Wirral Council | A blog about Wirral Council, Wirral Council's councillors & officers

Bins, Biffa, page 59, Wirral Council, “Confidential Information” and what you’re not supposed to know (yet)

I was reading through the Biffa contract (who get paid ~£12 million a year for collecting bins and other things) and this interesting snippet about Freedom of Information and Data Protection caught my eye on page 59. I haven’t made any FOI requests for the yearly CO₂ emissions of bin lorries but this is how such a request would be dealt with if someone were to do so. This is probably only of interest to those who work in this area such as the media, FOI practitioners and of limited interest to the public, so apologies if I’m getting boring! Contractor in the contract refers to Biffa Waste Services Limited. At 4.61.2.3 I couldn’t help but laugh at the bit about time for compliance for FOI requests considering Wirral Council’s track record and my recent decision notice from ICO on that matter.

The “absolute discretion” bit in 4.61.3 is very interesting as quite often local councils refuse to release information about companies and contracts on commercial sensitivity grounds saying well we’d like to give you this information but company X won’t let us.

Last Thursday (11th September 2014) Wirral Council’s Cabinet agreed to ask Kevin Adderley to enter into negotiations with Biffa over extending this ~£12 million/year contract from 2020 to 2027 without putting it out to tender. However an extra clause was added over value for money. Mr. Adderley was asked to report back to a future Cabinet meeting on the outcome of negotiations.

However the contract does state that if Wirral Council wish to extend the contract from 2020 to 2027 they don’t have to tell Biffa this until on or before 21st August 2019. So why the big rush other than to pander to Biffa’s commercial interests and damage Wirral Council’s?

Well from what was said at the Cabinet meeting Biffa Waste Services Limited have offered Wirral Council “incentives” on the current contract (which runs to 2020) if Wirral Council agree to a seven-year contract extension and don’t put it out to competitive tender when it expires in 2020.

Extending the contract by seven years is effectively making a decision that will tie the hands of future administrations (of whatever party or parties) at Wirral Council. However I’m sure (if officers are doing their job properly) that what I’ve just written is the kind of details that were in the exempt appendices for last Thursday’s Cabinet meeting. The Labour politicians on Wirral Council’s Cabinet decided that the public aren’t really supposed to know about it (which is why the press and public got chucked out of the public meeting before those appendices were decided despite the public interest test arguably being in favour of such stuff being in the public domain).

Another factor to consider is that from November 2014 Wirral Council will be under a legal duty to publish such contracts (we here have a copy of the very long contract as part of the 2013/14 audit but it would probably take me about a day of work just to publish a fraction of it as it is very, very, very long) and from November 2014 invoices. Hence I’m sure Biffa are keen to have it extended by seven years, before people like the Rt Hon Frank Field MP start referring to them again (see the last Birkenhead Constituency Committee meeting for that) and anyone kicks up more of a fuss! Oh dear, have I let an awful lot of cats out of the bag yet again?

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4.61 Freedom of Information and Data Protection

4.61.1 The Contractor acknowledges that the Council is subject to the requirements of the FOIA and the Environmental Information Regulations and shall assist and cooperate with the Council (at the Contractor’s expense) to enable the Council to comply with Information disclosure requirements.

4.61.2 The Contractor shall and shall procure that its sub-contractors shall:

4.61.2.1 Transfer a Request for Information to the Council as soon as practicable after receipt and in any event within two Working Days of receiving a Request for Information;

4.61.2.2 Provide the Council with a copy of all Information in its possession or power in the form that the Council requires within five Working Days (or such other period as the Council may specify) of the Council requesting that Information; and

4.61.2.3 Provide all necessary assistance as reasonably requested by the Council to enable the Council to respond to a Request for Information within the time for compliance set out in section 10 of the FOIA or Regulation 5(2) of the Environmental Information Regulations.

4.61.3 The Council shall be responsible for determining at its absolute discretion whether:-

4.61.3.1 The Information is exempt from disclosure under FOIA and the Environmental Information Regulations;

4.61.3.2 The Information is to be disclosed in response to a Request for Information, and

4.61.3.3 In no event shall the Contractor respond directly to a Request for Information unless expressly authorised to do so by the Council.

4.61.4 The Contractor acknowledge that the Council may, acting in accordance with the FOIA, or the Environmental Information Regulations disclose Information:-

4.61.4.1 Without consulting with the Contractor, or

4.61.4.2 Following consultation with the Contractor and having taken its views into account.

4.61.5 The Contractor acknowledges that any lists or schedules provided by it outlining Confidential Information are of indicative value only and that the Council may nevertheless be obliged to disclose Confidential Information in accordance with Clause 4.60.2.1.6.3.

4.61.6 The Contractor shall ensure that all information produced in the course of the Contract relating to the Contract is retained for disclosure and shall permit the Council to inspect such records as requested from time to time.

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Biffa Waste Services Limited contract Wirral Council page 59

Biffa Waste Services Limited contract Wirral Council page 25

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Expense claim forms for Councillor Brian Kenny (Wirral Council) 2013 to 2014

Writing this, I had better declare that many years ago in Liverpool Councillor Brian Kenny gave us both a gift of a red plastic post box in I think in 2010 (it’s only a few inches high) as part of the lobbying that the Communication Workers Union were doing at the time of people like myself and Leonora. Although this falls into the trivial category, journalism ethics means I’d better state that at the start as I don’t want people thinking I’m being too kind or not objective enough to former Councillor Brian Kenny because of something he gave us four years ago. I will point out that gift was completely unconnected to my work as a journalist. However this is probably more openness and accountability than you will get from most politicians (who were recently told at a Planning Committee meeting about Tranmere Rovers that they only had to declare gifts received in the last twelve months)!

When I picked up the expenses claim forms to scan in for former Councillor Brian Kenny, at first I thought I must have picked up a batch which was for more than one councillor as compared to other councillors there seemed a lot of it. I know he was the Cabinet Member for the Environment, but his expenses claim forms go on and on and on and on and on like the waves crashing against the shore on the Wirral coastline.

As probably readers of this blog are already aware, former Councillor Brian Kenny lost his seat in Birkenhead and Tranmere in the May 2014 elections to the Green Party’s Councillor Pat Cleary.

I have only seen Brian Kenny twice since the elections. Once was at the meeting where Councillor Steve Foulkes became Mayor of Wirral in June, the other time was when I was at the Birkenhead County Court offices when I was requesting copies of court records on Wirral Council’s possession order (granted in February 2014 effective from February 2015) for Fernbank Farm. Before I start getting diverted into interesting anecdotes about a former councillor I had better show you first the expenses forms.

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 1

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 2

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 3

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 4

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 5

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 6

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 7

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 8

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 9

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 10

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 11

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 12

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 13

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 14

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 15

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 16

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 17

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 18

Cllr Brian Kenny expenses claim 2013 2014 page 19

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Expense claim forms for Councillor Stuart Kelly (Wirral Council) 2013 to 2014

Councillor Stuart Kelly is a Liberal Democrat councillor for Oxton ward. He is also their spokesperson on the Audit and Risk Management Committee (which at the time of writing) will be meeting tomorrow evening to sign off on Wirral Council’s accounts for 2013-14 (which include his own expenses claims) totalling hundreds of millions of pounds.

So, having received specialised audit training and being the spokesperson for audit on Wirral Council for his party do all his expense claims add up? No he claimed too much by £0.40p for travelling to a meeting in Birkenhead as 3 * 40p does not equal £1.60. How embarrassing for Councillor Stuart Kelly (but thankfully this risk of overpayments was noticed before it was paid)? However we all make mistakes.

On the plus side he is one of the few councillors that type their expenses claims, which as some councillors have handwriting that is very difficult to decipher helps a lot with comprehension. Councillor Stuart Kelly’s claim forms are below.

Cllr Stuart Kelly expenses claim 2013 2014 page 1

Cllr Stuart Kelly expenses claim 2013 2014 page 2

Cllr Stuart Kelly expenses claim 2013 2014 page 3

Cllr Stuart Kelly expenses claim 2013 2014 page 4

Cllr Stuart Kelly expenses claim 2013 2014 page 5

Cllr Stuart Kelly expenses claim 2013 2014 page 6

Cllr Stuart Kelly expenses claim 2013 2014 page 7

Cllr Stuart Kelly expenses claim 2013 2014 page 8

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Expense claim forms for Councillor Mike Hornby (Wirral Council) 2013 to 2014

Councillor Mike Hornby is a Conservative Party councillor for Greasby, Frankby & Irby (which sounds like three wards but is actually one). Eleven pages of claim forms were given to me relating to him (which at least shows that unlike some other councillors who aren’t sticking to the rules as some councillors were putting many months of expenses on the same set of forms, he is at least doing these on a monthly basis making them far easier to understand).

The eleven pages of claim forms submitted by Councillor Mike Hornby are below including what looks like some corrections to the original entries that have been corrected.

Cllr Mike Hornby expenses claim 2013 2014 page 1

Cllr Mike Hornby expenses claim 2013 2014 page 2

Cllr Mike Hornby expenses claim 2013 2014 page 3

Cllr Mike Hornby expenses claim 2013 2014 page 4

Cllr Mike Hornby expenses claim 2013 2014 page 5

Cllr Mike Hornby expenses claim 2013 2014 page 6

Cllr Mike Hornby expenses claim 2013 2014 page 7

Cllr Mike Hornby expenses claim 2013 2014 page 8

Cllr Mike Hornby expenses claim 2013 2014 page 9

Cllr Mike Hornby expenses claim 2013 2014 page 10

Cllr Mike Hornby expenses claim 2013 2014 page 11

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Expense claim forms for Councillor Andrew Hodson (Wirral Council) 2013 to 2014

Councillor Andrew Hodson is a Conservative councillor for Heswall ward. His expense claim forms are below.

Some of his duplicate claims seem to have been disallowed.

To be honest I did manage to do this myself once over a very small claim when a politician (although our expenses claims were over smaller amounts than councillors plus we didn’t get paid allowances (only the fulltime ones did)). Our expenses took an incredibly long time to process as they all required four signatures (three politicians and an officer)) which at times put you off claiming at all. All our expense claims had to be initially signed off by two politicians (the person claiming and another politician). Rather stupidly I completely ignored the verbal advice of our treasurer at the time who told me it was a duplicate claim and then got rather embarrassed later when it was brought up by an officer when it got processed and disallowed as I got shall we say shouted at by an officer for doing so. However I admitted my mistake, said I was sorry for stupidly ignoring someone’s warnings and learnt my lesson about actually listening to people you are senior to and I never did it again.

Part of the problem was that I had submitted the original claim many weeks ago and as it hadn’t been paid yet, I naturally assumed that I had forgotten to do so as I have a tendency to be absent-minded at times. Rather embarrassingly the original claim got paid a day or two after I submitted the duplicate.

So duplicate claims happen, even to people like me! Human error can happen and that’s why there are checks and balances. Certainly the expenses system we had in place was (and we’re talking about sums of about ~£25 per a year per a politician and only about ~£8 (or less) a year of that sum was actually from the taxpayer, so it was very small sums indeed I got shouted at over) was even more arcane and bureaucratic than Wirral Council’s is. When I handed over to the person who replaced me, some jokes were made at the time about it being like the MP’s expenses system, I had to tell them it wasn’t that generous!