Tag: Cllr Alan Brighouse

Following the Court Order of 18th April 2012 and a Lib Dem smear: My response

Following the Birkenhead County Court order of 18th April 2012 naming Cllr Alan Brighouse on behalf of the Birkenhead Liberal Democrats granted by Deputy District Judge Ireland following the court hearing of the 4th April 2012, the Lib Dems have finally coughed up the original complaint (not shared with me until now 12 months later, … Continue reading “Following the Court Order of 18th April 2012 and a Lib Dem smear: My response”

Following the Birkenhead County Court order of 18th April 2012 naming Cllr Alan Brighouse on behalf of the Birkenhead Liberal Democrats granted by Deputy District Judge Ireland following the court hearing of the 4th April 2012, the Lib Dems have finally coughed up the original complaint (not shared with me until now 12 months later, despite their constitution stating 10 weeks) made about me by Simon Holbrook in May 2011 (after he lost his seat). I’ve sought advice and am making parts of it public (as there’s a public interest to at least parts of it being made public), along with my version of events (which seems far closer to reality than his complaint, my comments are in italics). Here’s section 1:-

“1. Smearing of Sitting Councillors

In an email to Cllr Gilchrist dated 19 May 2011 at 09:59, John Brace did link the Standards investigation into Cllr Williams’ and Cllr Bridson’s part in the “special charging policy” with that of the recent investigation into the way in which Martin Morton was treated, despite the fact these are two separate matters.

Cllr Williams and Cllr Bridson are not and were not under investigation into the alleged bullying of Martin Morton. This investigation, which was instigated by former Cllr Holbrook has now concluded and reported. It never was and never had been a matter for the Standards Board for England.”

As is detailed here it was considered twice by the Standards Board for England, as initially the complaint about Cllr Bridson hadn’t been sent to them. The complaint (or complaints as a second was submitted) were made by Martin Morton and had already been reported in the Wirral Globe under the headline Town hall blunder: Wrong paperwork sent to local government watchdog inquiry prior to Simon’s complaint about me.

One of these two councillors had been on the charging policy working group in 2005 that led to the overcharging policy, the other had been Cabinet Member for Social Care and Inclusion (which covers Social Services) during part of the period that the overcharging occurred.

The report referred to, the Martin Smith report, was reported to Cabinet on 14th April 2011, however it was not made public until the following year due to the Labour administration’s attempts to delay both its publication and the AKA report.

The relevant section of my email of 19th May to Cllr Gilchrist (and Cllrs Williams, Brighouse, Kelly, Bridson, Harney, Gilchrist, Mitchell and two other party members), is quoted below.

“Morale in the party is extremely low, the Chair and the Vice-Chair of the local party are currently (according to the Wirral Globe) under investigation on standards grounds following a decision by Wirral Council’s Independent Assessment Panel to refer the matter to Standards for England regarding their roles in the Social Services “special charging policy” and how Martin Morton was treated. This independent report (by now read by councillors but currently exempt) will be published within 2-5 months and will lead to a public discussion of their roles in this saga. Both are likely to be candidates in 2012 and the full reasons how and why they did things will have to be made clear to the public and party in the spirit of openness and accountability if we are to move on.”

Lastly Simon Holbrook refers to himself in the third person, which generally wouldn’t be the case if as claimed he was the author of the complaint. However it’s clear by the way it was written that somebody wanted me to stop asking questions by the way flat out denials were made regarding the standards complaints.

The decision notice of Standards Board for England with regards to Cllr Williams and Cllr Bridson back me up as to what the complaint was about. As it was re referred back to Standards for England following the paperwork mixup, there are earlier decision notices regarding Cllr Williams, Roberts and McLaughlin too.

Birkenhead County Court: An Interesting Afternoon | Mr John Brace v Cllr Alan Brighouse on behalf of Birkenhead Liberal Democrats and Liberal Democrats (the Federal Party) on behalf of Liberal Democrats

Birkenhead County Court: An Interesting Afternoon | Mr John Brace v Cllr Alan Brighouse on behalf of Birkenhead Liberal Democrats and Liberal Democrats (the Federal Party) on behalf of Liberal Democrats

Birkenhead County Court: An Interesting Afternoon | Mr John Brace v Cllr Alan Brighouse on behalf of Birkenhead Liberal Democrats and Liberal Democrats (the Federal Party) on behalf of Liberal Democrats

                          

I had an interesting afternoon at Birkenhead County Court as I was there for a case. Lady Luck seemed to be smiling on me as I was the first case (application hearing) starting at 2 p.m. in front of that particular judge.

Neither of the two defendants (Cllr Alan Brighouse on behalf of Birkenhead Liberal Democrats or Liberal Democrats (The Federal Party) on behalf of Liberal Democrats bothered to turn up and the Judge graciously granted the court order I requested. A thank you goes also to my McKenzie Friend, Leonora Brace for her help.

If only life was always this easy….

Edit: 11/11/2013 The above blog post didn’t contain much detail as it was an ongoing legal matter at the time that had not concluded. The application hearing related to who the defendants were. After the case had been filed the Liberal Democrats (the Federal Party) on behalf of Liberal Democrats (a David Allworthy replied on their behalf) had tried to get both defendants changed to Chris Fox (at the time this application was heard Chris Fox was a former Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats).

However my application was to restore the original defendants in this case which were Cllr Alan Brighouse on behalf of the Birkenhead Liberal Democrats and Liberal Democrats (the Federal Party) on behalf of the Liberal Democrats. The Judge agreed to do this in an unopposed application.

The matter went to a final hearing at the Birkenhead County Court on the 18th April 2012. Cllr Alan Brighouse appeared on behalf of the Birkenhead Liberal Democrats (accompanied by Roy Wood). Deputy District Judge Ireland agreed with the plantiff (myself) that the defendants (Cllr Alan Brighouse on behalf of the Birkenhead Liberal Democrats and Liberal Democrats (the Federal Party) on behalf of Liberal Democrats had breached s.7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 c.29 and a court order issued under s.7 ss.9 of the Data Protection Act 1998 c.29 was issued by the Birkenhead County Court in my favour ordering the defendants to comply.

Audit & Risk Management Committee (Wirral Council) 29th November 2011 Part 4 Internal Audit Update

Cllr Abbey said he had to be as blunt as this as time after time, actions had not been actioned. He had suspicions it was deliberate. He said the corporate governance recommendations had not been actioned, damage done and that they should have people sitting at this committee as it was a very important meeting in going forward. Cllr Abbey said they can’t do corporate governance without the relevant officers present and it was symptomatic of the problems.

Cllr Jim Crabtree said he apologised on Surjit’s behalf, Surjit had a meeting tomorrow and work to do and had asked Cllr Crabtree if he was needed.

Cllr Ron Abbey said they had more important and pressing matters and nothing was more important than good…

Cllr Jim Crabtree said Colin Hughes was in the building.

Cllr Ron Abbey said senior people were not here and they were “paying lip service” to “addressing issues”.

Cllr James Keeley said he agreed. It was a “statutory committee” and it was outrageous they had no legal adviser.

Cllr Jim Crabtree said he could adjourn the committee until one was found.

Cllr Alan Brighouse said he shared the concerns.

Cllr Jim Crabtree said Surjit had asked if he was really needed as tomorrow he had a tribunal.

Cllr Ron Abbey said he appreciated officers could be unable to attend, but a replacement officer should be a matter of course. He appreciated David Taylor-Smith was here on behalf of the Department of Finance, but there was no-one from the Department of Law, Human Resources and Asset Management.

Audit & Risk Management Committee (Wirral Council) 29th November 2011 Part 2 Budget Projections 2012-2015

Cllr Simon Mountney also asked about the processes in place.

David Taylor-Smith said it was a decision of the administration, they were provided with the information which was then discussed. The Budget would be set by the statutory deadline.

Cllr Simon Mountney asked about actions taken by officers.

David Taylor-Smith said that there were a number of processes. There was the Budget Simulator which was running to the 30th November. The administration was making deliberations.

Cllr Simon Mountney said the decisions were based on a game?

David Taylor-Smith said there were assumptions and the report was a projection. It had been quickly revised over the 1% in 2013. There were also implications for Housing Benefit. He asked if Cllr Simon Mountney wanted him to share such matters with the Chair and spokespersons? He said the Budget Projections was a regular report to Cabinet and the latest projections would be in the next report. There had been announcements today but the next meeting would be mid January.

Cllr Ron Abbey asked if there was signficant movement then it should be shared with the Chair, Deputy Chair and spokespersons, as the longer it was delayed the less time they had.

Cllr Alan Brighouse asked if there were enough resources to fulfill the requirements of the Budget process?

David Taylor-Smith said it was kept under regular review.

Cllr Jim Crabtree asked what officers were doing to stay within projected budget spends?

David Taylor-Smith said that was up to individual Chief Officers. The budget allocations went to Cabinet along with assurances. He was happy to take specific instances to Chief Officers.

Cllr Jim Crabtree and the committee agreed the report and moved to item 4 (Internal Audit Update).

Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee Wirral Council 27th September 2011 Part 4 Financial Monitoring Statement, Budget Projections 2012/2015

The committee went to Agenda item 2: Financial Monitoring Statement. Ian Coleman, Director of Finance said this had been brought forward from the Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 15th September.

Cllr Phil Gilchrist said it was for background. The report was noted.

The committee then considered Budget Projections 2012/2015. Cllr Gilchrist said there was “nothing to cheer us up”. He asked about the 2011 Census and how significant it was? Would it come in over the timescale of the Budget? Ian Coleman said he had spoken to the Office of National Statistics in 2001 after the poor response rate on Wirral to make sure it was not repeated. The Office of National Statistics had watched authorities that had problems in 2001. He mentioned the Deputy Director of Finance. The Office of National Statistics had commented on the high response rate and had confirmed it was be available in late 2012. It would therefore affect the 2013 grant settlement.

Cllr Gilchrist expressed his relief.
Cllr Tony Cox asked a question about page 13 (Appendix) specifically the Formula Grant line compared to page 5 (Financial Monitoring Statement 2011/2012 Appendix) and the National Non Domestic Rate line. He asked if the National Non Domestic Rate was part of the Formula Grant.

Cllr Gilchrist said he took it for granted [that it was].

Cllr Alan Brighouse said he was “slightly confused”. He asked if the efficiency investment funding was to be increased by an extra £2 million every year? He was slightly confused as he could not see the £3 million revised pension contribution drop out due to the early voluntary redundancies? He also asked about the £1.7 million IT savings which he would expect to see appearing?