Why did Merseytravel spend £2,775 on a “Parliamentary Reception”?
Why did Merseytravel spend £2,775 on a “Parliamentary Reception”?
Below is an invoice from the House of Commons to Merseytravel for £2,775.
Merseytravel invoice House of Commons £2775 7th May 2014
Sadly the invoice doesn’t state a lot other than Ms Louise Ellman MP was the sponsoring MP. To find out what the room booking was for is better explained in an invoice from Bircham Dyson Bell (see below).
Merseytravel invoice Bircham Dyson Bell £2298.95 30th June 2014 Page 1 of 2Merseytravel invoice Bircham Dyson Bell £2298.95 30th June 2014 Page 2 of 2
As you can see from the pages of the invoice above Bircham Dyson Bell charged Merseytravel £425.50 + VAT to attend a parliamentary reception on the 25th June 2014 plus £327.99 + VAT in travel expenses.
I’ll leave it to readers to comment on whether they think Merseytravel being charging £55.50 + VAT by Bircham Dyson Bell to write an email is reasonable in these times of public sector cutbacks.
Next is a “strictly private and confidential” matter. In fact so strictly private and confidential the invoice for £1,867.80 from Weightmans below only specifies that it is for “Matter number 44 Re professional services”.
Merseytravel invoice Weightmans £1867.80 27th June 2014 Page 1 of 2
But as anyone me, I like demystifying such matters, so let me let Weightmans explain what this invoice is really about.
Merseytravel invoice Weightmans £1867.80 27th June 2014 Page 2 of 2
In case you can’t read the above I’ll quote the pertinent bit here.
“Strictly private and confidential Employment advice
Please find enclosed a bill of costs for work carried out by myself and Simon Goacher in relation to issues surrounding the Chief Executive and Director contracts.
I have not put any detail of the work on the bill or identified what it is for reasons of confidentiality. However, there is a breakdown of the work done so far on this matter attached for your attention.
I assume that matters are currently progressing satisfactorily but if you do require any further advice when the drafting is completed then please do not hesitate to contact either myself or Simon Goacher.
Thank you for your kind instructions in this matter, it is always good to work with you.
Kind regards,
Yours sincerely
Bernadette Worthington
Partner
For and on behalf of Weightmans LLP”
Going back to the original theme of political engagement is an invoice below from Kenyon Fraser for £29,160. This is for work on Merseytravel’s campaign to have a high-speed rail connection to Liverpool.
Merseytravel invoice Kenyon Fraser £29160 28th July 2014
Continuing on lobbying but this time at party political conferences is an invoice for £11,429.96 for “PTEG Political engagement at Party Conferences and events each PTE see attached”.
Merseytravel invoice Nexus £11429.96 12th March 2015 Political engagement at party conferences
Finally, here is an invoice for £811.20 from Key Travel for train tickets for travel from Liverpool Lime Street to London Euston. So what’s so unusual about that? Well the passengers are just listed as UNISON and it’s Merseytravel that have paid the invoice (I hope the costs were charged back to UNISON)!
Merseytravel invoice Key Travel £811.20 train fares London to Liverpool
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I went to Merseytravel’s headquarters to inspect various invoices and contracts. A Superlambanana costs £500 to repaint, but a penguin only costs £400 as you can see from the invoice below.
Merseytravel invoice repainting Lambanana Artopia £900 27th March 2014
Below are invoices that I requested from the first month of expenditure in 2014/15 that had something blacked out on them.
First there’s a larger invoice for £1,241.08 from Bircham Dyson Bell. This is for a “claim by Charles Denton as owner of Olympia Public House” and more specifically “To professional charges acting for you in the above claim for compensation in connection with advising you by Mr Charles Denton for the period from 21 December 2013 to 26 March 2014 for the Olympia Public House as set out in the attached breakdown. Actual fees £1,721.90 less £771.00 as per email dated 19th March 2014.”
Blacked out are the hourly rates charged. These are:
(Partner) 0.10 hours @ 141.92 per hour = £14.19
(Partner) 1.00 hours @ 141.92 per hour = £141.92
(Partner) 5.60 hours @ 141.92 per hour = £794.79
Merseytravel invoice repainting Lambanana Artopia £900 27th March 2014Merseytravel invoice Bircham Dyson Bell £1241.08 Claim by Charles Denton as owner of Olympia Public House 28th March 2014
Next is a two page invoice from Hays for agency staff. Whereas Merseytravel have blacked out the name of the person whose services this invoice relates to on the front of the invoice, the name is clearly visible on the timesheet on the second page of this invoice (Melissa Waring). The timesheet also shows this is for 35 hours of work (a detail again blacked out on the front of the invoice) at a rate of £30.35 an hour + VAT.
Merseytravel invoice Hays £1019.77 assistant senior accountant 15th April 2014Merseytravel invoice Hays £1019.77 assistant senior accountant 15th April 2014 timesheet
There are three further invoices from Hays from that month which are each for the services of Melissa Waring. However the timesheets on the back of those invoices aren’t included. Those invoices (including the second page where you’d expect the timesheets) are below.
Merseytravel invoice Hays £1092.61 assistant senior accountant 3rd April 2014Merseytravel invoice Hays £1092.61 assistant senior accounant 3rd April 2014 timesheetMerseytravel invoice Hays £1153.06 assistant senior accountant 27th March 2014Merseytravel invoice Hays £1153.06 assistant senior accountant 27th March 2014 timesheetMerseytravel invoice Hays £1274.71 assistant senior accountant 9th April 2014 timesheetMerseytravel invoice Hays £1274.71 assistant senior accountant 9th April 2014
Finally there is an invoice for £3,800 from DWF for the services of Martin Stafford seconded to Merseytravel at £200 a day. It was pretty pointless blacking out the daily rate of £200 a day on this invoice and leaving in “for 19 days work carried out from 3rd March 2014 to 31st March 2014” along with the amount of £3,800.
Merseytravel invoice DWF £4560.00 Martin Stafford secondment 31st March 2014
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What are the changes next year to the public’s right to inspect documents of public bodies during the audit?
What are the changes next year to the public’s right to inspect documents of public bodies during the audit?
Wirral Council lease Neptune Wirral Limited Neptune Developments Limited Neptune Projects Limited 20th June 2011 for New Brighton Phase II draft car parking management plan page 2 of 2
Above is one of the documents I requested under the 2013/14 audit last year, which is a page of a lease that Wirral Council have with Neptune that states that if Wirral Council introduce car parking in the Fort Perch Rock car park, then charges can be introduced in the free car parks part of the Marine Point development.
Each year for the past few years I have exercised a right you get to exercise only for three weeks each year, which is a right under section 15 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 to inspect documents relating to the previous financial year (2014/15) during the audit.
This has in years gone past has been the only way to see such financial information and to give one example of a story that resulted in many interesting stories on this blog (ranging from councillor’s expenses and taxis to an unsigned contract for a million pounds worth of work).
This year I have exercised my s.15 right not just with Wirral Council, but with Liverpool City Council, Merseytravel, the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority and the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority.
A couple of weeks before the three-week period when the public can inspect these documents each of these bodies has to publish a public notice in a newspaper that circulates in the area covered by that body. The regulations also require each body to publish this notice on their website. Wirral Council’s notice can be found on their website here.
All of the notices (apart from the Merseytravel one) had a name of someone at that public body who I wrote to (whether by letter or by email). In the case of Merseytravel I wrote to the Chief Executive, who passed my request on to the person at Merseytravel dealing with it.
So far the responses have been as follows:
Merseytravel – dates of Monday 27th July 2015/Tuesday 28th July 2015 agreed to come in and inspect the documents. They have a “paperless office”, but will be printing off copies of the invoices/contracts I requested so their legal department can redact parts of them.
Merseyside Waste and Recycling Authority – dates of Friday 24th July and Wednesday 29th July 2015 have been agreed to come in and inspect documents.
Liverpool City Council – email sent yesterday, no reply received yet
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority – email sent and acknowledged on the 15th July 2015, no further reply received since
Wirral Council – email sent with request for contracts & councillor expenses on 19th July 2015, reply received yesterday, list of invoices sent this morning, no reply received yet or date/s arranged
The main differences will be next year that a new ground of refusing a request on grounds of “commercial confidentiality” has been added in to the legislation unless there is an “overriding public interest in favour of its disclosure”.
This puts on a statutory footing the Veolia case, see [2010] EWCA Civ 1214 if you’re curious about what I mean.
The new section 26 also means that determinations about what is “personal information” on documents (therefore not open to inspection) will in future be made by the public body themselves and not the situation at present of the public body having to get agreement from their external auditor to this. It does make it crystal clear that the names of sole traders on invoices is not covered by the definition of “personal information” and defines “personal information” as “identifies a particular individual or enables a particular individual to be identified”. The restriction on information about the public body’s staff remains in section 26 next year.
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Councillors on Merseytravel agree to increase upper age limit for MyTicket bus ticket from 15 years to 18 (including those aged 18)
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Merseytravel Committee meeting of the 25th June 2015 (item 11 Making Transport Affordable for Young People)
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Merseytravel Committee meeting of the 25th June 2015 (item 11 Making Transport Affordable for Young People)
Merseytravel Committee meeting 25th June 2015 item 11 Making Transport Affordable for Young People Foreground Merseytravel officer Middle Row L to R Cllr Jerry Williams, Cllr Steve Foulkes, Cllr Malcolm Sharp, Cllr Terry Shields
Councillors on Merseytravel agree to increase upper age limit for MyTicket bus ticket from 15 years to 18 (including those aged 18)
In a late item on the agenda of Merseytravel’s meeting of the 25th June 2015, was an item titled Making Transport Affordable for Young People and the report for this item is on Merseytravel’s website.
The report recommended an increase in the upper age limit eligible for a MyTicket. The upper age limit of who can purchase a MyTicket is at the time of writing 15 years, but councillors decided to increase this to 18 years (which includes people who are 18 years old) effective from the 19th July 2015. MyTicket is a £2 day ticket for bus journeys launched last year by Merseytravel and MyTickets can be bought on buses from bus drivers.
This follows campaigning by the Liverpool Youth Parliament calling for more affordable bus fares for young people.
Councillors from both the ruling Labour Group on Merseytravel and an opposition councillor welcomed the change to the MyTicket upper age limit.
Commenting on the recommendation, Councillor Les Rowlands (Conservative, Wirral Council) said, "I very, very welcome the report. It’s nice to see Merseytravel leading the way for affordable travel for teenagers. I think it’s one of the biggest problems teenagers face actually getting transport around so this goes a long way towards helping that. So that is absolutely superb. "
Cllr Mary Rasmussen (Labour, Liverpool City Council) said, "I think it’s absolutely amazing what the officers have managed to achieve. You know with us there shoving you all the way, I know we’ve been a pain, but quite rightly. I think the people we need to really thank though is every kid that’s stopped us in the street and said to me ‘Do you know what Mary? It’s not fair! I can’t afford to do! I can’t get to school. I can’t do this, do something about it’ and do you know we actually have but don’t forget to thank them along the way. It was them that helped us get here. Well done."
Councillor Steve Foulkes (Labour, Wirral Council) also welcomed the move and said, "Let’s be careful how we talk about it. Some people are saying eighteen, up to eighteen. It’s up to a person’s nineteenth birthday. So let’s not undersell the product in any way, shape or form. Up to their nineteenth birthday MyTicket will apply, I think we need to you know blow the trumpet loud and clear."
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Why did Merseytravel spend £33,781.20 last year with Veale Wasbrough Vizards about its move to Mann Island?
Why did Merseytravel spend £33,781.20 last year with Veale Wasbrough Vizards about its move to Mann Island?
I went to a meeting of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Audit Committee yesterday and if you wish you can view the video of that meeting below. The agenda and reports for that meeting is on Merseytravel’s website.
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Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Audit Committee meeting 12th May 2015
What did occur to me after the meeting finished was that since the Local Government Transparency Code applies to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, that Merseytravel (which is now part of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority) would be required to publish a list of payments made over £500 each month on its website.
Unlike Wirral Council and the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority, who also publish comma separated values files of the same information (which can then be sorted in a spreadsheet) Merseytravel just publish this information as PDF files.
Links to each of these files which cover the last financial year are below.
If you’re observant, you’ll have noticed a gap for the month from the 26th May 2014 to the 25th June 2014. I’ve emailed Merseytravel to ask for the missing month of payments.Ed – 22/5/2015 – Merseytravel got back in touch with me on the 21st May informing me the missing month had now been put on their website, so it is now linked to above. The missing month includes another payment of £680 made to Veale Wasbrough Vizards for legal costs to do with the HQ relocation that was not available to me when originally writing this article.
However the other 11 months make for interesting reading.
There are a number of payments to a Veale Wasbrough Vizards (which is a Bristol based firm of solicitors) relating to Merseytravel’s controversial headquarters move from Hatton Gardens to Mann Island.
1 Mann Island (Merseytravel’s new headquarters)
Here’s a list of the payments made to Veale Wasbrough Vizards:
Merseytravel also paid £977.50 to Sara Bradbury in October 2014 for “Counsels Fees”.
A number of insurance payments were made by Merseytravel with compensation given as the reason.
ROYAL & SUN ALLIANCE
16/5/2014
Compensation – Public Liability
S-2101
Ins – General
£7,008
ROYAL & SUN ALLIANCE
18/7/2014
Compensation – Public Liability
S-2101
Ins – General
£2,717.00
ROYAL & SUN ALLIANCE
14/8/2014
Compensation Public Liability
S-2101
Ins – General
£8,500.00
ROYAL & SUN ALLIANCE
25/7/2014
Compensation Misc
S-2101
Ins – General
£11,575.00
THOMAS COOPER
8/8/2014
Compensation Misc
S-2101
Ins – General
£7,300.00
MERCURY LEGAL LLP
18/12/2014
Compensation Employers Liability
S-2101
Ins – General
£7,182.17
ROYAL & SUN ALLIANCE
18/12/2014
Compensation Public Liability
S-2101
Ins – General
£16,790.00
Total
£61,072.17
There was a payment for £507 to Weightmans LLP for an invoice dated 31st March 2014 for “specialist services”. Merseytravel also paid five amounts (£3,800, £2,600, £4,400, £750 and £2,145) to a firm of solicitors called Davies Wallis Foyster LLP for invoices in 2014 for the services of a solicitor.
Two payments of £15,115 and £15,590 were made to Royal & Sun Alliance for invoices dated 27th August 2014 and the 3rd December 2014 for the costs of external 3rd party solicitors.
Robert Jackson Solicitors charged £2,000 in an invoice dated 13th February 2015 for legal costs associated with an insurance claim, in the same month Merseytravel paid £4,812 to CS Cooper C/O Collins Long Solicitors which was again for legal costs to do with an insurance claim.
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