Tag: Colas

Cabinet (Wirral Council) 27th September 2012

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1. Declarations of Interest 00:01
2. Minutes of the last meeting

CHILDREN’S SERVICES AND LIFELONG LEARNING
3. Child and Family Poverty Budget Option

STREETSCENE AND TRANSPORT SERVICES
4. Highway and Engineering Services Contract – Value for Money and Annual Review
5. Highway and Engineering Services Contract – 2014 and Beyond
6. The Flood and Water Act 2010 – Ordinary Watercourse Consenting and Enforcement
7. West Kirby Marine Lake Refurbishment, Consultant Appointments – Contract Price Increase

REGENERATION AND PLANNING STRATEGY
8. Local Development Framework – Core Strategy – Publication of Proposed Submission Draft

HOUSING AND COMMUNITY SAFETY
9. Implementation of Local Authority Mortgage Scheme in Wirral

IMPROVEMENT AND GOVERNANCE
10. Recommendations from the Improvement Board
11. Any Other Urgent Business
12. Exempt Information – Exclusion of the Press and Public

STREETSCENE AND TRANSPORT SERVICES
13. Exempt Appendices – Agenda Item 4 Highway and Engineering Services Contract — Value for Money and Annual Review
14. Exempt Appendices – Agenda Item 5 Highway and Engineering Services Contract – 2014 and Beyond
15. Any Other Urgent Business Approved by the Chair (Part 2)

Cabinet (Wirral Council) 28th September 2012 Any Other Urgent Business Approved by the Chair

Any Other Business, Wirral Council’s Cabinet 28th September 2012

Interest declaration: The author is a member of a trade union and a member of the media affected by this law change.

There was an Any Other Business item at Wirral Council’s Cabinet last night, with a recommendation from Surjit Tour, the Acting Director of Law, Human Resources & Asset Management (which was agreed). It seems to be in response to a point I made a week ago by email to a Wirral Council councillor when the Cabinet agenda was published and follows on from this blog post, as the law referred to came into effect on the 10th September 2012.

I had previously brought it up with my trade union, that Wirral Council didn’t seem to be complying with the new law, which is why I followed the approach suggested and brought it up with Wirral Council’s legal team and the people involved. One councillor on the Cabinet has asked for an email about it which I will write in the near future.

URGENT BUSINESS

Recommendation

That Cabinet authorises the Council’s Chief Officers to seek all requisite consents and/or agreement on behalf of Cabinet from relevant persons as required by The Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 where an item to be considered by Cabinet includes exempt information and it is not possible to provide at least 28 clear days notice of that item.

Personally, it’s not quite resulting in the outcome of considerably more openness and accountability I had hoped for (although most legislation has caveats and loopholes that can be exploited). It is however, a step in the right direction as it (hopefully) provides a check and balance on the executive power of the all-Labour Cabinet’s future attempts to make decisions behind closed doors resulting in less scrutiny from the press and public, as really (because to do so without giving 28 days notice they have to first seek consent from the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee first) should (unless officers and councillors are deliberately trying to make an administration make major decisions in secret) only happen very rarely.

This seems to be one small step on the way to complying with the legislation (whether the spirit and intent behind the legislation is followed depends how Wirral Council implement it in practice), which means regulation 5(2) and 5(3) don’t have to be complied with (see regulation 5(6)) if the part of the meeting held in private is “urgent and cannot reasonably be deferred” and they get the agreement of the relevant Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (or if they’re not available others are mentioned)).

Personally as last night’s Cabinet meeting (it wasn’t a special meeting but a regular one) was in the calendar of meetings decided on the 12th April 2012 and it was a matter that had been known about since 26th June 2012, why wasn’t the 28 clear days notice given (which would’ve had to have been given around the end of August 2012)? Well firstly, the Colas matter did need urgent attention (as Colas have been behaving churlishly since the public interest report by the Audit Commission as to how the contract was awarded to them was published and announced they don’t want the contract past 2014. So who’s Cabinet Portfolio does these two items fall under? It’s Cllr Harry Smith’s (Labour), the Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Transport.

Personally I think it should be the relevant Cabinet Member or Cabinet asking for consent from another councillor rather than Chief Officers on their behalf, although the legislation can be interpreted in different ways. In my opinion what was agreed last night puts too much power in Chief Officer’s hands, whose powers of persuasion over Wirral councillors are well-known.

Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) Part 1 Colas contract (HESPE)

The Chair, Cllr John Hale welcomed those present and asked for any declarations of interest. No declarations of interest were made.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 28th March 2012 were agreed, with the Chair asking for a further report on the consultation on library opening hours.

Cllr Steve Williams was elected as Vice-Chair (proposed by Cllr Hale, seconded by Cllr Fraser).

The Chair said he had asked officers to produce the Committee’s terms of reference.

On item 5 Highway and Engineering Services Contract – Third Annual Review he said they had expected a presentation by Steve Grimes, the Contracts Manager for Colas Ltd. Due to the public interest report Colas’s legal representative had advised them it wouldn’t be appropriate.

Mark Smith said that the annual review was part of the management arrangements, but they did have Wirral Council’s highways manager Rob Clifford and Brian Smith the project manager, sadly Colas had declined to attend.

Rob Clifford said there were challenges and risks associated with extending the project and asked if there were any questions.

Cllr Dave Mitchell asked why greater progress hadn’t been made on IT and whether this was their responsibility or Colas’s?

Brian Smith answered that they had tried to tender, but it was unaffordable as the expenditure would be three times what they’d save.

The Chair said he thought that Colas must think “the writing was on the wall” and they had no incentive to cooperate. He said the quality had been abysmal, there were potholes in newly surfaced areas and that the work being carried out was not up to standard.

Brian Smith defended Colas stating that generally the quality of Colas’ work was good and that Wirral compared well to other areas.

Cllr Tony Sullivan was critical of work on Pensby Road. Cllr Fraser asked about where any report on significant cost changes would go, Brian Smith answered that it would go to the Cabinet, however they had been waiting for the auditors’ report first and it would go to Cabinet on the 19th July.

Cllr Fraser asked what was meant by the phrase “inaccurate perception of facts”, were they implying residents don’t understand the facts?

Brian Smith said that residential streets weren’t resurfaced very often and they were starting to use different materials. Residents still expected rolling machines but they were not the only Borough using these surface treatments which would be the subject of a future report.

He then answered a question about the capital program expenditure and how some projects got delayed to the next financial year. The Budget was agreed annually by Council, but it was being flagged up as a risk as until they got tenders back they wouldn’t know the costs of what other providers charged.

Brian Smith answered another question with the answer that the weather often caused delays to planned work, that was why the letters to residents were sent out at short notice. The same councillor asked why the metal signs about the work hadn’t been removed when it was finished? She said it makes it seem to the outside world like they can’t organise getting the roads done.

Cllr Mitchell said that communication was poor but his own road had been done perfectly.

The Chair said the concerns were about lack of coordination, concerns about quality and the attitude that workmen had towards residents and the community.

A councillor felt he couldn’t agree with the recommendation that the work was satisfactory. The Chair suggested it was changed. Mark Smith said that their views could influence the future and whether the Colas contract was extended.

There was a debate about whether to leave satisfactory in the recommendation or not. Eventually they agreed upon the following.

(i) Note the progress of the contract during the past year, and endorse Officers’
views in the report that the performance of the contract is satisfactory. Noting officers’ views but registering serious concerns in relation to coordination, quality and communication issues.

(ii) Recommend to Cabinet that the existing contract not be extended beyond its current 5 year term, and that the Director of Technical Services be requested to prepare an options appraisal for the delivery of highway and engineering services from 1st April 2014 in a report to Cabinet at the earliest opportunity.

(iii) Ask the Director of Technical Services to report on progress on preparation and delivery of a comprehensive exit and handover strategy relating to the satisfactory completion of the current contract, and effective and efficient transition to the new service delivery arrangements, in his future annual reports on the contract.

(iv) Note that officers will be undertaking actions, to be agreed by Council, in response to the External Auditors’ Report in the Public Interest; specifically in relation to the management of the contract; and ask that the Director of Technical Services reports on progress in delivering those specific actions
relating to the management of this contract in his annual report to the Committee in 2013.

Audit Commission Report on Wirral Council (public interest report)

Public Interest Report written by the Audit Commission about Wirral Council’s procurement process for the provision of highway and engineering services in 2008/09.

There have been a number of readers interested in the public interest report published by the Audit Commission. Links to it and related material are below.

The 24-page report (as a pdf file) entitled “Wirral Council: Report in the public interest” . ED – 29th December 2013 This link previously linked to the Audit Commission’s website. However the Audit Commission is in the process of being abolished so the previous link now points to a copy of the public interest report hosted on this blog.

The Wirral Council press release about it dated 8th June 2012 ED – 29th December 2013 The press release relating to the public interest report is no longer available on Wirral Council’s website and merely returns an “Access denied” page.

A page on the Audit Commission website specifying the report is about Wirral Council’s procurement process for the provision of highway and engineering services in 2008/09 *This previously linked to a page on the Audit Commission’s website. However the page is no longer there as the Audit Commission is in the process of being abolished.

There have also been a number of press articles about it, Twitters etc… I’m pretty sure it’ll be discussed at the Audit and Risk Management Committee meeting on Thursday too, based on the tweet of a Labour councillor.