out of the hundred and nine candidates though. Ahh them, the Birkenhead Liberal Democrats, who lost to me in a lawsuit earlier on this year in the Birkenhead County Court. As agreed by all sides in that case (defendant and plantiff alike), they’re an unincorporated association, not an individual, but let’s move on.

Oh well, that’s 20p that Wirral Council owe me back then, plus an apology. However now somebody is going to have to re photocopy (from the originals) the donations pages of 109 candidates and I’ll have to rearrange another appointment to inspect them. Well at least this mistake costs them about £22 in photocopies and perhaps £20 in staff time and on the plus side it’s not as high as the extra £440,000 Wirral Council’s is having to pay back people it overcharged, but I’m hoping the refund of 20 pence won’t take twelve years to process! Perhaps I’d better not tell them I have a disability then. 🙂 Don’t worry Wirral Council I won’t charge you interest.