Piercing the veil of secrecy: 3 invoices paid by Liverpool City Council for legal work

Piercing the veil of secrecy: 3 invoices paid by Liverpool City Council for legal work                                             Yesterday I read a blog post by well-known Lib Dem councillor and Mayor candidate Cllr Richard Kemp that made me rather cross. It wasn’t the bit about gagging orders, or how a councillor was asked to resort to making … Continue reading “Piercing the veil of secrecy: 3 invoices paid by Liverpool City Council for legal work”

Piercing the veil of secrecy: 3 invoices paid by Liverpool City Council for legal work

                                           

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

Yesterday I read a blog post by well-known Lib Dem councillor and Mayor candidate Cllr Richard Kemp that made me rather cross.

It wasn’t the bit about gagging orders, or how a councillor was asked to resort to making a Freedom of Information request that I got cross about, but this part.

“Interestingly I have tried to involve the local media in this story. I didn’t get the tiniest response from them. It is part of the role of the ‘fourth estate’ to publicly shine a light on the doings and affairs of those in power. This seems to be lamentably missing in Greater Liverpool these days.”
 

I will point out at this stage that Cllr Richard Kemp hasn’t contacted me or as far as I know anyone to do with this blog! Of course politicians complaining about the press coverage (or in this case lack of press coverage) is nothing new.

Returning to a story on this blog earlier this week Why is Liverpool City Council not complying with ICO decision notice FS50591795?, the response from Liverpool City Council as to why the decision notice hasn’t been complied with has been the somewhat disappointing, “I acknowledge receipt of your e mail [sic] and I am now making enquiries as to the points made”

So, if Liverpool City Council want to do the local government equivalent of sulk because ICO didn’t agree with them and then go and ignore the enforcement notice, well I don’t want their bad habits on freedom of information to be picked up by Wirral Council do I?

Except you know, being the sort of person that believes in the public being informed I might not be withholding as much information as Liverpool City Council would. Please note these documents were not received through the freedom of information process (which seems to be utterly broken at Liverpool City Council).

Let’s start with a £3,000 invoice for the services of the rather scary looking Simon Burrows of Kings Chambers in a case in the Administrative Court (case reference number CO/932/2014 Karl Downey -v- Liverpool City Council). So therefore it was a judicial review. This invoice went to a Mr. Brendan McGrath who is a solicitor employed by Liverpool City Council.

Quite what the case was all about I really don’t know, but the scary looking guy invoiced Liverpool City Council £3,000 for a "Brief on Hearing" which was £2,500 + VAT. You can click on the thumbnail below for an easier to read version.

Kings Chamber invoice £3000 Liverpool City Council Simon Burrows thumbnail
Kings Chamber invoice £3000 Liverpool City Council Simon Burrows thumbnail

Judicial reviews of Liverpool City Council decisions are hardly a big secret are they?

Let’s move onto something that led to one of the budget savings (if I remember my Liverpool City Council budget for 2016-17 correctly).

This is a £978 payment (although as a previous payment has been made in the same matter the total is £4,206) for “In the Matter of Advice regarding the refund of charges made by Liverpool for mental health aftercare services provided pursuant to s.117 of the Mental Health Act 1983

This is for the advice of Neil Cadwallader of Exchange Chambers who thankfully looks less scary than Simon Burrows.

The invoice went to Duncan Dooley-Robinson and Jeanette McLoughlin (who is Liverpool City Council’s Monitoring Officer). As above you can click on the thumbnail for an easier to read version.

Exchange Chambers invoice £978 Liverpool City Council Neil Cadwallader thumbnail
Exchange Chambers invoice £978 Liverpool City Council Neil Cadwallader thumbnail

Let’s move next to the legal cost of political decisions. A decisions of Liverpool City Council’s Licensing and Gambling Sub-Committee was appealed to the Liverpool Magistrates Court. This is a £2,400 invoice from David Hercock of Six Pump Court for a brief on an appeal involving Tharmathevy Thanabalasingam of Kenny Food and Wine.

This invoice went to P (which stands for Paul) Merriman. Clicking on the thumbnail will load an easier to read version.

Six Pump Court invoice £2400 Liverpool City Council David Hercock thumbnail
Six Pump Court invoice £2400 Liverpool City Council David Hercock thumbnail

Well that’s three out of the twenty-two invoices. Hopefully the release of this information will prompt Liverpool City Council into complying with the ICO decision notice!

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