Tag: Bill Norman

2009 Public Inquiry into Wirral Council’s library closures including Bill Norman’s email and Sue Charteris letter

2009 Public Inquiry into Wirral Council’s library closures including Bill Norman’s email and Sue Charteris letter

2009 Public Inquiry into Wirral Council’s library closures including Bill Norman’s email and Sue Charteris letter

                               

Reading through the Wirral Council’s response to critical reports 2010-2013 there is one report not included because it was published about a month before the cutoff date of 2010, it’s the report written by Sue Charteris following the public inquiry ordered by the Secretary of State into Wirral’s library closure program held at the Floral Pavilion which describes Wirral’s failure in these terms “The Public Inquiry into Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council’s (MBC) Library Service has found the Council’s decision to restructure its Library Service to be in breach of its statutory duties under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964, to provide ‘comprehensive and efficient public Library Services for all persons desirous to make use thereof'”

The text of Bill Norman’s email to councillors who received a copy of the draft report, before the final report was published is below along with a link to the letter from Sue Charteris (marked private and confidential).

From: Norman, Bill D.
Sent: 13 October 2009 18:03
To: Councillors
Cc: Chief Officers; Lester, Jim L.; Degg, Emma J.; Lyon, Rosemary A.; MacLaverty, Paula K.; Pennington, Abigail; Watts, Margaret
Subject: Extraordinary Council – 12 October 2009

Dear Councillor

Following last night’s Extraordinary Council meeting, please find attached a copy of the letter dated 27 July 2009 from Sue Charteris to me. The letter enclosed two copies of the draft Report prepared by Ms Charteris following the two day Wirral Libraries Public Inquiry.

The 27 July letter makes it clear that the draft Report was provided to me on the basis of a specific obligation of confidentiality. Because Sue Charteris was appointed by the Secretary of State to conduct the Libraries Inquiry, her requirements as to confidentiality are the requirements of the Secretary of State and are legally enforceable. This has the effect of making the draft Report ‘confidential information’ for the purposes of Part 5A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Confidential information is different to ‘exempt information’. With exempt information, Members may resolve to exclude the press and public from meetings; but it is a matter for their discretion. (In addition, Part 5A of the 1972 Act provides for all Members generally to have an entitlement to receive exempt reports.) Confidential information is different: the Council must comply with the terms upon which the information is provided. Section 100A(2) of the 1972 Act expressly makes clear that nothing in Part 5A authorises or requires the disclosure of confidential information in breach of the obligation of confidentiality.

In line with the terms of the obligation of confidentiality in the 27 July letter, I have only circulated the draft Report to those Members within the Cabinet and those officers from whom I needed comments prior to responding to Sue Charteris. That response by me to Sue Charteris is also covered by the same obligation of confidentiality. The obligation of confidentiality remains in place and no Member or officer should publicly discuss the contents of the draft Report prior to the Secretary of State’s decision being published.

As was pointed out last night, the 27 July letter does not list the names of who may see the draft report. As the recipient of the letter, that judgement fell to me and I accept personal responsibility for my decision in that regard (this was not a matter on which I took any external legal advice). However, I wish to emphasise that my decision was absolutely not intended to be a reflection as to any individual Member’s ability to respect confidences.

I was asked last night to list those persons to whom I have shown a copy of the draft Report. Although I do not believe that there is any legal obligation on me to disclose this information, equally I understand the exceptional level of interest in this matter. I have therefore decided to provide that information.

In order to enable me to respond to Sue Charteris on the contents of her draft report (which was a combination of factual corrections, clarifications and legal arguments) copies of the draft report were provided to the following persons:

Steve Maddox, Chief Executive
Jim Wilkie, Deputy Chief Executive
Alan Stennard, Director of Regeneration
Ian Coleman, Director of Finance
Howard Cooper, Director of Children and Young People
Jim Lester, Head of Cultural Services
Emma Degg, Head of Tourism and Marketing
Rosemary Lyon, Interim Head of Legal and Member Services
Councillor Steve Foulkes, Leader of the Council
Councillor Simon Holbrook, Deputy Leader of the Council
Councillor Phil Davies
Councillor Gill Gardiner
Councillor Bob Moon

Under the Public Libraries (Inquiry Procedure) Rules 1992, the Final report by Sue Charteris will either be published with the Secretary of State’s Decision letter, or will be available on request by any person who appeared at the Inquiry and asked to be notified of the Decision (which I believe will include a number of Councillors who spoke at the Inquiry). Given that the Final report will become public knowledge, in my view there cannot be any ‘public interest’ justification for disclosing the contents of the Report prior to the Secretary of State’s Decision. In the light of this, any Councillor who breaches the obligation of confidentiality would also be likely to be in breach of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

If any Member wishes to have more information of the legal framework for my decision, or on the Public Libraries (Inquiry Procedure) Rules, please let me know.

I have no objection to this email being shared with the press or public. However, the attached letter was written by Sue Charteris and I ask that you seek her permission before disclosing it to anyone else.

Regards

Bill

Bill Norman
Director of Law, HR and Asset Management
Wirral Council

Tel: 0151 691 8497
billnorman@wirral.gov.uk

Visit our website www.wirral.gov.uk
Please save paper and print out only what is necessary

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Wirral Public Library Inquiry_0001.pdf

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Labour ban filming at public meeting of Wirral Council’s Pensions Committee

Labour Chair of Pensions Committee Cllr Pat Glasman bans filming at public meeting

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In extraordinary scenes tonight, Labour councillors at Wirral Council (where else?) chose to ban filming during a public meeting of the Pension Committee. The Pension Committee has eleven Wirral Council councillors on it, along with a councillor from each other Merseyside local authority and a trade union representative. Wirral Council are the administering authority for the £4.7 billion Merseyside Pension Fund, which at its last valuation had a £1.3 billion deficit. Quite what are the real reasons behind this move we’re not entirely sure, although it makes the public wonder what they’ve got to hide (agenda and reports on Wirral Council’s website here)?

I quote from this letter from their previous Director of Law, Bill Norman dated 22nd July 2011 “Finally, I can confirm that, since Monday 28 February 2011, blogging, Tweeting and the use of video cameras have all been permitted during meetings of the Council. Indeed, a number of people were using some of these technologies in the meeting on 1 March. Wirral Council was the first local authority in Merseyside to respond to the request by the Government to take this step to allow greater public scrutiny of meetings and decisions.”

The below was also agreed as Wirral Council policy (agreed unanimously on 12th December 2011),

(2) Reaffirms its commitment, made last year by the previous Conservative Liberal Democrat administration, to ensure that any member of the public who wishes to film or broadcast from a public Council meeting is encouraged to do so.

However since taking over in May, some Labour councillors seem determined to make decisions that ride roughshod over agreed policy or decisions they don’t agree with (such as the Budget for 2012/2013 agreed by the former Conservative/Lib Dem administration). Certainly the last time the former Chair of the Planning Committee, Cllr David Elderton tried this just over a year ago, there was a U-turn within a few days.

It’ll be interesting to see (pun intended) what happens next.

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. 

Investigation and Disciplinary Committee | 20th August 2012 | Item 1 – Appointment of Chair | Item 2 – Declarations of Interest | Item 3 – Exempt Information – Exclusion of the Press and Public | Agenda Item 4 – Update in Relation to the Suspension of Council Officers

Investigation and Disciplinary Committee
Date: 20th August 2012
Time: 4.00pm

Committee Room 2

Investigation and Disciplinary Committee minutes (20th August 2012) (approved 21st September 2012)
Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (20/8/2012) Agenda

Present

Councillors (7/7)
Cllr Dave Mitchell Liberal Democrat
Cllr Adrian Jones Labour
Cllr Lesley Rennie Conservative
Cllr Mike Hornby Conservative
Cllr Ann McLachlan Labour
Cllr Brian Kenny Labour
Cllr Anne McArdle Labour

Wirral Council Officers
Shirley Hudspeth (Committee Services Officer)
Chris Hyams, Human Resources (Head)
Tony Williams, Human Resources (Acting Employee Relations Manager)
Surjit Tour, Acting Head of Law, Human Resources and Asset Management
David Armstrong
Unknown female
Unknown male

Also
Items 1-3 Two members of the press/public

The agenda for this meeting can be found here.

Agenda Item 1 – Appointment of Chair

Cllr Brian Kenny and Cllr Adrian Jones proposed Cllr Ann McLachlan as Chair.
There were no other nominations so Cllr McLachlan was made Chair.

Cllr Dave Mitchell proposed Cllr Adrian Jones as Vice-Chair, however it wasn’t seconded. There was a second valid nomination as Vice-Chair so Cllr Brian Kenny was made Vice-Chair.

Agenda Item 2 – Members’ Code of Conduct – Declarations of Interest
Councillors present made no declarations of interest.

Agenda Item 3 – Exempt Information – Exclusion of the Press and Public

The Chair suggested that the public and press were excluded from the rest of the meeting for agenda item 4 (Update in Relation to the Suspension of Council Officers) (reason given – Information relating to any individual and agenda item 5 (Any Other Urgent Business Approved by the Chair) (although there was no AOB).

Agenda Item 4 – Update in Relation to the Suspension of Council Officers

The Investigation and Disciplinary Committee received an update in a 16-page preliminary investigation report about the matters that led to the suspensions of Bill Norman, Ian Coleman and David Taylor-Smith (but also relate in part to the earlier suspension of David Green).

It related in part to:-

1) This public interest report published by the Audit Commission on 8th June 2012 entitled Highways and engineering services contract award and management.

2) The Council’s policies on senior officers declaring interests and whether these had been followed.

3) Various other matters relating to the above four suspended individuals.

The following resolution was then agreed,

“(1) the progress being made in respect of the preliminary investigation be noted; and

(2) the way forward in relation to the three Statutory Officers, as outlined in paragraph 5.6 of the report, be agreed.”

Agenda Item 5 Any Other Business 
It has been confirmed by Wirral Council that there were no items of Any Other Business agreed by the Chair tabled at the meeting.

Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (Wirral Council) Photo 1

Left (L to R): Unknown officer (male), Shirley Hudspeth (officer)

Right (Left to Right)
Cllr Dave Mitchell (Lab)
Cllr Adrian Jones (Lab)
Cllr Brian Kenny (Lab)
Cllr Ann McLachlan (Lab)
Cllr Mike Hornby (Con)
Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (Wirral Council) Photo 2

Left: Shirley Hudspeth

Right Foreground
L to R Cllr Mike Hornby (Con), Cllr Lesley Rennie (Con)

Right Background
Cllr Dave Mitchell (Lib Dem), Cllr Adrian Jones (Labour)
Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (Wirral Council) Photo 3

Background: Shirley Hudspeth

Foreground: Left to Right
Tony Williams (Officer), HR
Unknown Officer? (female)
Chris Hyams (Officer), HR
Unknown Officer? (male)

Wirral Council Recruiting Solicitors

 

Wirral Council are recruiting a Senior Solicitor (Child/Adult Social Care), Senior Solicitor (Litigation/Governance) and Solicitor Child Care – Wallasey Town Hall.

Part of the reason I’d guess that Wirral Council is recruiting the Senior Solicitor (Litigation/Governance) is because the current Head of Legal and Member Services, Shirley Hudspeth isn’t a practising solicitor or barrister. When Wirral Council concentrates on internal promotions to fill posts, this is why you end up with anomalies like the Head of Legal and Member Services not being a practising solicitor or barrister.

Certainly there seems to be a cultural drive away from the past (subcontracting for external legal advice) to dealing with legal matters in-house. Bill Norman, Head of Law, HR & Asset Management did make the point in public meetings that he wanted more solicitors in house at Wirral Council (well just before he had to leave the room as the Tory councillors tried unsuccessfully to remove him as Monitoring Officer). It certainly would’ve led to a saving to the taxpayer as Wirral Council was at the time spending £millions/year in external legal advice. Yet for whatever reason the politicians at the time wouldn’t authorise the creation of the new posts required as corporate governance issues at Wirral Council weren’t once seen as the priority they are now.

Certainly some councillors prefer to rely on in house advisers employed by Wirral Council rather than have to spend months putting out a contract to tender before external adviser/s are agreed and appointed (and the delays can cause increased costs).