Wirral Council asks for bids on £275,000 contract for broadcasting its public meetings

Wirral Council asks for bids on £275,000 contract for broadcasting its public meetings

Wirral Council asks for bids on £275,000 contract for broadcasting its public meetings

                                      

Cllr Phil Davies speaking about Labour's Budget (Budget Council, 6th March 2017)
Cllr Phil Davies speaking about Labour’s Budget (Budget Council, 6th March 2017)

At Wirral Council’s Budget meeting in March 2017, included in Labour‘s budget was £225,000 for a webcasting/audio/electronic voting replacement described as “webcasting for committee meetings”.

At the time, the Liberal Democrats opposed this. They stated in their Budget that they believed “that this item should be withdrawn until the costs have been fully investigated and the benefits have been fully assessed and justified.”

In August Wirral Council published two notices in the Official Journal of the European Union. The first notice was published on 23rd August 2017, followed by a change to accept variants. By this point the price had gone up to £275,000 (excluding VAT).

Wirral Council came up with a webcasting Invitation To Tender which asks for the submission of tenders by 12 noon on the 20th September 2017.

11.9.17 ED: Since this article was published, Wirral Council have extended the date for the submission of tenders to noon on the 4th October 2017.

25.9.17 ED: Since this article was published, Wirral Council have extended the date again for the submission of tenders to noon on the 3rd November 2017.

In Wirral Council’s invitation to tender it states, “it must also be fully compatible with the Mod Gov case management solution: http://www.moderngov.co.uk/.

According to the technical information on the Mod Gov case management solution, Public-i and Media on Demand are the only two video webcasting solutions integrated to it.

The contract also requests an electronic voting system for public meetings of all Wirral Council councillors in the Council Chamber. In response to a question, Wirral Council stated that the current system of counting votes by which councillors had their hands up was “unreliable”.

If Wirral Council accepts one of the bids, the contract is expected to start on April 1st 2018 and run for three years.

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Wirral Council asks judiciary to intervene to keep 94 page report on Hoylake Golf Resort secret!

Wirral Council asks judiciary to intervene to keep 94 page report on Hoylake Golf Resort secret!

Wirral Council asks judiciary to intervene to keep 94 page report on Hoylake Golf Resort secret!

                                        

ICO (Information Commissioner's Office) logo
ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) logo

This is an update to a previous story I published on this blog headlined ICO require Wirral Council to release 94 page draft agreement with Nicklaus Joint Venture Group Limited about Hoylake Golf Resort.

I received a 2 page letter yesterday (4th September 2017) sent by Second Class post dated 1st September 2017 from ICO (the regulator).

In summary the letter states that the Information Commissioner’s solicitors are now dealing with the matter as Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council have appealed decision notice FER0672223 to the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights).

As Wirral Council are the Appellant, the Information Commissioner will be First Respondent.

ICO’s letter also states that due to this the Commissioner won’t be keeping me informed about further developments on the appeal.

Although I’m the person who made the original information request, as I’m not appealing the decision notice, I’m not at the point of writing this blog post a party to the matter.

From past experience it could take ~7 months before a decision is reached.

This is a new situation I find myself in as it’s the first time a public authority has appealed to the First-tier Tribunal a decision notice relating to an information request I’ve made!

A copy of ICO’s two page letter is below, the First-tier Tribunal case reference number is EA/2017/0191.

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3 further days of strike action on Merseyrail network over driver only operated trains

3 further days of strike action on Merseyrail network over driver only operated trains

3 further days of strike action on Merseyrail network over driver only operated trains

                                       

One of the new driver only operated trains ordered by Merseytravel that has led to the strikes
One of the new driver only operated trains ordered by Merseytravel that has led to the strikes

Talks between the RMT union, LCRCA Mayor Steve Rotheram, Cllr Liam Robinson and Frank Rogers have not averted three days of strike action on the Merseyrail network planned for Friday 1st September, Sunday 3rd September and Monday 4th September.

The dispute is about the introduction of trains in 2020 which will be operated solely by a driver rather than a driver and a guard.

Trains will not be running between Hooton and Ellesmere Port on the three strike days.

Details of the reduced service running to a strike timetable are on Merseyrail’s website. There will be a period of a few hours during the middle of the day when no trains on the Merseyrail network will run.

Merseyrail trains on the following routes that usually stop at stations on the Wirral will not be stopping at the following stations.

New Brighton to Liverpool & Liverpool to New Brighton

Moorfields, Lime Street and Liverpool Central

West Kirby to Liverpool & Liverpool to West Kirby

Bidston*, Manor Road, Birkenhead Park, Conway Park, Moorfields, Lime Street and Liverpool Central

*Arriva Trains Wales trains on the Bidston-Wrexham line will still be stopping at Bidston on strike days.

Chester to Liverpool & Liverpool to Chester

Bache, Bromborough Rake, Capenhurst, Chester, Eastham Rake, Moorfields, Lime Street and Liverpool Central

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What are Merseytravel’s legal fees to defend a legal challenge to the £272 million rolling stock contract?

What are Merseytravel’s legal fees to defend a legal challenge to the £272 million rolling stock contract?

What are Merseytravel’s legal fees to defend a legal challenge to the £272 million rolling stock contract?

                                     

During the 2016-17 audit (which covers the start of April 2016 to the end of March 2017), I requested to inspect various invoices paid by Merseytravel and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and have since picked up copies from their headquarters.

In December 2016, a large rolling stock contract (for new trains) was agreed by councillors on the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to be awarded to Stadler Bussnang AG. Stadler Bussnang AG will charge £272,424,952.00 for the new trains.

An unsuccessful bidder (Bombardier) brought a challenge to how the procurement decision had been arrived at and large invoices for legal work from DLA Piper UK LLP have been submitted to Merseytravel’s Rolling Stock Director (David Powell).

The thumbnails of invoices below each link to a higher resolution image for the same invoice.

Invoice 413 from DLA Piper UK LLP (invoice 54833489) dated 31st January 2017 is for £231,124.96. This is for the matter, “Fleet Replacement Project”. This is broken down to “To our fees for professional services” of £187,013.80 + VAT, followed by the following expenses, search fees (£2.00 + VAT), subsistence (£152.68 + VAT), travel (£5,195.65 + VAT) and Vroom Plus (£240 + VAT).

Continue reading “What are Merseytravel’s legal fees to defend a legal challenge to the £272 million rolling stock contract?”

Why did 2 Wirral Council councillors take taxi journeys costing £83.60 each time?

Why did 2 Wirral Council councillors take taxi journeys costing £83.60 each time?

Why did 2 Wirral Council councillors take taxi journeys costing £83.60 each time?

                                              

Wirral Council Cabinet meeting at Birkenhead Town Hall Thursday 12th March 2015 Left to right Surjit Tour, Cllr Phil Davies and Joe Blott
Wirral Council Cabinet meeting at Birkenhead Town Hall Thursday 12th March 2015 Left to right Surjit Tour, Cllr Phil Davies and Joe Blott

This year, during the 30 day inspection period I requested the Eye Cab Limited invoices for the contract for taxis for councillors.

An option in the Eye Cab Limited Passenger Transport Contract to extend it for a further year was taken up by the Council which meant it ran to the 31st August 2017.

Wirral Satellite Cars (who have recently merged with Argyle Taxis to become Argyle Satellite) won the the contract to supply taxi journeys to councillors which started on the 1st September 2017. Major parts of the new contract have also been redacted on grounds of commercial confidentiality.

The Eye Cab Limited invoices supplied cover March 2016, April 2016, May 2016, June 2016, July 2016 and August 2016. Apologies if the text can be a little hard to read, but these were how they were supplied by Wirral Council.

These are for taxi journeys by Cllr Moira McLaughlin, former Cllr Steve Niblock, Cllr Tony Norbury, Cllr Irene Williams, Cllr Warren Ward, Cllr Stuart Whittingham, Cllr Phil Davies and Cllr George Davies.

Wirral Council has decided to redact from these invoices, the name of the Wirral Council employee that these invoices went to and the mobile telephone number for Eye Cab limited. Some of the start points and end points of these taxi journeys have also been redacted by Wirral Council who deem it to be unfair processing of personal data for the public to know the home addresses of councillors!

One matter that does stand out are two taxi journeys made on the 5th July 2016 and the 7th July 2016 costing £83.60 each (as Wirral Council received an invoice each time for a 70 mile round trip rather than just the mileage between points A and B). Both journeys are shown on the invoice as being related to Cllr Phil Davies and both relate to taxi journeys to Manchester Airport.

Wirral Council have pointed out that Cllr Phil Davies shared the taxi journey with the Deputy Leader of the Council Cllr George Davies and the purpose of it was travel to and from the LGA Conference held in Bournemouth between the 5th and 7th of July 2016.

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