Cllr Phil Davies stands down as Chair of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority This morning the dramatic news that Cllr Phil Davies is stepping down as Chair of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority was made public. In a statement Cllr Phil Davies said, "I felt now was the right moment to rebalance … Continue reading “Cllr Phil Davies stands down as Chair of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority”
Cllr Phil Davies stands down as Chair of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
Councillor Phil Davies chairing a meeting of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority earlier this year
This morning the dramatic news that Cllr Phil Davies is stepping down as Chair of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority was made public. In a statement Cllr Phil Davies said, "I felt now was the right moment to rebalance my time in favour of my duties as Wirral Council Leader."
Councillor Phil Davies (Leader of Wirral Council pictured above) has been Chair since the Combined Authority’s since the first meeting of the Combined Authority on April Fool’s Day in 2014. Those with long memories will remember that Mayor Joe Anderson (pictured below) expected to be elected Chair at that meeting and was unhappy at how Cllr Phil Davies was elected.
Mayor Anderson was elected Mayor of Liverpool in 2012 and is expected to be the Labour candidate in an election for a second term of office as Liverpool’s Mayor in 2016. As a result of the devolution deal announced last month, there will be a public election for the Mayor of Merseyside in May 2017. Mayor Anderson has announced his intention to seek the Labour nomination for Mayor of Merseyside and if he is elected Chair of the Combined Authority at Friday’s meeting this will help his chances.
Mayor Joe Anderson speaking at a meeting of Liverpool City Council (8th April 2015)
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A number of other major developments are ongoing, including:
Negotiations are ongoing with Neptune Developments for the sale of three sites at Europa Boulevard to provide a replacement swimming pool and fitness suite, Budget Hotel, Food court and Fast Food Drive-through. Allied to this as Phase 2 will be the grant of an intermediate lease of
Birkenhead Market to Neptune to safeguard its continued operation, with a view to the eventual grant of a restructured lease to facilitate the development of a smaller market which will, in turn, release land for the reconfiguration of The Grange.
The proposal to establish the Isle of Mann University ICT Faculty in Birkenhead is still being worked on. This will utilise the Conway Building and Municipal Building in Cleveland Street. Proposed Heads of Term have been prepared in anticipation of confirmation from the University that funding is in place.
In other words, Wirral Council plan to grant Neptune an intermediate lease of Birkenhead Market, then "develop" a smaller market so that some (or all) of where Birkenhead Market is at present can be sold to become part of the Pyramids and Grange Shopping Centre.
Will will the promised consultation with the public over Neptune’s plans for Birkenhead Town Centre happen?
Meanwhile across the road from Birkenhead Market, Wirral Council look set to lease the Conway Building to what’s down in the report as the "Isle of Man University", but is more likely to be the Isle of Man College at the University of Chester.
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Wirral’s Cabinet expected to start consultation on 4% Council Tax rise and £2.4 million of cuts
Cllr Phil Davies at a recent Cabinet meeting
Wirral Council’s Cabinet will meet next Thursday evening to discuss further cuts to Wirral Council’s budget for the 2016/17 year. Councillors are expected to agree to a public consultation on £2.5 million of budget options as well as a 4% council tax increase. Cabinet is also expected to agree to a staff consultation on budget options such as reducing the pay rise from 2% to 1%.
The consultation will run from the 18th December 2015 and finishes on the 29th January 2016. At the end of the consultation Cabinet will propose a budget to be voted on at a meeting of all Wirral’s councillors.
Community Safety (£367,000) – litter enforcement was recently outsourced to Kingdom Security and this proposal would see the same happen to dog fouling enforcement, Wirral Council hope to increase income to the community safety service from landlords and schools.
Discretionary Housing Payments & Advice (£406,000) – this proposal would see Wirral Council only covering rent shortfalls to people in hardship to the amount they receive from the government, it would also see the end of Wirral Council providing welfare benefits advice.
Girtrell Court service re-provision (£155,000) – Girtrell Court provides short breaks for carers of adults with physical and learning disabilities, this proposal would see that service provided by the private sector instead of directly by Wirral Council.
Highways Maintenance and Road Safety (£320,000) – This proposal means Wirral Council would only use the money it receives for highways maintenance, only 100 out of 300 grit bins would be filled and school crossing patrols would be reviewed.
Leisure Centres and Golf Courses (£641,000) – Discounts and free access would be removed, such as free access for long serving Council staff, foster carers and families, free swimming for those under 18 in the school holidays and free swimming for the over 65s between 9am and noon.
Libraries Re-provision (£203,000) – Transferring up to 12 of Wirral’s libraries into "community ownership" (run by volunteers rather than paid staff).
Parks Community Partnership Working (£108,000) – Increasing the role of community organisations and volunteers in parks maintenance and looking to increase parks income.
Charging for the Pest Control Service (£30,000) – Charging landlords, business and residents who can afford to pay for dealing with rats.
Charging for the Garden Waste Service (£196,000) – Increasing the brown bin charge from £35 a year to £40 a year (but with a £5 discount if paid online).
So to summarise the proposed cuts (along with a 4% council tax increase) are to dog fouling, community safety, covering rent shortfalls for those in financial hardship, axing the welfare right service, the short breaks for carers service, highways maintenance, grit bins, school crossing patrols, free swimming for children, free swimming for pensioners, free leisure access for some Council staff, transferring many of Wirral’s libraries to be run by volunteers, having more volunteers involved in parks maintenance, charging for dealing with rats and increasing the brown bin charge by £5.
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EXCLUSIVE: First 83 pages of Wirral Council’s Highway Services Contract with BAM Nuttall
In 2013, Wirral Council’s Cabinet on the 7th November decided to award the Highway Services Contract to BAM Nuttall (which started on the 1st April 2014). BAM Nuttall won the contract out of three companies that bid for it and they replaced the previous contractor Colas. The contract runs from 2014 to 2018 and has an estimated value of £30 to £33 million (£6 to £6.6 million a year). You can read the Cabinet report that led to that decision and the Internal Audit report and Gateway 3 report (along with the recommendations/action plan for both of those) on Wirral Council’s website.
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At a meeting on the 7th November 2013 Wirral Council’s Cabinet spends less than two minutes deciding on awarding the £30 to £33 million Highway Services Contract to BAM Nuttall (that agenda item starts at 1m 40s)
This year was the first year I could request a copy of the BAM Nuttall contract during the audit and I’ve scanned in the first 83 pages (of a very long contract). The Highway Services Contract is for:
the provision of standby and call-out, reactive and preventative maintenance on all parts of the highway, public car park and coastal defence infrastructure for which Wirral Council is responsible, including: carriageways; footways; gully cleaning and drainage; street lighting and electrical services; traffic signs and road markings; street and coastal defence furniture; bridges; subways and retaining walls and sea wall and accesses; together with snow and ice clearance; including precautionary salting except for
maintenance of traffic signals equipment and their electrical supplies, all maintenance and improvement schemes estimated in value at over £250,000 and the provision of gritting vehicles and road salt.
The documents below cover the parent company guarantee with Koninklijke Bam Groep N.V. (no that’s not a spelling mistake but the name of a company based in the Netherlands), then the start of volume 1 (part 1) of the contract documents which covers form of agreement, bond (unfortunately the details haven’t been filled in on this), form of tender, declaration, what information is considered commercially sensitive for freedom of information requests, information assurance, insurance certificate (with AXA Corporate Solutions), parent company letter guarantee, contract data part 1 (data provided by Wirral Council, partnering information, more contract data on the optional parts of the contract (pages 62-63 add optional clauses about FOI requests) which includes matters such as TUPE, subcontracting, intellectual property, data protection, human rights, the Local Government Ombudsman, price adjustment for inflation and other optional clauses/changes to the contract).
Below are thumbnail images of the contract pages. The text on the thumbnails is just about readable on my laptop screen. If there are any pages that you find it’s not readable please leave a comment with the page number and I’ll link the thumbnail to a higher resolution image for that page.
The optional contract clauses added about FOI requests seem to mean that if a FOI request is made for information about or relating to the contract, that Wirral Council will contact BAM Nuttall and ask it to make representations if it wants information to be withheld. Page 24 of the contract classes the following parts of the contract as "commercially sensitive" which are Contract Data Part 2, The Price List and the Fee Percentage Schedules.
Wirral Council invests £38 million in company mired in allegations of bribery of foreign politicians and civil servants
Pensions Committee (Merseyside Pension Fund) 16th November 2015 L to R Peter Wallach, Cllr Paul Doughty (Chair)
Towards the end of the BBC ten o’clock news yesterday evening after the stories about Syria, climate change and the doctors’ strike being called off there was a piece about British American Tobacco.
For those who don’t know Wirral Council (who manage the Merseyside Pension Fund) had (valued at March 2015) £38 million invested in shares in British American Tobacco. In fact it is their largest shareholding (see page 15 here). I will declare an interest as a close relative of mine is paid a pension by the Merseyside Pension Fund.
As the BBC only keep clips of the news available on BBC Iplayer for 24 hours, I felt it would be useful to have a transcript of the piece so that it reached a wider audience.
Huw Edwards: A BBC investigation has uncovered evidence of corruption and bribery at the UK’s fifth biggest company. BBC Panorama found British American Tobacco paid bribes to politicians and civil servants in countries across East Africa.
The illegal payments even undermined a United Nations initiative designed to save lives! The company could face prosecution around the world for failing to prevent bribery. BAT says it does not tolerate corruption.
Our special correspondent Richard Bilton reports.
Richard Bilton: This is northern Uganda, it’s tobacco country. Thousands of farmers work these hills, but there is another way to make money from this crop. We’re on our way to meet a very important man. This is a guy who helps to decide who gets to buy and sell tobacco and what we know about the man we’re on our way to meet is he’s corrupt.
This is Doctor Kasirivu Atwooki and we’ve seen documents that show he was paid $20,000 by BAT to change a parliamentary report. He doesn’t know, I know he’s corrupt.
If an MP, a sitting MP took a bribe, how would you feel about that?
Dr Kasirivu Atwooki: Well, that’s not acceptable.
Richard Bilton: You took a bribe though, didn’t you?
Dr Kasirivu Atwooki: Why should I?
Richard Bilton: You took $20,000 from BAT!
Dr Kasirivu Atwooki: From when?
Richard Bilton: In 2012.
Dr Kasirivu Atwooki: No, no, no, that’s not true!
Richard Bilton: Are you corrupt?
Dr Kasirivu Atwooki: I’m not!
Richard Bilton: The evidence suggests he is and we know because of this man. Paul Hopkins was in the Irish Special Forces before he joined BAT. He says he was told bribery was the cost of doing business in Africa.
Paul Hopkins: I was a commercial hit man. My job was to ensure that the competition never got a breathing space.
Richard Bilton: So BAT, they knew what they wanted you to do and they expected you to get on with it?
Paul Hopkins: Yes.
Richard Bilton: And that included bribing?
Paul Hopkins: Yes.
Richard Bilton: Breaking the law?
Paul Hopkins: Yes.
Richard Bilton: Applying pressure?
Paul Hopkins: Yes.
Richard Bilton: Undermining commercial rivals?
Paul Hopkins: Yes.
Richard Bilton: And you were happy to do that?
Paul Hopkins: Yes.
Richard Bilton: BAT sold 667 billion cigarettes last year and made £4.5 billion profit, but the documents Paul has supplied show employees paid bribes to change anti-tobacco legislation, damage rivals, even undermine the UN effort to save lives.
Bribes were paid to three officials connected to a World Health Organisation supported campaign which aimed to reduce tobacco related deaths. I showed our evidence to the woman who runs the campaign.
Richard Bilton: That’s BAT paying a representative $3,000. What do you feel about that?
Dr Vera Luiza Da Costa E Silva (WHO): It’s a company that is err irresponsible to say the least. It’s using bribery to profit at the cost of people’s lives, simple as that.
Richard Bilton: BAT failed to answer any of our questions directly. Mr Durante? So I caught up with Chief Executive Nicandro Durante as he arrived at work. Sir, can I ask you a quick question? I’m from Panorama, why did you not respond to our emails about bribery? Is that the nature of BAT Sir, that you just put up with bribery?
Richard Bilton: BAT has since told us, the truth is that we do not and will not tolerate corruption no matter where it takes place. Our accusers in this programme left us in acrimonious circumstances and have a vendetta against us. The whistleblower is due to meet investigators from the UK’s Serious Fraud Office this week to discuss the bribery secrets of one of the UK’s biggest companies. Richard Bilton, BBC News.
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